High Lethality in RPGs (And What Kind of Stories It Tells Best)

A while back I offered a popular piece of advice in Dungeon Design Tips: Find A Reason For PCs To Survive (And Try Again). The purpose behind the post was to remind Game Masters that in a lot of RPGs, death is a particularly boring fail state. After all, you want your players to keep playing, to overcome challenges, and to keep striving... but if they feel like they're going to have to roll up a new character every time they fail a saving throw, or choose the wrong door to walk through, that can get discouraging.

While I stand by that advice, I feel it is important to mention that it is advice given mainly for games where the entire goal is to follow the saga and growth of a single party of characters throughout their adventures. Whether it's one of the later editions of Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, most of the Chronicles of Darkness, Exalted, or any of three dozen other games I could mention, they are structured so that player characters can survive trials and tribulations to persevere. Many of these games even have resurrection spells that allow players past a certain point of growth and resource acquisition to return to the world to continue their quests.

But that is not some universal truth of RPGs. There are games that are intended to be highly lethal. Games for which that is not a flaw, but a feature of the challenge. It's part of the tension that keeps them running, and it's part of the appeal of that kind of play... but if you're going to run a game with high lethality, then you need to make sure you're telling the kind of story that benefits from that kind of Sword of Damocles hanging over the table.

I feel we might be in danger, my friends...

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

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Fragile Characters, More Contained Stories

Whether you're running something like the doom metal game Mork Borg or one of its imprints, something like OSRIC, or something a little more mechanically complicated like the latest edition of Warhammer Fantasy, there are a lot of RPGs out there where the world is supposed to be lethally dangerous. Games where even experienced characters can die due to a lucky shot from an enemy archer, a missed save against a spell, or just being surprised by an enemy at the wrong time.

However, when that is part and parcel of your game, it's important to recognize that you need to change your storytelling style, stakes, or both to reflect this sharp curve up in lethality. And there are a couple of games I would recommend GMs examine, as well as an entire genre that a lot of people have forgotten about in the dusty tomes of the pulp era.

Namely the Sword and Sorcery genre, which had a much greater impact on the early days of gaming before high fantasy rose to eclipse it.

Things are terrible, and they're only going to get worse.

The first game I would recommend is Darkest Dungeon, a dungeon-crawling RPG where your "heroes" delve deeper and deeper into dark dungeons in search of treasure and answers, surviving battle with horrible foes and fighting off madness. The second game I would recommend is Fear and Hunger, where players must survive the terrors that lurk in the forgotten depths of an ancient dungeon, and where the simple, initial motivation of freeing a prisoner becomes far more convoluted by the game's end.

Content warning for both of these video games if you've never come across them. We're talking some Lamentations of The Flame Princess level stuff, so proceed with caution.

However, while both of these video games are survival horror wearing the skin of sword and sorcery, they illustrate in both tone and mechanics what I'm talking about in this week's post. Because in both games there is a high amount of lethality, and even if characters survive they may be crippled in mind, body, or both. Every encounter poses a serious risk, and every step further into the darkness comes with the potential for risk and reward alike. Additionally, both games are built on a basis of players feeling like they're gambling with their character's lives with every decision they make.

This speaks to the kinds of stories high lethality games tend to tell. Because if player characters could die on any given roll of the dice, then grand, sweeping epics where we follow their entire journey aren't really a good fit for those mechanics. Rather it's a good idea to focus on something smaller, tighter, and more serialized. Also, it's a good idea to not put combat as the central focus of the games, or the sole method for achieving goals.

For those who haven't seen this video, I talked about this diversity of solutions regarding the World/Chronicles of Darkness a while back.

Consider, as an example, the humble dungeon crawl. Yes, these adventures are inherently dangerous, and there is at least the opportunity for combat to occur, but these locations are also filled with traps, puzzles, and natural disasters. And while we often focus on the dungeon part of things, the crawl is there because they're meant to be tense. Players are meant to move quietly, carefully, and to make sure they don't step on a concealed switch, rest their weight on the wrong board, or rush headlong into an ambush. While the foolhardy might charge forward shouting a battle cry and banging their ax on their shield, that's a good way to die a quick, pointless death.

But high-lethality games are good for more than just dungeon crawls. They're great for high-stakes heists, for mysteries (particularly murder mysteries), and for games that tend to focus on a single, relatively contained story. Rather than using the Lord of The Rings as the framework, where we follow the fellowship across their massive walk across the continent, consider something more akin to Conan, Solomon Kane, or even the James Bond stories where we follow the characters through adventures that each stand alone as their own chapter but could be connected into a series if you wanted them to be.

Build The Story As It Goes

Another contention I have seen from the old guard who grew up playing high lethality games is the aggression toward the idea of working out a character's story before the game even starts. As the argument goes, "Your character should be a blank slate, and they should be shaped by the adventures they have!"

I disagree with this on a fundamental level, however, I feel like this comes from a lesson learned in high lethality games. Namely that you need to come to terms with the fact that your character is likely going to die long before they get within bow shot of old age, unless they're starting the game as a senior looking to go out in a blaze of glory. If you're going into a meat grinder, don't get attached to an endgame you're probably never going to reach.

This goes for players and Game Masters alike, though, so perk up your ears for this one!

Because there's a LOT of stuff to take in here.

Just as players should probably have backup characters and concepts for when their current character dies a horrible death (it's statistically likely, after all), Game Masters shouldn't count on the characters making specific decisions, acquiring particular items, or even surviving in order to create a single, unbroken plot.

 

Now, those who've played adventure paths or pre-written campaigns have likely noticed that they read like long novels. You can switch characters in and out as it goes, but they're meant to act as supporting stories for the same characters from beginning to end. High lethality games, though, work better as a series of modules, each of which might be a chapter of an unfolding campaign. Because characters might die, but it's far easier to come up with some kind of way to continue on (and to introduce replacements) if you're just flipping back to the start of last session.

 

Think of it like how a video game might start you back at the current level when your character dies, instead of sending you back to the start screen to do it ALL over again.

But this is where building the story as it goes comes in, as well as collaborative efforts between the GM and the players. Do the players just want to put together a whole new party, and start a whole different adventure? Do they want to put together a new party that all have reasons to seek out their previous characters? Do they want to put together a new party to complete the adventure that killed them, but they want these new characters to be utterly unconnected to their previous characters and whatever stories they had going on?

If you've been planning specific arcs and long-term goals, then as a GM this will be intensely frustrating for you, because now all the things you'd planned as character moments or opportunities for the first band is going to waste because they're dead. So the Game Master also benefits from not planning too far beyond the current chapter, because they don't know if the characters are even going to be around when it wraps. So plotting for a high lethality campaign is basically akin to prepping a series of modules... you can't go too far down the line, because if you do there's a good chance the characters in question will all be dead, replaced by fresher faces.

Why You Can't Just Bring Them Back

Have you ever seen a parent that counts down from 3 when a child is misbehaving? The child knows that if the parent counts down to 0 then something is going to happen... but if the parent gets to 0 and they don't do anything, now the kid knows it's a bluff. From that point onward, there's always a chance that nothing is going to happen.

This is also what happens if you have a high-lethality game, but you look for reasons to resurrect/save characters who should be dead. Much as with several of the games mentioned above, once resurrection makes an appearance (or once death stays its hand), it takes away the tension and the bite. So while I will absolutely advocate for chases, and the lesser fail states like being taken prisoner or having to face some kind of additional challenge, games that are supposed to be lethal are the ones that don't benefit from allowing characters to just come back from the dead... not unless there's something going on beneath the surface, at least.

After all... coming back wrong can be useful for Game Masters. Especially if it means there's a ticking clock over the character's head that might lead them to taking a few more risks than they normally would to try and escape their dark fate.

On the subject of resurrection, though, I would check out the sourcebook for The Black Ballad (which is all about campaigns set in the underworld once a party dies), the supplement I'm Back: 25 Reasons For A Villain's Survival, as well as my older post Villains Can Cheat Death (Without Taking Away Your Players' Victory).

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That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi channel I contribute stories to, The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

What Is Your Character's Signature Equipment (And What Does It Say About Them)?

One of the major parts of any RPG character is their equipment. Whether you're sailing the stars in the sci-fi future, chasing mysteries down the dark back alleys of the modern day, or you're raiding tombs and crawling dungeons in an ancient fantasy setting, the gear you bring with you is going to make a big difference on your adventures.

But your equipment might be more than just a useful toolbox for you to dip into to solve problems; it can also tell someone a lot about a character. Which is why you should take a moment to think about your character's signature equipment, what it means, and the messages it might send to someone in the know.

A man should have his portrait taken with the spoils of his wars.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

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Telling A Silent Story

I touched on this concept a while back in What Is Your Character's Everyday Carry (And What Does It Say About Them)? as well as in Reveal Details About Your Character Through Flavor-Based Skill Checks. However, this week's post is sort of combining these previous suggestions, and turning them into something different. Because the things we carry are a part of our story, and it can be worth thinking about when you ask what aspects of a character's history, background, etc. can be silently filled in by someone who recognizes what they're wearing or carrying... and doubly so if that item appears to be something that never leaves the character's person.

For very long, at least.

The blade has a long and bloody history.

The key for making a piece of signature equipment for a character is to make sure it has a meaningful story to tell, and to be sure there is some way for that story to be conveyed to other characters. Whether that's other PCs rolling a check to recognize the symbolism of a given item, or an NPC who recognizes it and reacts to it, at the end of the day what matters is that the clue adds into the character's story.

So what might that look like? Well, consider some of the following examples:

- The silver skull ring that marks someone as a member (or former member) of the Silver Wraiths necromancer's guild (found in Cities of Sundara: Moüd for Pathfinder or DND 5E)

- A battle banner with a roaring green lion that they unfurl during charges. Is it the sigil of a lost noble house? A defunct mercenary company? Such as those found in A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families, or 100 Mercenary Companies?

- Does their shield bear the remnants of an ancient oak tree with silver leaves, marking the liege lord they once served? What happened to them? Why do they still bear the mark?

- Do they wear a legionnaire's long coat, marking them as someone who completed a tour of duty as an officer in the 117th Coranthan Expansion?

Whether it's subtle or obvious, and whether the character keeps the item hidden or flaunts it, the point is that it should be something they will keep with them, that is important to them, and that it has an impact on the characters they interact with. And, ideally, this item should be something that isn't just going to get tossed aside as soon as an upgrade presents itself. Because you don't want to put a bunch of story into the blade they took from their father's dead hands that they've sworn to wield in the service of noble causes, only to immediately replace it as soon as the character finds a more powerful sword to swing.

There are a couple of ways around this. One is to use something like the Weapons of Legacy book which came out for Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. The idea was that a character's weapon would grow and change along with them, remaining a constant companion for the entire adventure. Alternatively, ask if there are parts or pieces of the old equipment that can be merged with the newer items that have been found. For example, if you find something like a powerful wizard's robe, could you turn it into a lining beneath the character's battered leather duster that they wore when they were still an officer in the legion? Do they keep their old scabbard for the new weapon, merging their old life with their new one? Or does some strange magical effect leave a stamp of the character's history on their new weapon, such as the pommel's shape shifting into their old family crest, or engravings taking on the form of their personal sigil to represent their new bond?

Whatever form the story continuity takes, a character's signature equipment should be a physical representation of where they've been, who they are, or something they've experienced. And it should be something that stays with them in some way, shape, or form, showing that no matter what they experience going forward, they're still carrying a part of their past... even if it's also grown and changed with them.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi saga of The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Legacy Campaigns: A Fresh Chapter To Continue Your Story

For a lot of us, the idea of completing a full campaign with a single party of characters is the height of gaming accomplishment. And if you've managed to do that, then you might very well want to play a different system or setting entirely as a kind of palate cleanser. But if you're the sort of player (or the sort of Game Master) who enjoys continuity and sequels, then I would recommend considering the idea of a legacy campaign... because they can take a variety of forms, and you can usually tailor them to fit your game, and your players.

As we turn the page, another set of heroes are enmeshed in our tale...

But before I get into the meat of today's post, remember, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

A New Chapter In Your Quest

There are a couple of different ways a legacy campaign can go. First and foremost, it can be the literal legacy of the former PCs, whether it's their children, students they've trained, squires they've knighted, etc. The idea is that the PCs of the last campaign are passing the torch to the new party, providing some kind of continuity between the characters, if not the actual story of the campaign. Alternatively, the legacy might be a continuation of the events and story from the first campaign, but in a different location with different characters who aren't necessarily connected to the characters of the previous campaign. For a quick reference, the connectivity between the Pathfinder adventure paths Shattered Star, Rise of The Runelords, and Return of The Runelords follows this path.

However, it's also possible to combine the two into a single campaign, if that's what you and your players want to do!

I am here to earn my spurs, and to make my father proud.

As I said in The Key To A Sandbox Is To Make Sure It's Populated, And Stuff Is Happening, though, a legacy campaign requires a bit of setup to really sell it!

Now, that doesn't mean the Game Master has to plan a three-campaign series right from the jump. But you do have to have the first campaign planned, plotted, and completed so that you have all the information about what happened during the first story that you can use as a springboard for the second one (and from the second to the third, if you want to be industrious). You need to know which characters completed what deeds, which NPCs lived and died, and which of the villains were sentenced, which ones were slain, and which ones returned to the outer darkness to join their alien masters. And once you have all of that information, you can then properly plan the sequel to that game!

If you're the Game Master, picture yourself as the head of a successful TV series. You received enough of a budget to shoot the first season, so you made something relatively self-contained, but which has the potential for spin-offs and sequels. You finished it, and it was popular enough that your audience wants more. Maybe you had some ideas in mind for where it could go next. Maybe you were just hoping the first season did well enough you could scoot across the line. Either way, with this format, and your very narrow audience, it's a good idea to make sure the first season is as polished and enjoyable as possible before you spend too much time working on the second or third season that you might not even get.

The most important thing, though, is that you need to be sure you have player enthusiasm to see more. Because while the idea of following up a campaign with a legacy sequel might be intriguing (especially if the players get to see the results of the previous game, and hear the tales of their old characters' adventures), it's equally possible that your audience might have been just fine with a one-and-done for that game, that story, or that system. Don't over-invest in making a multi-part story told over several campaigns if you know your players don't have that kind of stamina.

With that said, however, keep in mind that a "campaign" doesn't have to be a years-long, level 1 to level 20 endeavor. A campaign could just as easily be a story that takes characters through a 5 level progression, or even a 10 level progression. As long as the story is complete, the GM reaches the end point, and the plot is solved, that's a full campaign... just make sure you let your players know how long the story will last before you get started so they can plan accordingly!

Game Master Resources

If you're planning on running a legacy campaign, whether it's for a passing of the torch, or you want players to have to deal with further permutations of the threats that were seen and opposed in the first story, I would recommend getting your hands on some of the following supplements:

- I'm Back! 25 Reasons For A Villain's Survival: Whether it's the big bad they thought was defeated, a hated henchman, or even an ally they thought was dead, this book can be fun for more continuity.

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations: Good for your players to take a flip through, but very important for understanding the motivations and machinations of your game's villains.

- 100 Dark Secrets: Something that can put allied NPCs into a different context, and which could provide something deeper to find for your villains, can also be good for giving your PCs something to keep under wraps.

- 100 Tips & Tricks For Being A Better Dungeon Master: A supplement that collects a majority of the good advice I've covered here on this blog to help make your games the best they can be.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or my additional audio dramas over on The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

What Is Your Character's Relationship History (And How Has That Affected Them)?

Let's be honest with ourselves, there has always been a streak of romance in a lot of RPGs. Whether it was the relatively chaste quest to prove oneself worthy to wed the princess like something out of an Arthurian story, or the party heading down to the local brothel to spend a sack of coin they earned from their last bounty, the elements have always been present. However, that isn't what I'm talking about today. Because even if you're playing an RPG where you don't want romance-related plots (to say nothing of the more explicit content that exists in games like Lewd Dungeon Adventures or Foreplay: An Erotic Storytelling Game), it's worth asking what kinds of romantic experiences your character has had, and how that's shaped them over their lifetime.

Look, I'm telling you, make the proposal special. Trust me, I speak from experience.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

It's Part Of Your Path (Even If The Character Lacks Experience)

Whatever character you're playing, however strange, unusual, or perfectly plain they are, take a moment and ask yourself what kinds of romantic relationships or entanglements they've had, and how that has affected them as a person. And, before folks start typing in the comments that they don't need to think about their character's sexual history when making a dungeon crawler, that isn't what I'm talking about. Specifically ask what kind of relationships your character has had, what this says about them, and how it affects their outlook. Good or bad, abusive or loving, it will leave a mark on them.

As an example, take the archetype of the fresh-faced fighter. We'll even go the extra mile, and make him a farm boy hero with dreams of glory. If his whole romantic experience up until the time he leaves to go on an adventure, or perhaps to join the militia, is just reading fairy tales about happily ever afters then he's not going to have a frame of reference in mind for when he encounters people out in the world. What will he do when the bard tries to wingman him with the bar keep? How will he react of a noblewoman tries to twist him around her finger? What will he do if he encounters a succubus?

Now ask how that same character would be different if he had a girl back home that he's planning to come back to. He loves her very much, sends letters and money when he can, and he's out trying to make good, and to prove to her father that he can provide for her. What if this character was older, served time in the militia or the army, retired, got married, and now he's a widower who has to find a new way to earn a living, but can't stay in that home with all its memories?

 

She's in every brick of that place... I can't even sleep there anymore.

The types of relationships a character has had, the experience that's garnered them, and what kind of person that's made them into, is an often-overlooked aspect of their history... hence why it's worth thinking about. And the more unusual the character, the more unusual their frame of reference might be.

For example, did a bard master her song as a way to serenade a boy she was infatuated with, but he was betrothed to another? Did that rejection lead her to keep her future relationships shallow and physical, never letting someone get really close to her emotional core? Did the paladin swear an oath of chastity when he first took up the sword, and so all relationships must be physically chaste (even if he might be sorely tested)? Does the cleric serve a love god, and so they are intimately familiar with a variety of relationship styles and troubles, often acting as match maker or counselor? And has this helped their own relationships, or made it even more difficult for them? Does the barbarian come from a tribe where polyamory is normal (like the Takatori dwarves in my Species of Sundara supplement for both DND 5E and Pathfinder Classic), and thus they are used to a completely different relationship dynamic than more "civilized" folk, making mistakes and unintentionally insulting people because they don't understand one another's expectations?

There's no need to make a big deal out of the character's relationship history, but it can be an interesting or fun little mix-in for your game. For example, if your bounty hunter ranger is always talking about the one that got away, it might be a fun little twist that she's been hunting for her ex, who also happens to have a sizable reward on her head. Doubly so if she stole something expensive, hoping the ranger would come after her, because she was too awkward or scared to talk about her feelings. If the halfling rogue is always talking about his wife back home in terms that makes her seem dainty, soft, and delicate, but then the party meets said wife to find out she's a full-blooded orc who will destroy anything that comes between her and her husband, that juxtaposition can be fun and amusing. And if the grim-faced cleric of the death goddess melts whenever there are kids present, finding out that he and his wife never had a chance to have their own before she passed of a fever can add a dimension to him that the rest of the party didn't expect, and it adds a tragic, human side of him that he might keep under wraps until he truly trusts someone.

Which is why this aspect is worth thinking about. Because even if romance isn't a driving force behind a character, their experience with it, and desire for it (or the lack thereof), will be part of what has shaped them up until the point where they hit the mat.

Also, if you are looking for inclusions of something that is definitely going to be an adult element in a game (but which doesn't actually have any explicit content in it), then I'd recommend checking out the following series of supplements by yours truly:

- World's Oldest Profession: A Baker's Dozen of Brothels

- World's Oldest Profession: 100 Courtesans and Concubines

- World's Oldest Profession: 100 Rumors To Hear in a Brothel

- World's Oldest Profession: 100 Titillating Titles To Find in a Lewd Library

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi saga of The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

The Key To A Sandbox Is To Make Sure It's Populated, And Stuff Is Happening

One of the biggest complaints I hear from players is that they want to play in campaigns and settings where they feel like they have freedom and autonomy, and not that they're going to be put on rails and driven toward the Game Master's predetermined destination. The opposite end of that setting is, of course, the sandbox game. This is where players are plopped down into the game world, and they are free to explore, take up quests, meet NPCs, and get tangled up in whatever webs they please.

The thing is, for a sandbox to work, a Game Master has to actually populate it with stuff for the players to interact with, and events to take part in... otherwise you end up with a ghost town.

Also, if this subject interests you, then I highly recommend checking out River Games: Somewhere Between The Sandbox And The Railroad.

Between all these grains of sand, there should actually be stuff.

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Load Up The Sandbox, And They'll Never Run Out Of Things To Do

As someone who has run both linear games where there's a direct through line where the game starts and ends, as well as someone who has put together a handful of sandboxes, I can tell you that the latter take ten times as much time, energy, and effort to set up. This isn't just because you have to populate the world with NPCs, plot hooks, news, rumors, loot, dungeons, and more... you have to do that for a linear progression game as well. The difference is that for a sandbox you have to have more of everything, because you have no way of knowing what your players are going to do, or what direction they're going to go in.

Sandbox GMs are a majority of my readers.

Think about it for a second. If you're going to run a linear plot, you have a series of events that take your players from Point A, to Point B, to Point C, dragging them along a pathway toward the eventual showdown with the campaign's big bad. But if you are running a game where you simply set the world in motion, then turn your players loose, you need to have significantly more stuff for them to do, people to talk to, and happenings to get involved with!

For example, in a linear game, you might have one bar with plot-relevant characters, a couple of town guardsman with actual information worth delivering, and a series of dungeons where encounters will take place... but for a sandbox, you need to have that kind of setup for a wider variety of decisions the players might make. Not only that, but there's going to be a ticking time clock on events, because what the players choose to get involved with, and what they choose not to get involved with, can affect the machinery of the world.

Consider the town of Timbersong. It's a small port town with half a dozen fishermen and some traders and travelers. There's a lumber operation there (or at least there used to be), and most people who come up that way do so for the hot springs, or to look for work in the growing boom town and its surrounding farms. And there are dozens of things that can be done in this location, including:

- Taking on work at the Hardwick Agency as a private guard

- Examine the Palatine Spring, and the rumors of something unusual there

- Go into the old growth forest in search of treasure, ruins, or monsters

- Talk to sailors coming in from the sea to hear about rumors of pirates attacking coastal towns

- Escort a caravan down to the next town

- Take passage on a ship to go further along the coast

Now, if this was a linear game, you might have a specific idea of what you want your players to do. Hopefully they get hired by the detective agency, which then sends them to deal with something that's been seen out in the woods. They uncover an ancient cult, tie that to the springs, and realize the healing waters are drawn from an ancient genius loci. They form a pact with that spirit, and the old rituals are kept up to appease it, ensuring the town can grow around it. At that point the PCs leave Timbersong either by road or by ship to move onto the next town, and the next set of rumors, happenings, and people.

But that's one set of events. And sure, the PCs might take that specific bait and follow those particular events, but what if they step off that path? What if they instead want to try to recruit one of the odd cats that roam the town, either as a pet, or to have a familiar? What if they want to immediately go pirate hunting, trying to figure out if there are bounties and rewards for those who slay buccaneers, and trying to find a captain to take them on this errand? What if they take on tasks from Marlena Racks who needs surveys taken along the coast so she can draw accurate maps? What if, what it, what if...

None of these are random, either. Timbersong is one of the towns in my supplement 10 Fantasy Villages, and it's jammed with stuff like the above suggestions to give Game Masters an edge on laying the ground work for a localized sandbox.

Having a linear game means you have a single chain of events, more or less. There are likely a few side quests here and there, but nothing outside of the important main line is going to get really fleshed out. It's that old situation where there's one clearly important NPC in the bar, and while you can talk to other folk, that individual is the one with the information that's going to move the story along.

But if you have a sandbox game, you need to have either multiple chains of events that all branch off on their own stories, or you need to have a bunch of disconnected events and individuals, and allow the interactions of your players to build the story based off the things they choose to do or not do.

The World Needs To Move Without Them

I mentioned this concept back in Game Masters, Make Sure The Villains Aren't Just Sitting Around Waiting, but it's worth being repeated here. Because if you have an entire sandbox world, the player characters won't be able to respond to everything... so when they aren't involved, that also has consequences that can spiral out of control.

Consider Timbersong again. There's a cult in the forest trying to awaken the wrath of a genius loci to wipe out the town. There are pirates pillaging the coast. There are farmers being attacked by terrible beasts who lost their habitats. While it's possible for the party to solve all of these problems all at once, if they neglect something, or don't consider it worth their time, then it will come to a head without them.

For instance, if the party goes out to hunt pirates on the waters, they might find a bounty, and bring them down quickly, giving them the time to get back to Timbersong to deal with the cult. But if they're gone for too long due to storms, bad rolls, etc., then they might come back to a town that's been ruined by an angered spirit within the spring. Or, if they focus on the cult first, and then handle the pirates, by the time they come back to town they might find people deep in debt because the farms were overrun and all their food now has to be imported.

Or if the PCs chose to do an escort mission for a ship or a caravan, then they might hear about the uprising in Timbersong, or about how a disaster wiped it off the map, only for the survivors to be captured by pirates and sold into slavery.

It's a rough life on the bloody seas.

Now, the point is not that you need to give your players impossible decisions... the point is that for your sandbox to have meaning that there has to be a lot of stuff in it, and for the decisions your players make to have weight and gravitas. And while you might be able to tie various things together due to the players' actions (say they do capture a special cat from the forest, and it turns out to be able to talk. So now it can clue them in on secret knowledge of the cult, and the spring spirit, which they didn't have before because they did a seemingly pointless side quest), it needs to feel organic.

 

In other words, if you only have one bar, and it doesn't matter which one your players walk in they're getting the same NPCs and the same floor plan, that gamble only works if they don't realize you played switcheroo with them. Because if they feel you're just creating a Potemkin village that makes them feel like their actions have consequences, but really there's only ever been one path to walk, that's going to deeply disappoint people who showed up to play in a sandbox.

So yes, sandbox games require a lot more in terms of worldbuilding, NPCs, plot hooks, events, etc. But once you have all those things in place you can basically set the world in motion, and then just watch what your players choose to do, and ask how that affects the physics of the world that was already turning.

 

Harder to start, but fairly easy to keep running once you flick the switch and all the gears start running!

With that said, I would recommend checking out all of my 200+ TTRPG supplements that are largely meant to help you populate your game, and to be sure you save your brain power for the heavy lifting. You can take a look at this pinboard of all my supplements and games, but if you're looking to build a sandbox I would definitely suggest grabbing copies of:

- 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master

- Towns of Sundara

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations

- 100 Ways To Start a Campaign (That Aren't In a Tavern)

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi channel I contribute stories to, The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Moving From Reactive Characters To Active Ones In Your Tabletop Games

There is a tendency among players to be reactive. There may still be roleplay going on, and the character may still be doing things, but those things are rarely important or goal-oriented. They'll be drinking at the tavern, cooking meals in a kitchen, splitting wood, wandering through a carnival, fighting in a local pit, or any of a thousand other things, but these tasks are rarely in service to actually accomplishing anything... instead, they're merely things that can be stopped as soon as the actual task is set before them by the Game Master.

Put another way, a lot of characters are swimming around like fish, waiting for something that looks vaguely like a hook to appear. And then when the hook is there, it's like they're waiting for it to grab them, and pull them to wherever it is they're supposed to be.

However, a game often goes far more smoothly (and can actually be a lot more fun) if the player characters are actively pursuing goals and plots, instead of passively waiting for something to happen to them in order to spark a reaction.

When was the last time the king cleared the board?

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Motivation Is Only Part Of The Formula

When it comes to character actions, the discussion often turns to motivations and goals. After all, if a character isn't pursuing what they want, then it must be because they don't have a clearly defined brass ring they're reaching for, right? The difficulty is that motivation is just the gas in the tank; you need to have it, but the fuel isn't what drives you forward... it's pushing your foot down on the pedal that does it. It is applying action and ignition to the motivation that makes the wheels turn.

 

To continue this metaphor, you can have a character with deep, abiding motivations. They may have causes they care passionately about, or goals they must achieve if they're to move on with their life... but picking a direction doesn't mean you are moving in that direction.

 

Knowing the route isn't the same as walking the road.

For a less metaphorical example, do you play your character like Fred or Shaggy? Are you actively looking for answers, trying to find solutions, or even setting up traps, or is your character constantly making excuses, ducking plot hooks, or trying to run away unless the plot grabs them by the scruff of the neck, or they're dragged into things by the rest of the party?

 

Now, that is not to say you can't play a Shaggy. But if the entire party is reluctant to participate in what's happening, and is looking for reasons to get out of it to be somewhere else, and to do something else, then there's either not going to be a game to play, or the plot is going to have hem the party in to force them to solve a problem. However, if 3 of the 4 characters are being proactive and jumping in with both feet, this typically drags a reluctant (or a purely reactive) character along in their wake.

 

If you find yourself constantly twiddling your thumbs, looking around the table for someone to make the first move, or constantly waiting around for your character to be told what to do next, consider taking the initiative instead. Be the one who makes a plan, and gets the table talking. Call out to your companions, and tell them what you plan to do, and ask them to come with you on this endeavor. You don't necessarily need to be the party leader, but sometimes all it takes is being willing to dive in to really get the gears turning.

 

It also saves your Game Master from having to constantly prime the pump, and come up with some kind of event or NPC to give everyone a push in order to keep things moving.

 

Lastly if you are interested in a little extra motivation for your characters, then I'd recommend checking out my supplements 100 Character Goals and Motivations, which went Electrum a while back, and 100 Dark Secrets which is still Silver at time of writing, but could move up to the next metal level with your help!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Fluff post. To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi saga of The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!

Dungeon Design Tips: Limited Resources Can Lead To Creative Strategies

When you pop the hood on what makes an RPG challenging, there are a lot of different systems at play. However, if you dig down to the very foundations of what makes the game work, a lot of it comes down to a smart use of the available resources to complete a task, or achieve a goal. Whether it's spell slots, rage rounds, alchemical items, carrying capacity, or even time, limiting the resources your players have available is one of the main ways a Game Master establishes challenge... and it can often lead to creative strategies on your players' part.

We've got three of them left... how many villains are there?

As always, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! Also, be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree.

Lastly, for hundreds of extra articles on gaming, weird history, and for more free fiction, check out my Vocal archive, too!

Putting Pressure On Your Players

Challenge is, on the surface, a very simple thing to create. There is an obstacle, and the players need to find a way over it, around it, under it, or through it... and whichever strategy they use is going to come with risk, and it will use some of their resources.

 

What you have to determine, as the Game Master, is how you're going to apply pressure to ensure that your players have to get creative with both their risks and their resources.

 

Think this will be enough ammo for the quest?

 

What resources you have on-hand typically determines what strategies players will want to try... however, the most important consideration for you, as the Game Master, is that every strategy to solve a meaningful problem should come with some kind of potential risk as well as a potential reward.

As an example, take one of the most basic situations found in fantasy RPGs; your party is going to a crumbling ruin that is infested with monsters (and potentially traps) in order to take the treasure inside for themselves. A simple dungeon crawl... however, there are some ways that this scenario might lack challenge. And while most Game Masters just add extra monsters, slap more hit points onto existing creatures, or increase the difficulty and damage on the traps, those things can feel arbitrary.

So instead, let's ask what other things might add pressure to this treasure hunt. Potential challenges include:

- Time Constraints: If the dungeon is only accessible during a specific time frame, say for three days, the party doesn't have a lot of spare 8-hour recharge times to use. The same is true if they manage to get to the dungeon first, but there are other so-called adventurers hot on their tails that they don't want to fight for the loot.

 

- Food: While most campaigns don't pay any real attention to how much your players eat, take a moment and ask how many provisions they brought with them out into the depths of this old-growth forest. Do they have the necessary skills to forage? Do they end up eating something poisonous or rotten, and getting sick? Even if they technically have all the time in the world, they can't keep fighting on an empty stomach.

- Tools: Typically RPGs don't worry about weapon and armor durability, but there are some tools that can break if checks go badly enough. If the rogue only has two sets of lockpicks, and one set gets broken on a door because they rolled poorly enough, will they press forward? Will they allow companions to kick in doors instead, risking drawing the attention of monsters? Or will they use another strategy entirely to open locked portals?

- Material Components: We typically don't worry much about these things, but they are a major necessity for spellcasting. So while relatively simple components might get a hand wave and a pass, ask which spells require notable costs, and expensive or rare components. Because if the party can only bring a handful of those, their absence is going to be felt sooner rather than later.

- Resetting Dungeon: If the players don't complete the dungeon crawl, it should reset or change in a meaningful way when they either abandon it, or hunker down to rest. Perhaps the creatures are reinforced with fresh recruits, or the dead get back up, reanimated by the nature of the place. Maybe creatures that were held in check by creatures the party slew can now expand their territory and wander freely. Maybe the locks reset themselves. Perhaps the traps come back online, or they're reset by monsters who regularly patrol the dungeon. If retreating is a strategic choice, then the dungeon shouldn't just remain in status in their absence.

 

All of these, and many others, are ways you can use limited resources to put a squeeze on your players... and every way they find around one of these constraints is a victory for them. For example, if a ranger can reliably forage well enough to feed themselves and their companions, that removes food as a constraint that can weigh on players. If players have access to fast travel through spells or unique mounts, that also buys them more time, and lets them bypass the dangers of the wilderness.

 

The key here is to get your players thinking in terms of what will use the fewest resources, or what will be most effective, and seeing if it will get them venturing off the beaten path as they search for solutions.

 

Because if you have a thousand arrows, a trunk of material components, and all the healing items in the world, then it's likely your players might try to brute force their way through overwhelming odds by fighting a grueling war of attrition against every monster, bandit, and assassin that comes for them. However, if they just don't have the resources to make that a winning strategy, it can be interesting to see what they do instead. Do the players instead embrace stealth, either ambushing enemies to get the upper hand, or skipping combat altogether to reach the treasure chamber? Do they employ guile, using lies and disguises to hide in plain sight? Do they set traps, or use the ones already in the dungeon to damage or destroy monsters they themselves couldn't fight on their own?

 

When you have access to all the resources in the world, you can get lazy and just do whatever. But when the pressure is on, and you have limited options, that's when people start getting creative with the choices they make... and it can overall lead to a much more satisfying experience!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Crunch post! To stay on top of all my content and releases, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of the page!

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the Azukail Games YouTube channel, or the dark sci fi channel I contribute stories to, The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, my hardboiled gangland noir series starring a bruiser of a Maine Coon with Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Blue Sky, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now Pinterest as well! To support my work, consider Buying Me a Ko-Fi, or heading to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron. That one helps ensure you get more Improved Initiative, and it means you'll get my regular, monthly giveaways as a bonus!