Consider Removing Doors From Your Dungeons (Dungeon Design Tips)

We've all had that moment in a dungeon crawl where we find ourselves at a door, asking whether or not to open it. After all, doors represent the possibility of risk. It might be trapped. There might be an ambush on the other side of it. There might be a hoard of treasure. Or it might just be an empty bunkhouse, a derelict kitchen, or a broom closet.

However, doors also serve another purpose we don't often think about as Game Masters... they segregate the arenas where things take place. After all, ask yourself when was the last time a monster opened the door instead of the player characters? When was the last time something occurred  that drew enemies, curses, or even allies from beyond this current room/location when there were doors present?

While doors have their uses, this week I want us all to consider what might happen if we take a few of them off their hinges, and ask how that would change things in the games we run.

This entry was inspired by the post Doors Are Terrible by Manowaffle.

Consider, for example, the archway and its implications.

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!

What Happens If You Remove The Doors?

Consider, for a moment, the humble door. At its most basic, this door represents an action sink; it typically takes some kind of resource for someone to open the door, leaving them unable to use more of their turn (especially if an ambush occurs or a trap goes off once the door is open). It also, as has been mentioned, functions as a kind of boundary (in our minds, if not on the board). Because yes, we might be academically aware that the thin, wooden door isn't going to stifle the sound of a barbarian's roar of bloodlust, or the blast of the gunslinger's weapon, but nine times out of ten it doesn't matter how raucous the combat is. As long as no one opens the next door, nothing is going to come to where the party is because it's out-of-bounds in our minds. Sure, monsters might hear a commotion, but they'll just set up an ambush behind the door, and wait for the party to come to them.

Who knows what the hell is behind these doors?

Now take a moment, and ask yourself what would happen if you put your players in a dungeon that didn't have doors in it... or at least had significantly fewer doors. Perhaps there were once doors, and they've rotted out in the dank. Maybe the doors were smashed out during a previous siege, or maybe the location merely has grand archways that never had doors in them at all. You might have hanging curtains for privacy, or even chains and beads, but nothing really separating one room from another.

Do you have that image clearly in your head? Good. Now ask yourself what kind of dynamic movements this lack of doors offers for your game.

Take your traditional setup for a dungeon, where the party comes in from the south to a big, square room that has additional doors to the north, west, and east. Think of it almost like entering a dungeon in Legend of Zelda. Instead of just dealing with whatever the threat in this main chamber is, unconnected from anything else, your party is now acting in an organic environment. Can they sneak past the goblin guards in the main room, angling themselves into the side chamber? If they begin combat, what will it take to draw the interest of any other forces in the complex? What kind of patrols of monsters exist that they have to be concerned with?

And, most importantly, how will the party (or their enemies) use these open doors to their strategic advantage?

Does the paladin stand in the doorway behind his tower shield, protecting the ranger while they ply their bow? Does the rogue duck into the shadows, sneaking from one archway to another to stab unsuspecting foes in the back, or to fire their crossbow unseen? Does the dynamic space make the ability to shape the battlefield with illusions, smoke bombs, or other forms of concealment more powerful? Does the party genuinely have to contend with size restrictions, using narrow spaces to thwart larger foes, or grappling with smaller enemies who retreat into crawlspaces that leave bigger characters easy prey?

These are all questions we don't really think about when we're sectioning off the parts of a dungeon in our minds, and constructing specific arenas that have specific, laid-out challenges for our players to deal with. But when we open up the entire dungeon, and treat the whole thing as one, connected, Rube Goldberg device that's ready to go off with movements the party can only partially stop, it can become a much greater challenge.

So Where Should There Be A Door?

Now, it's perfectly possible to build an entire dungeon without a single door in it. After all, hallways, thresholds, stairs, and other locations are still perfectly viable locations for traps, ambushes, and so on. However, doors do still serve a valuable purpose, and there are several places they should be. But their presence should feel organic, rather than taken for granted. For example:

- Exterior Doors: These doors keep out invaders as well as the weather. Whether the doors are huge, like castle gates, or relatively small like postern doors, these are meant to be serious barriers that are not overcome lightly.

- Security Doors: Typically found at a choke point, think of the sort of doors you'd find at the entrace to a cell block in a prison, or for gaining access to a deeper part of a castle or fortress. These doors are meant to be defensible, and difficult to pass through without a key, the proper tools, a spell, or some combination thereof.

- Vault Doors: The ultimate door, a vault is the highest possible security. Whether it's defending some great treasures, or it's keeping unfathomably dangerous beings locked away, these doors are typically strong enough that you can't just smash through them with brute force even if you have time to try. They require a combination, answers to a riddle, or even proper spells to open.

Now, other than these big three categories, ask yourself why interior doors are necessary in a given location. Because if access is meant to be free and easy (such as between the back and front of a shop or a tavern), then chances are good there will just be a curtain, or at most a swinging, batwing-style door. The doors of an inn are likely to be closed off to give guests privacy, and the doors of a prison are locked and barred to prevent escape. But will the huts and cottages in a village even have interior doors? Or exterior doors, for that matter? Would an aging castle exposed to the elements for centuries still have doors now, even if it once did? What need for privacy would a crypt have, especially if there was nothing valuable buried inside the vaults? Would a place meant to be open to the public, like a church, have more than a handful of doors to ensure only specific people could easily access specific locations?

Again, whether a door does or doesn't belong on the map is a choice that's ultimately up to you. However, it is worth stopping to ask how we let the presence of doors funnel us into one-challenge, one-arena thinking, which can make an RPG feel far more like a game, and far less like an unfolding experience for your players... good or bad.

However, if you do want to have doors in your dungeons, consider using some of the following resources:

- 100 Doors To Find In A Dungeon (as well as a Pathfinder version)

- 100 Secret Doors To Find In A Dungeon (which also comes with a Pathfinder version)

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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 my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary! 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 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!

If It Can't Be Killed, Don't Put It On The Board

I've been playing tabletop RPGs for the entirety of my adult life, and I've been a Game Master for a not-insignificant portion of my time at the table. And while there are a thousand and one moving parts that we could talk about when it comes to our games, I want to discuss one of the most important aspects that it is all too easy to fumble when you sit behind the screen.

Namely that if you're going to put something on the table, then you need to be prepared for it to be killed. Even if there's no reason your players should try, or if the chance of them succeeding in this task seems infinitesimal, you need to be ready for it. Because if the impossible happens, it's important to concede with grace, rather than trying to pull some last-minute deus ex machina because you wanted to use that character again at a later juncture in the campaign.

I am speaking from experience, here.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, 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!

The Agreement Between Players and Game Masters

There's a social contract between players and Game Masters that is often unspoken, but quite important. Among other things, we all agree that the world in which our stories take place will weigh equally upon all characters in the game. Now that's not to say that all characters will be equal in power level, ability, or toughness (that's clearly not true), but we all agree that the rules are there to govern everything in the world.

If the troll hits the wizard, and does enough damage to crush his skull, then that's what happened. However, if the sorcerer hits the troll with a fireball that does enough damage to reduce the troll to a cinder, then the GM should let said troll die. Even if they were meant to be a bigger threat, or to flee from the combat to inform their superior about the intruders, or if they were supposed to be a recurring bad guy throughout the campaign who would be beaten time and again, sometimes the math says no, this character is dead.

Fortunately, dead isn't always dead for long.

Now, as an important caveat to this statement, both player characters and their antagonists often have ways of undoing (or outright cheating) death in a particular RPG. In Paranoia, for example, player characters all start with a certain number of clones that can be shipped in when they're dead. Similar contingencies can be used for villains, as that's part of the existing ruleset. Dark Heresy, and other Warhammer 40K RPGs, use your Fate attribute as a resource you can spend to avoid being permanently killed. And while average NPCs don't have enough Fate to pull this off, important, named antagonists do, meaning there's a contingency option if players pull off a surprise victory and you want your villain to live another day.

This isn't always a game-specific caveat, either. Games like Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and others often have some form of resurrection magic in them, as well as various lesser forms of re-animating someone if they've died. In addition to spells like raise dead and reincarnation, one might also be turned into a powerful undead, be sworn to the service of a devil, or granted a favor by an angel to come back. There's all sorts of reasons for characters to come back on the board, and if you need any kind of inspiration all it takes is a basic flip through the supplement I'm Back- 25 Reasons For a Villain's Survival to get your juices flowing!

However, all of these items mentioned function off of mechanics that exist in the game, and these are (at least in theory) things that anyone could access under the right circumstances. More importantly, use of these options does not take away a victory from the players if they earned it; their accomplishment still stands, even if a villain they killed or defeated is resurrected somehow at a later time into a new, deadlier foe.

With all of that said, I feel this next piece is important, and I say this as someone who has made this mistake in the past (namely in my module The Curse of Sapphire Lake for those who have played it). In short, you should not build a campaign assuming that a villain can get away when you want them to. Whether it's a monstrous war leader, a cowardly necromancer, or just a noble lord revealed as a twist villain that you expected to be able to escape from your party in a dramatic moment, if the player characters caught or killed them fair and square, don't take that away from your players... even if it means you have to get creative with how you continue the story from that point forward!

A Note on Gods, Outsiders, and "Untouchables"

A large number of games (particularly fantasy games) tend to escalate things to the point that players take on the gods themselves, attempting to kill them with the power of math. Games like Call of Cthulhu or Changeling: The Lost might even go so far as to directly position gods (or at least godly figures) as the antagonists of their games. However, the question you need to ask for yourself, and for your game, is whether these godly entities operate on the same playing field as the rest of the characters, and if they are going to interact with the player characters in any meaningful way.

If these godly entities are bound by the same mechanics as other characters, and if they operate on the same plane of reality as other characters, then these things are also able to be defeated (even if true death is a far more difficult state to achieve for them). If they aren't bound by the same mechanics, or they don't exist on the same plane of reality, then one could argue that these entities shouldn't be involved in the campaign beyond the absolute necessities, if at all.

This will vary by table and taste, of course. However, if there are powers beyond the players' ability to challenge, and those powers are going to be playing an active hand in the story they're participating in, then it can feel like those things are just the GM's hand in a very visible sock puppet. That's not to say that you should tirelessly stat out every single entity the players might possibly come into contact with, but rather, ask yourself if there is a dialogue in the challenge, or if it's utterly one-sided. If something can affect the player characters, but there is nothing those characters could do in any way to affect that something in return (perhaps because it simply doesn't have stats) sit with that for a bit and consider the message that might send to your players.

Further Reading

If any of today's post resonated with you, or if you'd like to check out more advice like this, I'd recommend taking a look at 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master as well as 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better RPG Player. A lot of the advice in these supplements condenses the best tips I've given here on this blog over the past decade or so, squeezing them down into a simple, easy-to-digest format!

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 Daily Motion channel!. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my dystopian sci-fi thriller Old Soldiers, 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 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 Case For Using Recurring NPCs in Your Game

Before we get started on this week's topic, I wanted to take a moment to ask a favor from my regular readers. Recently I put together an article titled If 90,000 People Read This Article, I Can Pay My Bills This Month. The piece goes into the sheer, ridiculous numbers that creators need to have in order to get any amount of money for their work, and it emphasizes the importance of community support.

So if you want to help me actually stay one step ahead of my bill collectors, please give that article a read, and share it on your social media pages. Or, if you want to help more directly, please consider becoming a Patreon patron, or even buying me a Ko-Fi to help me get through the challenges 2023 is throwing at me.

And now, on with the show!

The Case For Using Recurring NPCs in Your Game

I return, singed, but triumphant.

We all know what NPCs are. After all, it's right there in the name; non-player character. Any person in the game world who isn't one of the players' avatars falls into this category, from the bartender at the local tavern, to the head of the thieves' guild, to the king who gave them the quest, and the lich lord they're opposing. Everyone not under the direct control of the players is an NPC, and they're all being puppeted by the Game Master.

However, there are a lot of GMs out there who will treat NPCs like tissues; they use them once, and then throw them away. That's why this week I wanted to take a moment to explain why I think recurring NPCs are an important part of a game, and why GMs (and the players) are better-served by a rotating cast of established characters than they are seeing new faces all the time.

Point #1: It Leads To Greater Investment

I mentioned back in Death, and Its Role in RPGs that when you have a game with a high lethality rate, players don't get overly invested in their characters. The same thing happens when you have NPCs who vanish from the narrative once they've walked onstage, said their lines, then walked off again.

This isn't to say that every NPC has to be a long-term commitment. Sometimes people are only there to serve a minor role, or you don't have big plans for them in the story. But when the PCs interact with the same cast of characters repeatedly, they begin building relationships with those characters. Whether it's as comrades, or as long-term antagonists, this can really enhance the game over time, and get your players immersed in the narrative instead if just dismissing NPCs because they know they won't be present long enough for any meaningful interaction.

Also, if your players tend to kill any enemies you put in their path, consider checking out I'm Back!, which is a supplement specifically for explaining villain survival and/or resurrection when we thought for sure they were permanently dealt with.

Point #2: It Emphasizes Consequences For Player Actions

It's been said (by me, in 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master) that a majority of your job as GM is just to watch what your players do, and give them appropriate consequences for the actions they take. Because from small decisions like choosing to show kindness to the beggar on the street, or big decisions like taking their enemies in alive to face justice, are all far more meaningful when the NPCs circle back around as an active part of the narrative.

For example, say the party rogue tosses a coin to the street urchin outside the tavern. You could just leave that as a one-off encounter, and nothing ever comes of it. But maybe word gets around about the rogue's generosity. The gang of boys said urchin belongs to starts coming around more, and the rogue ends up becoming something of a teacher and a patron to them. These NPCs can be used as a way to get information to the party, to introduce new quests, etc., but their continued presence is a direct result of player action, showing them that attempting to build rapport has results in this game.

Alternatively, consider PCs who broke up a cult, killing the cult leader. Are they kind to the followers? Do they take the time to deprogram their hurtful beliefs, or do they just abandon them? If the former, do these ex-cultists become squires and apprentices, helping the party? Do they reintegrate into society, watchful against threats like the cult that swept them up? If ignored does the cult reform, with someone new reaching out to the dark powers that their leader had tried to wield? Whatever happens, it should be tied directly to what the PCs did (or didn't) do.

Point #3: It Makes Things Easier For You As The GM

This point is third on the list, but it's first in my mind as the GM because it falls under the work-smarter-not-harder ethos. Because if you've already put in the time and effort to create NPCs who fill certain roles in the story, and those characters are known quantities who are already on the table, why do that job again, and again, and again instead of utilizing the resource you already have at your fingertips?

Don't be afraid to get creative with this one, either!

For example, let's say you had a tailor who helped the party prepare for their debut at the duke's ball. The wild-haired gnome took every question, no matter how strange, in-stride and formed a budding friendship with some folks in the party. The ball went splendidly, and the PCs now have to seek out a guild of spies that the duke claims are undermining the government, and leaving them vulnerable to outside enemies. And sure, you could just create a whole new set of NPCs for that role... but why not bring back Marselie the masterful tailor as a representative of the Red Thread Society? This adds a new aspect to the character, and it might make the PCs question who's side they're on, and who is lying to them about what's really happening. Is the duke telling the truth? Is the society the tailor belongs to really a bunch of freedom fighters? Or are both sides trying to use them as pawns?

Alternatively, say the PCs are in a tight spot, and you're looking for some narrative reason that will keep the story going, but which won't feel like you just gave them an out. Perhaps they're captured, and locked in the villain's dungeon... but the henchman put in charge of them is a bandit whose life they spared several levels back. He owes them, and makes them a deal. If he unlocks their irons, and leads them to their gear, then they'll get the price taken off his head by the governor who gave them the quest once they've dealt with the warlord who's building a dark army. This both shows that the PCs' previous actions have consequences, and it gives you more tools you can use to further the story without introducing any new elements.

Also, as a final benefit, this strategy can make it look like you had deeper plans than the players were initially aware of... even if you tacked on the secret backstories or surprise appearances of these recurring NPCs based on who the party had the best (or worst) interactions with in the past.

Need Some Extra NPCs in Your Game?

Folks who've been following my work know that over the past few years I've put out a lot of content that revolves around giving Game Masters extra NPCs to draw on should they need names, personalities, and descriptions in a hurry. If you want to have a list of NPCs you can quickly draw on to fit your game, and who might become recurring characters, consider grabbing some of the following:

- 100 NPCs You Might Meet at The Tavern: This was my first Gold metal book from Azukail Games, and you get what's on the cover. Hedge knights, traveling boot makers, wandering merchants, an elven gang lord, and more can all be found between these pages!

- 100 Merchants to Encounter: My second Gold metal winner, this one is meant to spice up the shopping experience, and to make getting gear (particularly rare, unusual, or even illegal items) more than just a numbers game. From strange fey creatures who appear in glades at sunset, to suppliers of assassination supplies who operate toy shops as a front, to Crazy Olaf's hock shop geared toward those looking to offload all their dungeon trash, there's all kinds of options to make shopping an actual experience in here.

- 100 Random Bandits to Meet: Whether you're looking for a dangerous, recurring antagonist like The Maneater or Dreadskull, or you simply want the hoodlums and highwaymen your party encounters to have a little more personality (and something that would justify roping them back into the story later) there's all kinds of rogues and rebels in this supplement. For those in a seagoing campaign, consider checking out 100 Pirates to Encounter, as well as 100 Prisoners For a Fantasy Jail if you're going to be spending any time in lockdown.

- 100 Nobles to Encounter: From dragon-riding warriors, to strange, long-lived lords of the moors, to seat-holders of the dwarven enclaves, the nobles in this supplement could make for powerful friends, or foes, depending on how the party treats them. So whether you need quest givers, schemers, plotters, or patrons, there's a slew of options in this supplement. Or, if you want something with a little more depth to it, consider taking a look at A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families!

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 Daily Motion channel!. 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 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!

Don't Gatekeep Being a Game Master

There seems to be a debate over what makes somebody a "real" Game Master. I've seen my share of flame wars, and even caught my share of flak in comments from people who had very strong opinions on this subject. Since it seems to be a hill that a lot of folks are willing to die on, I figured I'd come in with my take on it this week.

If you run games, then you are a Game Master. Full stop.

It's not a complicated take, I'll grant you.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, 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!

Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

It's A Thankless Job

Anyone who has ever taken the plunge and run a game, I salute your efforts to do so. Whether it was a basic game like Hero Quest, or something more complex like Pathfinder or Traveler, my statement stands. I don't care if you built your whole world from scratch, you used a premade setting and made the plot yourself, or you just ran a premade module right out of the can. Whatever game you ran, whatever system it was in, and whether it was an evening one-shot or a 6-year-long campaign, you were the captain of the ship. And I say good on you.

All of you are worthy!

There are a lot of folks who will argue on this point. Those who say you're not a "real" GM if you don't build your own setting, or create your own plot. Those who claim it "doesn't count" if you run for children, or if you run casual games instead of hardcore chronicles with serious tones and adult themes. There are people who roll their eyes at games with combat focus or heavy rules, and there are going to be people who do the same at rules light games with a story focus, each of them claiming people who run these aren't real Game Masters.

This is ridiculous behavior, and we should do our best to stop it wherever we see it.

A majority of tabletop games still require someone to sit in the big chair and run the game. Someone has to be at the wheel, setting the direction, leading the narration, and so on. Even if they want something simple, even if they want to do something wholesome, or even if they enjoy a game with a lot of numbers, or not a lot of numbers, somebody has to run. So appreciate the Game Masters you have, and support those who want to try their hand at it so that we can get fresh blood behind the wheel. Because if my experience holds, there are always going to be fewer people who want to run a game than there are going to be people who want to play.

That Doesn't Mean Every GM Meshes With Every Player

With that said, just because someone should be recognized as a Game Master, that doesn't mean they should be your Game Master.

Sometimes people shouldn't play together.

To reiterate what I said in Let People Dislike Things, we've all got our personal opinions about stuff. Some Game Masters want to have total control of a scenario, going so far as to run games where they make the characters themselves, giving their players blank sheets and leaving them to figure out who their characters are from context clues. Others want to run graphic content, or stick to sillier, funnier games. Some want to run games from the Old School Renaissance style, others want to run the current edition of a current game line. And just like Not Every Product is Made For Every Gamer, not every Game Master is going to be ideal for every player.

It's perfectly all right to have preferences. There's nothing wrong with saying you prefer not to play with someone who runs a system you don't like, who uses house rules you disagree with, or who focuses on the kinds of themes you're not interested in. But once you've made it clear that's not your bag, there's probably nothing else to talk about. So unless you have a particular subject you want to discuss, and you can do so respectfully, there's probably nothing to be gained through further participation.

There is no right answer when it comes to these discussions. It just turns into Marvel and DC, Star Wars and Star Trek, Song of Ice and Fire and Lord of The Rings... everyone has their preferences. Some people will like both. Some will like neither. But even if something isn't to your taste, don't try to slam the gate on others because they play/run differently than you like or prefer.

Extra Content For GMs and Hopeful GMs

If you're running games, or planning to run games, consider dropping by my extra large pinboard of supplements to find the tools to help you with the heavy lifting of running an RPG. In particular, consider checking out 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master! You may also find the following articles to be of-use:

- I Don't Really Care What Gary Gygax Had To Say: A lot of the time people will hold up well-known RPG designers they agree with, as if an opinion has more weight because a celebrity said it. Opinions are still opinions, and your table should find what works for them.

- 3 Ways to Spice Up Combat in RPGs: As the title suggests, this list is a simple rundown of ways one can change up the fights in their games so that they're more than just you and the players quoting numbers at each other until the PCs or the antagonists fall down.

- Character Concepts: The Anti-Party: Too often we have the PCs just going up against a single bad guy... but since there's a group of PCs, why not have their dark mirror as the antagonists? Whether these are fresh enemies made during the game, or mined from their backstories, there's a lot you can do with this simple concept!

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 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 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!

Game Masters, Use Epithets to Help Players Keep Track of Your Setting

Keeping up with all of the information being conveyed in an RPG is tough enough when the game is set in a fantastical version of our reality like you see in Shadowrun, the World of Darkness, and similar settings. When we're in a realm that's utterly different from the mundane world we call home, whether it's a world of high fantasy adventure or beyond the furthest stars into the deep black of a sci-fi galaxy, it can feel downright impossible to keep track of where you are and what's going on.

It's easy to overload your players with made-up names that just bounce off their memories when those labels don't have any context to go with them. A simple trick that I've used to great effect, and which you'll see in settings ranging from Golarion to Hyborea is to use epithets to immediately convey the tone, character, and flavor of a place, while making it much easier for players to get a feel for immediately, and to remember long-term.

Okay... which place was that? Aromath? Anondale? It started with an A, right?

Before I get too deep into this topic, you all know the drill by now. If you want to stay on top of all my releases, sign up for my weekly newsletter. And if you want to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron today! Every little bit really does help.

Taking a Page From Robert E. Howard

If you're like a lot of folks out there, chances are you've only heard the word "epithet" used as a metaphor for curse words. It's an old strategy that lets writers sidestep editorial finger wagging. However, the word "epithet" actually refers to an accompanying word or phrase applied to a person or a place to describe either an actual or an attributed quality.

King Richard the First, for instance, was Richard the Lion-Hearted. That epithet immediately brings to mind virility, power, command, and other traits associated with it... and it makes him damnably easy to remember out of a cast of other nobles at court.

I know that heraldry... the Iron Wolf rides with us!

While this trick can work really well for making important characters stand out (which is why I recommended using it in Character Reputations in RPGs: The Small Legend), it's equally useful for making sure your players get a quick, clear sense of locations and what kind of flavor and personality they have.

If you've read any Robert E. Howard (the guy who created Conan the Barbarian), you've seen this trick in action. With cities like Shadizar the Wicked or Agraphur the Crown Jewel of Turan we immediately get evocative imagery that gives us a broad, memorable idea of what these places are. Paizo did this in their Golarion setting with books like Cheliax: Empire of Devils, as well, which immediately gives you the vibe you need to know what this nation is all about. It's also a trick I used with Moüd: City of Bones, Ironfire: City of Steel, and Hoardreach: City of Wyrms as three examples of my Sundara setting, too.

Come on... you know you want to find out more about this!

Now, to be clear, you don't need to use this tactic with every, single location or important character you create. In fact, you probably shouldn't overuse it, otherwise it will create a background hum that will leave players feeling unsure of what's important and what isn't. But if you need something evocative that immediately makes a person or a place stick in your players' minds while conveying the broad thrust of what they are, then I cannot recommend this strategy highly enough!

Also, if you found this advice helpful, consider checking out my 5 Tips For Creating Fantasy Towns and Cities as well!

There's Plenty More Where This Came From!

For those who are looking for more handy pieces of GM advice, make sure you check out 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master!

Seriously, it's full of solid tips to save you time and energy!

Additionally, it's the third Saturday of the month, which means that my latest expansion for Sundara: Dawn of a New Age is out! If you've been following the Species of Sundara books, then you're in for a treat, because my take on orcs is now out for both Pathfinder Classic and Dungeons and Dragons 5E!

A new direction, but built on a classic foundation.

This particular series of expansions started with elves (which you can find for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E) and moved on to dwarves (also available for Pathfinder Classic and DND 5E). Halflings are next, and then after that, we're moving onto the Blooded... so stay tuned!

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel 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 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!

Game Masters, Don't Make Your Players Hold The Idiot Ball

If you've watched any long-running TV show, or even most popular movies, then you're passingly familiar with the idea of an idiot plot. These are, in the broad strokes, plots that only happen because someone (or everyone) abandoned critical thinking and good sense for no apparent reason, thus letting things spiral out of control to create the plot. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is an obvious modern example, where a supposed professional and expert in the field of magical beasts has to make so many amateurish mistakes and poor decisions for the film to happen that it beggars belief he would ever be allowed to work in a pet store, much less near genuinely dangerous magical creatures.

Ooooh... I wonder what this one does?

We see this kind of plot over all sorts of different media. James Bond gets captured because he walks face first into obvious traps that any experienced spy should have seen coming. Batman, supposedly the world's greatest detective, goes haring off on a wild goose chase because he didn't do the most basic bit of proper deduction. John Q. Normal nearly destroys his one chance with his dream partner because none of his friends slapped him, and pointed out all the massive, obvious mistakes he was making that are necessary for this romantic comedy to be longer than 5 minutes as they clear up a silly misunderstanding.

If you're a game master, it's all too easy to rely on idiot plots to get your party involved in the game. In the name of making sure no one around the table feels like they're being railroaded or talked down to, do not force your players to pick up the idiot ball.

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Playing Catch With The Idiot Ball

The idiot ball is a term for when a character who is normally rational and competent suddenly and inexplicably throws their knowledge, experience, and good sense out the window so that plot can happen. Thought of another way, you throw the idiot ball at a character, and when it hits them they make inexplicably bad decisions due to the impact rattling their brains.

Too often a GM will build an entire game around expecting the party to suddenly set aside good sense and rationality in order to get on board the plot bus. And when they don't do it, a lot of GMs will exasperatedly try to force the characters to make objectively bad or unwise decisions just to move the story along.

Don't do that.

Yeah... why are we doing this, exactly?

Firstly, Create Proper Motivation

Let's use an example here so we're all on the same page. Let's say your party's path goes through an old, abandoned mining village. They're heard rumors about this town, and the supposed haunts that lurk within it. The fastest way to get to their destination is to just ride right through the town, but giving it a wide berth would be smarter and safer. So your players choose to do that, adding half a day or so onto their travel time.

As the GM, you may have that entire camp drawn out and prepped up, filled with zombie hordes, and haunts, angry ghosts, and maybe a necromancer in the depths of the abandoned mine. But with the scenario given, there is absolutely no reason for the party to put themselves directly in harm's way if all their expertise tells them to just go around and avoid stepping in the bear trap.

Don't cut off their escape routes and force them to go through the town just because it's what you had prepped to go. Respect their decision to take the safer road. And then, if you really want them to go back to that mining town, figure out a logical, sensical way to motivate these particular characters to go kick in the door on their own.

I remember that place. Supposed to be treasure in those tunnels, you believe the legends.

For example, if the party was trying to get to the next town over to deliver a package, let them accomplish that goal. Then, once they've finished, drop a fresh hook to go back to the haunted camp. Somebody in town looking for bodyguards on an expedition? Did a contact they were supposed to meet go to the camp and not return? Was the Blood Brand gang, whom the fighter has a grudge against, supposedly holed up in that place, using its reputation to keep people away? Does the dwarven rogue overhear a myth about veins of silver and gold left untapped, speculating that it could be enough to pay off the massive debts they owe while retiring from this adventuring life?

It doesn't matter what reason you use to get the party to want to go to the location you have prepped... but you need to make it their decision to chase the carrot you're dangling. It's why if you read any of my modules like False Valor, The Curse of Sapphire Lake, or even Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh, the first section after the intro is a note to the GM about ensuring the PCs all have proper motivation to be part of this plot. Because without that motivation, there's nothing to stop them from riding right on past.

Secondly, Respect Player Agency and Decision-Making

Even if you get your players to go to the place you want them to go to (which isn't always easy), there's still a chance that they manage to just avoid everything you had planned out.

Again, examples work best here.

Guys... please just step in it? Please? I worked really hard on it...

Let's say the party goes to the camp to look down the tunnel to find treasure. Now, part of the challenge you have is that there are traps and haunts in the various out buildings, and your plan is for the party to trigger enough of them to wear them down a bit. However, the party glances through windows, or peers in through doors, and when they don't see anyone or anything in there that would pose a threat to them, they shrug and move on. As such, they don't trigger any of your carefully laid threats, and they walk right into the main tunnel completely unscathed after using no spells, potions, or special abilities to overcome your threats.

As the GM, this really screws with your plans because you were expecting those hazards to become an issue. But the players doing things the smart way (or just being lucky that they were focused on the mine and indifferent to other areas that actually contained hazards) should be rewarded. Trying to come up with a contrived or flimsy excuse to get the PCs to go into those outbuildings is basically hurling the idiot ball at their head and demanding they go into a place for no apparent reason when they have a necessary goal somewhere else.

Like I said in The Best Zombie Game I Ever Played (Where Nothing Happened), the best thing you can do as the GM is to respect your players' autonomy and decision-making, even when it messes with your plan or your plot. Don't force your players to go down particular paths, or try to dictate what happens. Instead, make sure you know the goal you want them to reach, and let them figure out how they're going to get there on their own. It makes for a smoother, more enjoyable game at the end of the day.

There's a reason this tip made it into my supplement 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master, after all!

Additional Reading

If this week's post struck a chord with you, I wanted to point out some of my other posts on similar subjects that might be of interest too!

- 10 Unique Prompts For Your Next Campaign: If you're just not sure what you want your next game to be about, but you want something that will really grab your players' attention, then you might want to check out a couple of entries off this list.

- Onion Plots, An Alternative to Linear Storytelling For Game Masters: Something I put out only a few weeks ago, this one made quite a splash. It touched on similar themes, but was more about overall plot and campaign construction.

- 3 Ways To Spice Up Combat in RPGs: Combat can often become a boring, repetitive slog if you aren't careful. These suggestions offer alternatives that can change up a fight, and inject some additional challenge back into things.

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel 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 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!

Onion Plots, An Alternative to Linear Narratives For Game Masters

Every game master knows the pain of players wandering off into the weeds, and away from the plot they had ready. The challenge in this instance is respecting your players' autonomy to go where they want and to explore the world in their own way, while also trying to get them to actually go toward the destination and story you have prepared for them. And no matter how artfully you push, players can feel like they're being railroaded and just driven along the preset path without any choice when you start manipulating things from behind the scenes.

Something that can often help in this instance is to think of your plot not in terms of a line between A and B, but rather as if it were layers of an onion. It doesn't matter where your players start peeling at the onion, because any point of entry can progress them closer to the goal.

Ogres are optional.

Before I get into the details, if you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates then all you have to do is subscribe to my weekly newsletter! And if you're a regular reader who wants to help me keep the wheels greased and the lights on, consider becoming a Patreon patron today!

What is an Onion Plot, And How Does It Work?

When most of us think of plot in an RPG, we tend to think in terms of straight lines. The party fights goblins in encounter A, this leads them to go up road B to the caverns, and then to go into cave C to slay the leader and rescue the hostages. If they deviate from this path (the party ignores the goblins and keeps moving, they save the town but elect not to go up to the caverns, or to go a different route than the one you prepared, etc.) it can throw you for a loop as a GM.

Instead of thinking of the game in branching paths, like you get in video games and other linear narratives, you need to think of your game in terms of layers instead.

It's just one mask atop another mask.

So, let's take the following campaign premise. The central thrust of this arc is the goblin war chief is raiding surrounding towns. However, the chief is doing this at the behest of a local nobleman in order to justify a clamp down from the duke who wants to expand his military presence. The goblins provide destruction, take hostages, steal things, etc., and this gives the duke the political leverage to recruit, train, and deploy more of his own men across the region. An action that, in other circumstances, would be highly suspicious. Once the duke has an iron fist across the region his plan is to consolidate power, and to draw more allies to him. He then plans to repeat this success with other monstrous allies, growing his forces exponentially until his personal army rivals the king's, allowing him to seize power.

That's the whole onion, and your players are going to start on the outermost rim of it. The actions they take, or don't take, is what determines how they get to the next layer.

Say they defend the town from goblin attack, because they're in the town and it was at least partially self-defense. If they track the goblins back and kill the warchief in the caverns, so much the better, that will end the threat entirely. If they don't do that, word will spread back to the chief about the stiff resistance from one particular village. So now goblin forces will need to be drawn away from other towns and raids, bringing the fight to the party. This will eventually force the party to fight for their lives, as even escaping may be impossible. In either case, the goblin threat will be dealt with, and the party will have thrown a spanner into the duke's plans.

Now you've entered the second layer. The duke wants to expand control over the area, but with his goblin allies defeated he has to now take another tack. Perhaps he approaches the party to try to recruit them to his army. If the party agrees, you now have the ability to send them out to "problem" areas that aren't in the duke's hair, hoping they are killed so his plans can continue. Perhaps the "rebellion" they are putting down informs them of the knights who came, executing dissidents and hanging so-called traitors without authority, thus showing the duke's hand early. Perhaps young men were being press-ganged into the army, and the townsfolk are resisting what is basically the kidnapping of their young men. If the party refuses the duke's offer, then the nobleman can send his own men disguised as bandits to try to assassinate the party and eliminate them that way. Either way, the party faces danger, and in the end will become a much larger thorn in the duke's side.

And so on, and so forth.

Focus on The Goals Instead of The Methods

This is something I've said before, but it bears serious repeating. Focus on what you want the party to do, rather than how you want them to do it. If you create the scenario, just roll with what actions the PCs take, keeping the big picture in mind.

Trust me, it's ALL connected!

The major advantage of thinking of your plot in terms of layers, rather than in terms of lines, is that it stops you from getting overly hung up on how you want the PCs to accomplish their goals. If they want to fight the mercenary band of orc raiders, cool, throw down in a field and call it a day! If they want to wage a campaign of assassination and poisoning, taking the orcs out one by one, that gets the job done, too. Maybe they want to negotiate with the orc leaders and become their new paymasters, giving them a fair wage and benefits to staff the abandoned fortress the party recently acquired. If that's within the sensible nature of the leaders of the band, there's no reason that couldn't work... and if you want to throw in a complication like the mercenaries' mates and children are being held hostage by a cult forcing them to fight, now the party can save the children, defeat the cult that was going to be the next big enemy early, and make a slew of new allies in the process!

If you think of your plot in terms of layers of complication that are fluid, and able to respond and change to fit what your party does, it allows you to give players that freedom and agency, while also maintaining some kind of structure for the story you're trying to run. Because you may not know how the party is going to defeat a given challenge, but whatever they do is going to cause ripples, and that will peel back the layers as they go.

Additional Reading

I didn't have any organic way to work in some links for my other articles and projects, but folks who liked this article should definitely check out the following.

- The Onion of Secrets (A Character Concept With Layers): This unusual character concept piece is the one that indirectly inspired this Monday's post. As such, I figured those who want to make characters who keep a lot of different secrets going might enjoy it... applicable to PCs and NPCs alike!

- Critical Hits: The Curse of Sapphire Lake: With the spooky season upon us, I thought I'd share this module of mine for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. It's been struggling to get over that Copper metal status, so check it out... especially since it offers your players multiple endings depending on the actions they take!

- 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest: A system-neutral list of potential incidents, this is always a good one to keep up your sleeve if you want your players to stay on their toes while they're traveling through fey territory.

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, its sequel 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 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!

Game Masters, Goal-Oriented Players Need Challenges (Or They'll Eat The Setting)

You thought things were going to be great at first. He was enthusiastic, and involved, and really following along with everything. It made you feel good to just let that energy wash over you, channeling it into the activity. The problem was that you left him alone without anything to engage him. He didn't have any toys to play with, or anyone else to spend time with... you thought it would be okay, but you didn't realize just how much destruction could be wreaked out of boredom, and the search for a greater purpose.

You were busy, so I may have, ugh, toppled the throne and assassinated the king.

While this is usually a concern that homeowners have for pets that require a lot of stimulation and play time to prevent them from becoming destructive, or for zoos who want to keep their animals engaged through enrichment activities, this metaphor also applies to a certain type of player. I say this as a goal-oriented player myself, pleading for the game masters out there to listen.

If you do not give us tasks to complete, we will make our own fun. And nine times out of ten, you're not going to like the direction we wander off in.

Also, if you haven't signed up for my weekly newsletter yet, consider doing that! And if you missed my latest announcement, the first supplement for my new RPG setting is out. So grab your copy of Ironfire: The City of Steel for either Pathfinder or DND 5th Edition today!

Toss Us a Pumpkin, Already!

There's a variety of different players you'll share table space with, and no two of them are entirely the same. However, it has been my experience that goal-oriented players tend to be like high-energy herding dogs, or tigers in captivity; we need to have activities in order to keep us occupied and moving forward. I love story rich games, I greatly enjoy lore and setting, but for me to be engaged with a game I need to have a goal I'm expected to achieve... and if one isn't put in front of me, I'll go find one.

"What's in your mouth?" The Necronomicon... "No!"

To be clear, here, you can't just toss a goal-oriented player any old task and expect them to immediately be engaged in it. As a GM, talk to your player, review their character, and get a feeling for their skills, the arcs they want to pursue, and the stuff that will get the player's attention. Or use a Session 0 creation sheet, possibly using 10 Questions To Put On Your Character Creation Document as inspiration. Then figure out a way to tie it to the direction you want them to go.

As an example, if your goal-oriented player shows up with a big bruiser packing a greatsword, and your player tells you they want to get their character knighted for their deeds, find a way to dangle that carrot. If the game you're running is a political drama, don't let the hulk wander off to start bar fights or see how many city guard it takes to put him in jail. Instead, let the bruiser get involved in preventing an assassination attempt, and give them a title from a grateful lord as a reward. Once they did something using their skills and received a reward they'll be locked in more firmly, and as a bonus you now have an NPC mouthpiece you can use to give them more tasks to accomplish (sending them along as protection with the party, asking them to root out conspirators on behalf of their new lord, etc., etc.).

If you give goal-oriented players a chance to use their characters' skills to achieve their goals, they will turn all of that attention and energy toward solving the game's plot. Usually in the direction the reward came from, which is exactly what you want them to do.

The Arms Race

Something that's happened in several games I've been part of that were either extremely open-ended, or where certain players/builds simply couldn't participate by following the path as it was laid out, is what I call the arms race. Or to be more descriptive, it's an escalation of tactics and methods as a player attempts to participate in a meaningful way, despite road blocks and challenges being put in their path. Because while the GM might think they're discouraging the goal-oriented player, they're actually making the problem worse by unintentionally giving them what they want.

You know how they say kids act out to get attention? It's partly that, if the only way they can get time in the spotlight/interaction with the world is going against the grain of what's expected, but the other issue is that goal-oriented players need a challenge to overcome. So by handing them a challenge, you're giving them what they want... the problem is that if this isn't a challenge you want them to get past, all you're doing is frustrating your player as well as yourself.

There's an army over there? Like... how big of an army? This is getting exciting!

The arms race is frustrating for everyone involved, because when you're the GM you're trying to send the message, "This is the wrong way, turn back!" But when you're a goal-oriented player and you find a way around, over, under, or through the road block, it can feel like the GM is punishing you for succeeding when you did what it feels like they asked; you overcame the challenge they laid out. And if the GM just create bigger obstacles to try to send the message more clearly, the player is just going to keep meeting the challenges and getting more frustrated when they don't receive rewards for their efforts.

And it becomes a cycle of endless frustration for all parties involved.

So if you start seeing goal-oriented players going off in directions you didn't anticipate, or which are causing problems, don't just slap bigger threats in front of them. Sit down with the player, and ask what they're trying to accomplish. Work out a solution, and re-direct their efforts in a way you feel is helpful, and which gets things moving more in the direction you were aiming for.

If you want them to stop setting things on fire and carving out their own kingdoms, engage them. I promise you directing that energy will be worthwhile, and once you've got their noses pointed in the right direction it's full steam ahead!

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 YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my cat noir thriller Marked Territory, 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 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!