Dungeon Design Tips: Combine Combat With Traps

A while back I put together an article titled Consider Removing Doors From Your Dungeons, and it was popular enough that I thought I'd come back to the topic of dungeon design this week. And before I get into this next topic, I wanted to ask my readers out there... is this something you'd like to see me turn into an ongoing series? And if so, would you like to see it remain part of my Crunch updates, or would you like to see it become its very own section? And, for that matter, do you want it to remain hosted on this blog, or should I put it over in My Vocal Archive?

All input is welcome, as it's the voices of my audience I use to try to guide my decisions going forward. With that said, onto this week's topic!

After all, not all traps are this obvious!

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Combat And Traps: A Match Made In Hell

As I mentioned in the previous installment, a lot of us tend to think of our dungeons in segmented parts and pieces, which we don't allow to interact with one another. If there's a room with an encounter in it, then no matter how long or loud the combat gets, other denizens of the dungeon won't come to see what's happening, even though that's the logical thing to do... it's as if the doors are all soundproof, and none of the other monsters want to overstep the limits of the arena they're placed in. To help break us out of that mindset, my suggestion was to eliminate doors, or to at least leave them open so it's clear they aren't a barrier between what happens in this part of the map, and what happens further away.

However, just as we often section off our rooms and arenas, keeping them separate and apart from one another, we often refuse to let two other parts of our dinner touch; namely traps and combat encounters.

Guys, got a monster! Stop checking for traps and help me!

Consider this. A majority of the time we put traps in long hallways, cramped corridors, and otherwise empty rooms because (whether we're thinking about it or not) we consider the trap to be the encounter in that area. While some doors might have traps on them (thus allowing the trap to act as the opening salvo of an encounter), that is a one-two punch rather than a genuine combination of a trap and encounter. Like having a burger and fries in the same take out container, but they're still not touching each other.

No, this week's advice is to purposefully and deliberately combine traps with combat encounters as a way to create a more dynamic arena, and to increase the difficulty/challenge rating for your players.

There are a few different ways I would suggest thinking about this. Some of those methods, with examples, include:

- Added Threat: Consider a room with hidden crossbows or arrow traps, but which all fire at a height that will hit a Medium creature and not a Small one, and which go off when triggered by a higher weight than a Small creature possesses. This ensures the goblins in the room can run amok, goading the party to close the distance via certain routes, thus setting off additional, hidden attacks. Bonus points if the bolts/arrows are drugged or poisoned, thus creating an additional danger.

- Ticking Clock: We've all been in a room with a flooding trap before, putting a ticking clock on how long players have before they're drowned... but what if there are hungry crocodiles released into the rising waters? Or skeletal warriors who aren't bothered by things like a need to breathe? The water doesn't hurt the characters in and of itself, but it does add one hell of a challenge.

- Battlefield Control: The party steps into a room with a handful of orc archers firing their longbows. Clearly the solution is for the barbarian to charge them so they can no longer take pot shots at the party. But that's when the roaring brute finds, to their chagrin, that parts of the floor are loose, leading to drops into spiked pits. The enemy knows where the camouflaged pits are, and while the party now has to move carefully, the enemy can fire at will, or engage however they wish to.

These are just a few ways that traps can add additional threats to a situation, and create an additional threat for your party to deal with!

With that said, consider some of the following caveats...

Before going ham and adding traps to every encounter, take a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Because when choosing the proper traps to mix into your combat, it's important to consider the following questions:

- Is This An Equal Opportunity Trap? Most traps will likely be avoided by the monsters in the room, but there are some traps which will only be an issue for the party, even if they go off. A poison gas trap, for example, won't affect the zombies in a room, even if it creates a deadly poison cloud that can be a serious danger for the party.

- Is This A Crippling Trap? Most traps are dangerous in-the-moment, but if someone survives the trap, will it create a condition that character now has to deal with for the rest of the dungeon? Something that deals hit points, or which creates a short-term negative is very different than something that gives the victim a permanent negative, or which takes away one of their options to participate in the game going forward. Just like how a monster sundering a fighter's sword is a serious issue that shouldn't be considered lightly, so too is a trap that leaves an effect on a character after the room it's encountered in (other than hit point loss, as that's often reparable).

- Does This Trap Make Sense In This Location? If the party is invading the secret underground lair of a mad alchemist, then it makes total sense for rooms to be rigged with poison gas, explosive traps, and other challenges... but would those same devices be found in the lair of a dragon? Or a defunct crypt that no living person has entered in a century? Just because a trap might make good tactical sense, that doesn't mean it makes sense with the world's internal consistency.

- Is This Avoidable? There shouldn't be a guarantee that a trap goes off. There should be a chance that players avoid it, whether it's moving in a certain way to avoid triggering it, making a Perception check to notice the trap, or having some ability to negate or stop it from going off. Traps that you basically have to set off, or disable while you're under attack, can quickly suck the fun out of an encounter, and they're something you should avoid doing often (or at all, depending on the opinion of your table).

One last thing I would add as a piece of advice here is to choose your traps carefully. Just like how players will get tired of fighting the exact same monster over and over again, or how they'll come up with strategies to deal with specific tactics, a particular trap layout is only going to work so many times before it goes from a new and dangerous threat to an annoyance or frustration.

More importantly, though, is that the real advantage of traps is the uncertainty they create. For example, if your party snuck into a forbidden crypt, and they had to do battle with undead squires to enter the tomb proper, then the lack of a trap might make them confident. But then they have to cross a bridge that is trapped while undead archers fire arrows at them, that might leave their confidence shaken. When they enter the depths of the tomb, and find a skeletal champion and its retainers waiting for them, is the party going to assume this is another straight-up fight? Or will they be moving with caution, wondering where the booby traps are?

A trap only has to happen every now and again for the party to become wary of them. However, traps can grant a serious home field advantage, often allowing a small number of adversaries (or even just one) to take on an entire party of well-armed, well-prepared player characters!

Speaking of Traps...

Part of the reason I was thinking on this topic was that I've been re-reading my recent supplement Ungentlemanly Warfare: A Baker's Dozen of Booby Traps that I put out a little while back for my RPG Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic. I'm slowly gearing up to write a few more missions set in this world to follow up the first release A Night At Breckon's Beacon, and at least one of these missions is going to have a lot of traps as part of the challenge a squad is going to have to face.

Seriously, grab a copy if you haven't yet!

If you're looking for a game that definitely encourages the use of traps as part of the challenge (for both allies and enemies), then grab yourself a copy of Army Men for the holidays! And if you just want some improvised mayhem in your game, well, Army Men is based off of a 5E engine, so if your game also runs on something 5th Edition, or a 5th Edition port, these booby traps should be equally useful for you as well! And while some are meant for dealing with infantry, there are several that are meant for taking out vehicles, as well as their entire crew... so tread carefully!

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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!

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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.

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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)

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 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!

"Well-Rounded" Rarely Works in Pathfinder

There is a desire among a lot of players (and particularly among newer players) to try to build a character that's "well-rounded" when they sit down at a Pathfinder table. They want to put a skill point into Handle Animal, for example, or they want to take 2-3 different classes just so they "have options" when it comes to what they can and can't do in game.

And I get that urge. I do. However, I would like to try to save my fellow players as much frustration as possible, since I had to learn this lesson the hard way over several campaigns between 3.5 and Pathfinder. That is, in short, that the game does not, generally speaking, reward spreading your resources wider and thinner. That's why you have a party.

No one is meant to be able to do everything on their own.

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Increased Challenge Requires Focus To Succeed

As anyone who has played Pathfinder can tell you, as the game proceeds, everything about it gets harder. The difficulty checks for skills get higher, the armor class for enemies goes up, enemy saving throws get better, and so on, and so forth. So while you can sometimes succeed at lower levels with nothing more than a good roll and a higher-than-average attribute, that isn't going to cut it past level 4-5. After that you need to start stacking bonuses from various sources if you expect to succeed.

I put one rank in Intimidate... I should still be able to do this, right?

As an example, say you want your barbarian to be able to move around silently. They're a hunter, after all, so you put a skill rank into Stealth. That's not an inherently bad idea... however, a Stealth check is always going to be opposed by an enemy's Perception roll. And at lower levels that's often going to be a toss up as to whether they hear/see you or not. But if you just leave that one rank in Stealth? Or if you didn't make it a class skill by taking an appropriate background trait? And if there are no magic items, spells, etc. giving it a boost? Well, at level one having a +4 to Stealth means you've got a decent shot of not being seen or heard if you roll well. At level 8 or 10, that +4 to Stealth is nowhere near as good when your opponent has a +12 or more to their Perception score.

You can apply this to a lot of different aspects of the game. For example, identifying monsters and their abilities is a Knowledge roll, but that difficulty goes up with the monster's CR. Intimidating a creature gets harder the more hit dice they have. Traps get more difficult to bypass, spells become harder to resist, enemies get more difficult to hit, and they gain more and more hit points.

So if you want this thing you're putting resources into to be something your character is actually going to succeed at, you need to make the necessary investment to pull it off.

In short, Pathfinder is a game that rewards focused builds. You should be good at more than one thing, but generally speaking any given character is going to have a small handful of things they can be really, truly good at that they should expect to succeed at more often than not. And if you're good at a particular thing, there's a trade off for it elsewhere. It's why full casters don't get a full base attack bonus, it's why skill monkey builds tend to have lower hit points, and so on, and so forth.

End of The Day, You're All Part of a Team

The logic behind this structure is that a party is assembled with the intention that you're all filling necessary roles, and covering certain tasks. For example, the barbarian is here to tank damage, dish out the harshness, Intimidate the enemy (or those who annoy them in social situations), and perhaps one other sub-specialty depending on resources and expenditures. The paladin is here to fight evil foes, but they can also act as a diplomat during social situations due to their class skills and necessary attributes. The wizard is here to provide arcane insight, and to use their spells to provide solutions for their comrades. The rogue is the one capable of disabling magical traps, spotting ambushes, and doing Stealth reconnaissance.

Swap the roles around as your build sees fit.

Now, while the examples given are the stereotypical roles for these character classes, one of the great advantages of Pathfinder is that it gives you a lot of flexibility in which classes can be made to fit which roles. For example, you could make a long-ranged, Stealth-based paladin who can sneak around and provide fire support, while also smiting demons. You could make a rogue who favors a greatclub over daggers, and who runs in bellowing a battle cry when initiative is rolled, dealing out damage on par with many fighters. You can make a bard who's just as adept at dealing with dungeon crawls as a rogue, or a wizard who focuses their skill set on diplomacy and social skills.

However, even when you step outside of class stereotypes, you still have to deal with the fact that every character regardless of the class or classes they take levels in, has a set amount of resources. They only have so many skill points to distribute, so many feats to take, and so much gold to buy magic items with. And if you spread them around to a bunch of disparate, unconnected skills or abilities, then you're going to find that you aren't keeping pace with the challenges you're facing.

Everyone Gets a Turn

A common issue a lot of players run into is they want to be able to participate (if not to shine) in every, single situation. However, Pathfinder is a game where a lot of the time players need to work together to assist one another, handing off the spotlight as one character's skill set comes into focus. Those with Knowledge skills are the ones who discover lore and shout out a monster's weaknesses, those with melee skill engage the enemy to keep them back from their allies, spellcasters utilize their magic to end threats, etc.

While you can build a character to be effective at nearly any task you set, as a lot of people have pointed out, unless you want to keep investing in that ability as you level (increasing your skill ranks, increasing your caster level, increasing your combat prowess, etc.) you are going to fall behind until something you were reliably good at in the start of the game is something that will require a natural 20 to succeed by the time your level hits double digits.

In Other News...

For those who've been following my Sundara: Dawn of a New Age RPG setting, a completely new installment dropped today! This month we take a break from exploring the physical locations we saw in the Cities of Sundara series, with Gods of Sundara, a book that delves into the metaphysical workings of this setting, and what makes it different from more traditional DND and Pathfinder settings.

It only gets stranger from here on out.

For those who haven't been tuned-in, though, Sundara has done away with alignment completely and utterly. There is no divinely mandated good and evil... but this also means there are no angels, no demons, no devils, and so on, and so forth. There is also no huge nexus of the planes as we're used to seeing... there is only the physical, material world and the strange, impossible realm of the Prim beyond it. The place where all magic is drawn from, which is also the realm of the gods. And in Sundara there is not one pantheon, but many, with faiths and religions often unknowingly venerating different Masks of the same god.

So if you'd like to see a more organic take on the development of faiths and deities, or you'd just like to see what tieflings and aasimar were replaced with in this setting, pick up your copy of Gods of Sundara for Pathfinder, or Gods of Sundara for DND 5th Edition today!

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That's all for this week's Crunch topic! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio! Or if you'd like to read some of my books, like my alley cat noir novel Marked Territory, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, head over to My Amazon Author Page!

To stay on top of all my latest releases, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well! And if you'd like to help support me and my work, consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to become a regular, monthly patron! Even a little bit of help can go a long way, trust me on that one.

The Thick of Battle (An Alternate Approach For Mass Combat)

 RPGs are, generally speaking, focused on the deeds and actions of a single party of adventurers. Sometimes there are a few helpful NPCs here and there, but the narrative is focused on the PCs because they're the main characters of the story.

But there are times when the conflicts the PCs join are far beyond the scope of just the party. Whether it's a massing horde of demons trying to break free from a shattered hole in reality, or simply the opposing armies of two nations warring in a great battle, there is only so much the party can do to influence the outcome of this combat.

So how do you realize that in a way that's engaging, instead of boring?

There's too damn many of them!

While there are rules for dealing with mass combat in books like Ultimate Campaign, I've found they generally have the effect of turning what should be a pitched, pivotal moment into a miniatures war game. The party stops being the central characters of the narrative, and they become just one more unit on the board. A powerful unit, to be sure, but just one among the sea being moved back and forth across the map as the battle rages.

If that sort of change in scope and perspective doesn't appeal to you, but you also don't want to set up a massive army of enemy figures and pre-roll dozens to hundreds of combat checks, I would recommend using a setup that I've come to call The Thick of Battle.

The Armies Are Massing (And You're in The Middle of It)

Picture the scene. The party is approaching the last battle with their foe. The dark and secret cult has come out into the open, and they're bringing everything they can to try to clinch victory. They've conjured demons, deployed their armies of black-armored zealots, summoned undead champions from ages past, and the potent sorcerers of the cabal stand, calling down fire and death upon their foes. The heroes have a shining host at their backs, as well as a company of griffin riders, a mercenary unit of drake cavalry, a copse of oaken warriors and their druid allies, and a single dragon who has stood for ages against these servants of darkness.

That is an absurd amount of firepower on both sides, and no DM in their right mind would try to work this all out on an individual basis.

No one.

I've been in this situation probably half a dozen times as a player. The endgame is near, and you've called in all the favors you've built up since the beginning of the campaign to bring a full force to bear. What keeps things feeling epic, without losing focus on the PCs, is that the action never shifts away from them.

But at the same time, they're not fighting everything by themselves. Let me explain.

Before the battle really gets going, determine the important zones of conflict across the field. If the party was defending a town, for example, you might have the main gate, the bridge at the southern entrance, and the beach where a water assault might happen. Watch where the party sets up their defenses, and when the assault starts just track who does what, and how long it takes.

Time is of the essence, here.

For example, say the enemy stages an assault by giants on the main gate to draw attention. Conveniently, that's where the party is. When that happens, start the timer. Does the party try diplomacy and parley? If so they might stop the giants from attacking for a time, but the pre-arranged 10 minute secondary assault at the southern bridge begins no matter what's going on up north. Now what happens? Does the party fight the giants and hope the southern bridge holds? Do they trust the giants to abide by any agreements and flee south to reinforce?

Or you could reverse the situation. Say the party laid traps and an ambush at the gate, and the giants are dealt with in less than a minute. With that force of enemies no longer a concern, the party can move to instantly reinforce any other zone that's hit. If they cast buff spells on themselves, track those effects to see what carries over from one fight to the next (especially things that increase their movement speed, allowing them to reach other combat zones more quickly). Now when the pirates come sailing toward the beach, or the enemy mercenaries attempt to take the bridge, they're not only dealing with the NPCs and prearranged defenses, but also the party they expected to be occupied elsewhere for this fight.

Keep Everything in Motion

While the focus should always be on the party, the entire battle needs to be in constant motion around them, with changing situations spilling over as things develop. If the skald is playing atop the wall to boost their comrades, ask how many NPCs are likewise bolstered in their battles. And if the party can provide long-range support (given the 400+ feet a lot of spells can reach), ask what happens if the wizard or the sorcerer sends some arcane artillery into a nearby field to aid their allies.

You wanna get nuts, fine... let's get nuts!

You, as the DM, are still going to have to reduce the other fields of combat to a miniatures game that you can quickly resolve with a few rolls of the dice in between rounds. Whether it's the duel between the black cloaks and the skeleton brigade, or how well the combat between the drake riders and a squadron of enemy bat cavalry goes, you need to be able to present those background struggles as poignant moments in the chaotic swirl of combat.

But they should also act as a way to change future battlefield conditions... for better or worse.

For instance, say the party is trying to take a hill being held by a heavily entrenched enemy. If the dragon defeated its previous opponent, the party might be able to call down its breath weapon like an air strike, giving them the chance they need to advance. If a group of warriors defeated a nearby encounter, they might swarm up the other side of the hill, splitting the enemies' attention so the party can progress. Or if a nearby ally was overwhelmed, now there are plodding zombies reeking of rot and disease closing on the party's position while they're pinned down from above.

To make your life simple, allies should act as a situational modifier or bonus support, while enemies should show up as monsters to be dealt with. Firstly because action economy is a serious consideration, and secondly because the whole point is to focus on the experience the PCs are having during the battle. The actions they take and the choices they make will effect the outcome, but they need to make those choices while in the thick of things rather than sitting on the other end of a chess board.

This Won't Be For Everyone

The key thing to remember is that this strategy won't work for everyone. Some DMs may like preexisting rule sets for mass combat, while others might like the idea of moving to a minis game that has its own, simpler resolution mechanics for dealing with big battles before zooming back into the action.

With that said, my experience has been that if you make the party scramble to keep up with the battle on a larger scale, you get more satisfying results. This is doubly true for being able to break out magic items, spells, and other pieces of equipment that are meant for larger battles and bigger scales, but which just don't come up all that often during regular dungeon delves.

Also, if you're a DM who's looking for inspiration for forces to call on in a big battle scene, you might find the following supplements by yours truly to be of interest:

- 100 Random Mercenary Companies: From battlefield evokers, to howling, roaring berserkers, these free companies have every kind of warrior one could hope to field. Allies and enemies alike may be found in here, should one have the coin or the favor to pay them.

- 100 Knightly Orders: From noble banner bearers defending the realm, to the brutal, shadowy enforcers who hunt the darker corners of the world, there are orders in here for nearly any circumstance you might face. Good, evil, and more than a few in between.

- 100 Cults to Encounter: Whether they're servants of dark lords, or the hidden aids of nature faiths, these cults can often be just as dangerous as allies as they are when they're enemies. In addition to cults, though, you might also find the entries in 100 Secret Societies to be of interest!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday!

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 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!

To Puzzle, Or Not To Puzzle? 3 Tips on Making Them Work

Halfgard's shoulders bunched, the cables of muscle springing out in stark relief as he strained against the doors. After a silent eternity he howled, pounding his fist against the stone vault. The doors gave no more sign to his blow than they did to his attempt to force them to open.

"Hmm," Vinland said, looking up at the inscription in the stone with his arms folded.

"Hmm?" Halfgard panted, rounding on his companion. "We've been down here for hours, and that's all you can say?"

"Yes," Vinland said, crossing the room to a small altar worked into the stone. He knelt before it, and rested his hands on the grooves in a traditional pose of prayer. There was a click, and the stone shifted, turning on an invisible axis. Halfgard stared at the corner, the stone fitted so smoothly he couldn't even see the seam.

"Where did you go?" he shouted at the wall.

"I'm inside the vault," Vinland's muffled voice said. "Go to the other altar. It looks like it moves the same way."

Halfgard stalked across the expanse, snarling as he snatched up his ax. Deep down, though, he was glad he'd brought Vinland along. These ancient tricks and misleading locks were his specialty.

Well it seems obvious, now that you've pointed it out.

 To Puzzle, Or Not To Puzzle?

Puzzles are almost a tradition in fantasy RPGs. They show up in other genres, of course, but from the riddle to enter the Mines of Moria, to every dungeon in Legend of Zelda ever, we're almost expected to have a puzzle or two in our fantasy games. Ancient riddles to prove one's worth, a tricky lock that can't just be picked or brute-forced open, or even something involving repositioning mirrors or activating occult sensors with the proper spells and rituals are something most players are used to seeing.

As a DM, however, you may run into a problem when a puzzle pile drives your pacing, and leaves your players feeling frustrated instead of challenged.

All right guys, I've got an Intelligence of 20, and no ideas. Open to suggestions, here.

Some groups absolutely love puzzles. Other groups despise them with the fervor of a thousand suns. While it's true that puzzles can feed into the lore of a setting, they can provide a fun break from the action, and they can leave a group feeling satisfied that they were smart enough to see through the wordplay, or to figure out the correct answer, that is not a universal experience.

If you want to make sure that puzzles work in your game, I'd recommend keeping the following in mind.

Tip #1: Have Mechanical Options Attached To It

Our characters are capable of a wide array of feats that we, as players, are not. Too often when a dungeon master plops a puzzle down on the table, though, they just expect the players to solve it using their own wits and experience. The same thing often happens with characters who have high social attributes attached to players that don't... if the character might have the ability to make a connection or recall a useful piece of knowledge, make sure the player gets to roll for it.

Can I please just roll for this?

Maybe, if you're exceptionally lucky, your players will just figure out a puzzle by doing it themselves. If so, fantastic, let them have that victory! But if they aren't making headway, or they're barking up the wrong tree, have some rolls in place to guide them toward the correct solution.

These rolls can take literally any form you can think of. For instance, if there's a riddle attached to the puzzle, ask if there's a myth that plays into it that might give some insight with a Knowledge (Religion) check. If it's wordplay related, or written in another language, ask for a Linguistics check in order to get a clue. Maybe it's something as simple as a high Perception DC to spot the moving parts, or just using Spellcraft to try to understand the matrix of the magical lock. Whatever you choose to use is up to you, and will change for your puzzle and your party, but if they can't just dope it out on their own make sure the bone you throw them is due to their character's attributes and roll successes, rather than because you got tired of waiting.

Tip #2: Provide An Alternative Way Forward

What can make puzzles so frustrating is that they often represent a solid block that you need to solve in order to progress. If you can't actually solve this puzzle, then everything grinds to a halt. That sort of thing might be fine for a video game, where you can only program the one path forward, but if you're a dungeon master you should come up with at least one alternative. More is nice, but try to have at least one.

You could make it harder, tough to find, or a lot more dangerous if you want, but your party shouldn't be left standing there staring at a secret word find for half an hour because none of them have figured out the proper answer for it.

Look, I've run the numbers. The shadow portal is just going to be less frustrating, even if it kills us.

For example, say the party needs to solve some ancient riddle to open the way forward into the tomb where a dread necromancer was buried. If the party can solve that riddle, baller, go forth and feel smart because you did the thing!

If they can't solve the riddle, though, make sure they have some alternative path forward. If the wizard wants to shadow walk past the physical barriers and teleport the party into the crypt, let it ride! If the rogue wants to sneak in through the collapsed chambers beneath the necropolis to try to come in underneath, make that an option, too. Heck, if the sorcerer can mold the stone out of the way, or the barbarian's adamantine great ax can hack through the barrier, let them do that instead!

But make it clear that while these alternative paths might very well work, there may be increased risks. Spirit guardians that can attack those in the shadow realm, communes of ghouls who've made their homes in the ancient tunnels, or just traps and fail safes that get triggered when someone tries to brute force their way past the actual locking mechanism. It's still a way forward, but it comes with problems.

Not problems the group can't overcome, or something that's meant to force them onto a single rail... just an added difficulty that will have to be handled.

Tip #3: Make The Puzzle Matter

Too often puzzles end up falling into the same category as random encounters. They're not meant to add to the lore, or to increase the atmosphere; they're just a challenge that needs to be overcome. Like a non-lethal version of a trap.

But they can be so much more.

The riddle of the iron serpent! I remember my master told me about this one...

A good puzzle can play into the lore of the setting, the location where it's found, and the traditions of this arc of the game. Whether it's the vaults of the Serpentis Dictatum, who were renown for their snake-based mechanisms, or the unique burial chambers of the Mountain Kings that were made to confuse and trap those who would rob from the royal line, the puzzle should feel like an organic part of the setting as well as a challenge to be overcome. Whether it's a collection of vines and pulleys found in a goblin hole in the jungle, or a relic built by the giants of the eastern mountains, a good puzzle never feels out-of-place or shoved into the adventure.

Lastly, Make Sure Your Players Like Puzzles

This one should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyway. If your players don't like puzzles, it's probably not a great idea to try to win them over by making them solve your puzzle. Read the room, and if your table only solved the puzzle grudgingly because they felt like they had to, then it might not be a great thing to include going forward.

If you just want to add some variety to your dungeons, and to make things feel lived-in, you'd be better off grabbing a supplement like 100 Detailed Things To Find in a Dungeon. With luck your players will enjoy your puzzles more if you keep the above three tips in mind, but like any other element of a game, don't include it if you're the only one who finds it fun.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

That's all for this week's Moon Pope Monday!

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 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!