How Is Your Party Connected?

The dread necromancer Elara Shann, wreathed in funerary black. Kurdack Deadhand, a hulking orc-blooded brigand that's Wanted in seven nations. Litana Veil, Voice of the Queen of Shadows. Vor, the red-skinned devil speaker born from the ancient Rite of Conjunction beneath the darkened moon. While each of these characters might be interesting on their own, each with their own backstories like what you'd find in The Small Legend, it's important to ask how it is they all know one another, and what brings them together in this endeavor?

Because that knowledge can make your campaign go a lot more smoothly... and sometimes it can be funny as hell!

It has been some time, my old friend. I suppose I have one more adventure in me.

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!

Who Are You Adventuring Beside... And Why?

Campaigns take a wide variety of forms. From glorified bank heists, to tracking down dangerous bounties, to fighting cults and stopping ancient prophecies, so-called adventurers tackle all sorts of deadly tasks that are beyond the skills of any single individual. The question you should ask, though, is when you need to deal with a dragon problem, or root out a roost of manticores, who are you going to ask to come along on this errand with you?

Because that can be an interesting story all on its own!

Ragnar, you old sot! Remember that favor you said you owed me...?

On the one hand, we can have the vague, fill-in backstories to justify the party coming together. Perhaps a local lord put out the word for adventurers to deal with an infestation of the undead, the party were all taken captive by slavers and they band together to free themselves, or they all happened to be in the local tavern when something happened that required them to leap into action. And if the players around the table are willing to take the plot hooks dangled in front of them, this can work fairly well.

But consider what additional story could be made by creating the bonds between the characters in order to create extra context and story. For folks who don't usually try this method, the best way to do this is by examining what things the characters have in common, or what things might act as a bond between them.

As an example, consider a party where all the characters have a missing father. Maybe that was done intentionally, and maybe it wasn't, but it's a commonality with them. Is it possible that all of them have the same father, and they're looking for him? If you want to play into a silly stereotype, said father might be a wandering bard who moved on from town before realizing his previous partners had fallen pregnant. And each of his children has a very different tale to tell, from the half-elf wizard whose mother described him as learned and quick, to the half-orc fighter whose was told her father was a fierce champion with a battle cry that could banish fear and a rage that couldn't be matched, to the farm girl paladin who was told her father was the most handsome man who ever graced the village, and that he'd sung the dead back into their graves when they wouldn't lie still. Each tale is true, in its way, but each paints the man in a very different light... and when the siblings find each other, they have a chance to find more than just their absent father. Bonus points for him being the BBEG of the game!

Come my children... join me, and together we can rule!

Things don't have to be so explicit and overlapping, of course. Characters might have an individual connection to one another, and it becomes a game of tag along. For instance, one character might be a noble born wizard, and when attacks from raiders harry the border of his family's lands, he's bound by honor and duty to go stop it. However, he knows going alone is a death sentence, so he asks his father's Mistress of The Hunt to come with him. The ranger understands the danger, so she reaches out to a warrior she served with in the army. The fighter has a bit of a limp and several scars, but he agrees to come with on one condition... the wizard gets a pardon for his half brother. The half-elf rogue has been rotting in jail for months, but jumps at a chance at freedom, even if it's a dangerous one... and his partial sibling will be keeping an eye on him the whole time.

In this scenario, all the characters are still highly motivated to deal with the problem that's been presented, and each of them has a connection to at least one other player character that's strong enough to solidify them as a member of the party. However, this still allows them to form impressions, roleplay organically, and come together as a closer group by the time the initial challenge is done with... and that bond likely means that when they uncover a deeper threat, or a new problem rears its head, the party will saddle up once more to handle business.

This Is One Of The More Fun Parts of The Game

A lot of players don't go through this stage of the story, they just create their characters in a vacuum and expect them to come together when it's a necessity... but a lot of the time this leads to friction and problems because players had different ideas and visions for how the game was going to go. That can all be avoided by sitting down and adding a little extra polish to the story.

For instance, does one player have a barbarian character who loathes spellcasters, and another player is bringing a sorcerer? Well, figuring out a way to make that less of an issue before the dice hit the mat can be an interesting challenge. For instance, does the barbarian believe the sorcerer was touched by the gods because he was there when their bloodline manifested, so that character is an exception in his mind? Do both characters want revenge on the same person, so they've agreed to work together until that goal is achieved before they settle their differences? Are they actually related, and no matter how much it twists the barbarian's gut, it is dishonorable in the extreme to slay one's own kin?

Getting your table into these little story writing sessions, and finding answers that gets everyone excited for the game, is a great way to start off your first session with a bit of momentum, and I highly recommend folks at least try this method out if it isn't a part of your Session 0 setup yet!

Lastly, if you'd like to check out some supplements of mine that can help with chiseling out the details on your character, consider taking a look at:

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations: Picking a direction and putting gas in the tank, this supplement helps you figure out what they want, and even why they want it.

- 100 Questions To Ask About Your Characters: Everything from what their favorite food is, to what kind of partner they'd like to marry, and even how they want to die, there's a lot of questions in here!

- 100 Dark Secrets: If your character is holding something close to their vest, something that could change the way people perceive them, this supplement can get your imagination flowing.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

Just Because The Mechanics Say You Can Do Something, That Doesn't Mean You Should

When playing an RPG, the mechanics are how you interact with the world your character exists in. The mechanics are what determine whether a blow lands or misses, whether a character can lift a particular burden or not, whether a spell is successfully cast, and whether someone is robust enough to overcome a deadly poison.

With that said, just because the mechanics allow you to do something, that doesn't mean that you should do that thing. And players and Game Masters need to learn to have these conversations respectfully so that everyone can enjoy the game, and set their expectations accordingly.

Just because the manual says you can, please don't.

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 If We Removed The Naval Blockade?

An example of what I'm talking about comes from book 1 of the Pathfinder adventure path Hell's Rebels, Hell's Bright Shadow (and there's a Pathfinder 2E conversion for this adventure path, for those who are interested). For those who haven't played it, the adventure begins as a fascist tyrant takes control of the city of Kintargo, and the city is cut off from trade via a naval blockade. The purpose of the blockade is to make it clear that there are a limited amount of resources in the city, and that players will not be able to simply travel somewhere else in order to acquire more limited resources. While it exists, mechanically, the purpose it serves is to turn the city into a pressure cooker.

You aren't supposed to try to remove the blockade. Even if you are technically capable of doing so.

When I played this adventure path, my vigilante and his sorcerous sidekick figured out that we could destroy this blockade with relative ease at early levels (it was after level 2, but before level 7, my memory is vague). The vigilante had acquired an adamantine gauntlet, and with his focus on delivering punch-based attacks, that gauntlet had proven the bane of locked doors, jawbones, and a building or two in the city. We sat down, and did the math. Using magic to allow the vigilante to breathe underwater, and a pair of swim fins for movement, he could easily scuttle the warships without the crews being able to do much in the way of retaliation before the ship sank. The sailors were prepared to fight the city, or other ships, not to go beneath the waves.

Not even bell diving marines!

However, when we came to our Game Master with this information, we did so asking, "If we did this, would it work?" Both in the sense that we wanted to know if our math and rule interpretations were correct, and if there was something we didn't know about that might come to bite us. Paraphrased, the answer we received was, "Yes, you could do this, but please don't, I'm not set up for that."

And upon receiving that answer the two of us nodded, fist-bumped, and then went back to the plot we'd actually been hip deep in, regarding fighting back against the city's new "mayor" and his crack down on freedom and expression.

Capabilities, Actions, And The Arms Race

I've talked about this before on this blog, but when players and Game Masters are adversarial, the use of mechanics can become and arms race. Players are trying to find the super special combination of abilities and resources that will allow them to destroy the Game Master's plot entirely, while the Game Master focuses less on creating a world or telling a story and attempting to control, punish, or counter what the players are doing.

And I can tell you from experience, this is a bad dynamic to put in place. Firstly, because it divides the game into winners and losers (something you should try to avoid in most RPGs), and because the Game Master always has more than the players do. They have access to every monster, every spell, every magic item and conditions... but "defeating" the players isn't the goal of the game.

It's a zero sum game, and those aren't fun to play.  

Take the above example, and consider what would have happened if there had been an adversarial approach. The Game Master could have installed secret panels underneath the ships, blocking attempts to scuttle them by putting in hidden adamantine armor. They could have put shock troops on the vessels, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice to deal with the vigilante's plan. Or they could have upped the ante, let us scuttle the blockade, and then sent in a far more aggressive force that would have complicated everything else from that point forward, giving us more enemies, more resistance, and so on.

But it was just easier, and more expedient, to have a simple conversation where it was made clear those ships don't have stats in the book, and they exist as a plot device to facilitate the current challenge. While our numbers were correct, bringing in such an outside event would lead to ripples they didn't want to deal with. And we, as players, respected that.

And this is the kind of conversation you should be able to have between GMs and players. Whether it's players going too far afield in a direction that will make FAR more work for the GM than they signed up for, a player misunderstanding how a mechanic works and being corrected by a GM, or even a GM asking a player to please limit their use of particular abilities or resources that are becoming a problem, it's important to be able to talk things out collaboratively.

Generally speaking, acknowledge that all of you are there to make a better story, and to have fun doing it. In this case, consider the players as actors, and the Game Master as the director... you're all allowed your own visions, and you should be working together so that the final product best suits what all of you want.

You all have the same goal... or, at least, you should. And cooperation always leads to a better result than instigating a mathematical arms race over whose methods will be victorious.

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

You Aren't Your Character... You're The Author (A Perspective Shift)

We've all had those moments sitting around the table where things don't go our way, or the story gets complicated in a way we wish that it hadn't. Too many of us end up frustrated by this, and we can end up dejected, losing our zeal for the game. As someone who has rolled more natural 1s in a single session than some players have rolled in an entire campaign, I understand, and feel these feelings. However, there is an interesting mental trick you can use to help deal with fate going against you.

Remember that you aren't your character... you are the author of their story.

It can be a small thing... but a helpful one.

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

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

A Step Back, And A Different Perspective

When we make our characters for an RPG, we tend to get really close to them. We construct their lives, we talk with their voice, and in some cases we even crawl into their skin. However, when we take on the role entirely, we tend to equate the character's success with our own success... but also their failure with our own failure.

And on the one hand, that is the double-edged sword of roleplaying; you get the highs and the lows. However, it can be interesting to take a moment to purposefully consider yourself and your character as separate entities, and to treat yourself as the author of their destiny. So the question is not whether they win or lose... the question that you're treated to becomes, "And how are they going to deal with this twist of fate?"

Okay, that failed... but HOW did it fail?

Take a situation that is far from uncommon in RPGs at early levels. The party was ambushed on the road by something (bandits, goblins, or even a cadre of wandering undead at the behest of a necromancer), and despite their best efforts, they fell in battle. Now, that might be disheartening, but if the characters aren't dead yet, then the story continues on. If they awaken in the wilderness, injured but alive, now they have fresh challenges to meet. If they were taken prisoner, or are being held hostage for ransom, there is now a fresh arc in their story to tell.

A fresh arc that you, as the player, should be excited to tell. Because yes, it might be frustrating that the dice didn't reward your character with a victory in the last episode, but in this fresh episode there's a new danger, new stakes, and a fresh path to take and explore!

And just how the hell are we going to get out of here?

 

I will say that this shift in perspective only works if you have a GM who is following the advice I gave in Dungeon Design Tips: Find A Reason For PCs To Survive (And Try Again). Because there is a huge difference between being able to follow a character's journey through misfortune, and being able to just shrug off a character dying, and being told to go make a new one. Generally speaking, there needs to be some kind of reassurance that a character doesn't die upon their failure in order to keep players interested and engaged.

Put another way, if you're reading a fantasy novel, and the protagonist blacks out after being stabbed in a duel, and you still have half the book left to read, you usually keep reading because you want to see how they come back from this. Was the protagonist bound and put in prison? Are they wounded and on the run? Are their whereabouts kept secret for a few chapters until they return in some way? Because we will absolutely accept that a character has failed, fallen, and is facing fresh difficulties... but if we open a new chapter on the latest installment of our favorite series only to find that Conan is dead, and some random character we've never heard of is taking over for the titular barbarian, a lot of us are going to give up and stop reading entirely.

Clarification and Closing Notes

Now, to be absolutely clear here, I am not saying that GMs cannot kill PCs. I'm not saying that characters should never die, and that they should be given chance after chance to try, try again. However, what I am saying is that if the primary failure state is death with no way to undo it and continue the story (even if undoing it is difficult, convoluted, or both), it becomes very hard for players to get invested in their characters and to be excited to see what twists and turns are coming.

Because if the character dies, there's no more story to follow.

Additionally, I am not saying that players should think of themselves as the author of the entire campaign, and to view their character as the protagonist. Rather, every player is writing their character's story, but that story is prompted by the game world around them. This helps engage your sense of the dramatic, and to actually tell a story, instead of just focusing on whether the character is winning or losing, succeeding or failing, which can make for an overall more engaging story for yourself, and for everyone around the table!

It's a cooperative exercise, and putting on your writer's cap can get you thinking about your character and their actions as a part of an unfolding narrative, instead of just something personal to you and your own scoreboard. It also makes those fail states sting a little less when you view them as plot twists to roll with, instead of the dice punishing you arbitrarily.

And now, to tweak things just a little more...

Lastly, I wanted to offer some additional reading for folks out there. Because putting a few finishing touches on your character can make it that much more interesting to pull them along through their adventures! So, if you want to go a little deeper with the next character you put together, check out:

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations: Why does your character keep going? What are they trying to accomplish? Answers to these questions lie within!

- 100 Dark Secrets: Just what it says on the tin, this supplement provides you with a slew of secrets to bury in your backstory... you should probably tell your GM about them, though.

- 100 Questions About Your Characters: Everything from their favorite foods, to where they learned their skills, to how they want to die can be found in this supplement, rounding out a character's finer details.

- 100 Tips For Being A Better Player: Lastly, this is for the players behind the sheets. Everything from table etiquette to habits that will help you have more fun at the table, I highly suggest giving this one a read!

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 the ongoing audio drama channel The A.L.I.C.E. Files! Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my latest short story collection The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Telling A Silent Story

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

For very long, at least.

The blade has a long and bloody history.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

Legacy Campaigns: A Fresh Chapter To Continue Your Story

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

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

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

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

A New Chapter In Your Quest

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Master Resources

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

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

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

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

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

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sandbox GMs are a majority of my readers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- Escort a caravan down to the next town

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

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

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

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

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

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

The World Needs To Move Without Them

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

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

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

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

It's a rough life on the bloody seas.

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

 

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

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

 

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

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

- 100 Tips and Tricks For Being a Better Game Master

- Towns of Sundara

- 100 Character Goals and Motivations

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

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

Moving From Reactive Characters To Active Ones In Your Tabletop Games

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

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

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

When was the last time the king cleared the board?

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

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

Motivation Is Only Part Of The Formula

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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

Dungeon Design Tips: Limited Resources Can Lead To Creative Strategies

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

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

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

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

Putting Pressure On Your Players

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

 

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

 

Think this will be enough ammo for the quest?

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

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

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