A Spooky DIY Initiative Tracker (Just in Time For Halloween)

Before we get started with this Monday's entry, I'd like to let readers know that I've finally taken a suggestion on something I've ignored for a long time... I'm starting a newsletter for all of my content! If you don't want algorithms to let my updates slip through the cracks, subscribe to my newsletter and you'll get updates every Monday on what's going down. Newsletters will keep you abreast of what's going on here at Improved Initiative, but you'll also get updates from The Literary Mercenary, my latest Vocal articles, book releases, new gaming supplements, news on what events I'll be attending (when that's a thing again), and more!

Additionally, if the subscribe link here gives you a hard time, scroll down to the bottom of the page and sign up there instead. The first newsletter should be going out this coming Monday, so make sure you're on the list!

Now then, for something fun, crafty, and just a little spooky. And to give credit where it's due, I stumbled across this idea from Geek and Sundry.

Death Comes For Us All (In Order of Initiative)

Well would you look at that? Bad guys go first.

Initiative is one of the tensest moments of combat. Everyone is readying themselves and hoping they can get into the fray and strike the first blow, while also hoping to evade the worst their enemies have to offer. While a lot of DMs out there simply make due with some scrap notebook paper (or with a cheap LCD tablet, if you're a futuristic kind of dungeon master), that's one more thing to juggle behind your screen. Even magnetic initiative trackers like the official Pathfinder Combat Pad from Paizo don't solve this problem.

But what if you could make a simple, vertical initiative tracker that made the combat order obvious for everyone at the table, while also adding a hint of spook to your games? Well, here's how you can do just that with a couple of bucks, and less than an hour of actual crafting time. All you're going to need for this is:

- Container (coffee mug, skull of your enemy, etc.)

- Floral foam (pool foam will work in a pinch)

- Craft knife

- Terrain piece (extra dice or stones work fine, too)

- Thin wooden dowel rod

- Clothespins

- Marker

And that's it!

So What Do You Do?

Trust me, this is a piece of cake.

First things first, you want to identify your ideal container to use as the base. Right now we're in the middle of Halloween decor season, which means there are all kinds of skull cups and mugs out there. You want something that's got a bit of heft to it so it won't topple over unexpectedly, but you also want to make sure it isn't going to take up too much space on the table. Something like this skull pen holder, for example.

Come on... look at this damn thing!

Once you have your base, take your craft knife and your floral foam, and use the former to shape the latter to fit. You want a steady base that doesn't wiggle, if at all possible. Ideally the floral foam should sit a little way below the rim of your cup, as well.

After the foam is situated, take your small wooden dowel and push it down through the middle of the foam. You should now have a small pole sticking up from the foam. All you have to do at this point is open up your clothespins, and write the names of the PCs (or the names of the players, if your group is always the same), and then label one as Bad Guys. Perhaps a second for BBEG, when there's going to be a powerful bad guy and then all the lesser bad guys after them. Write the names along the legs of the clips, and ensure the can be read from both sides.

When you first set the initiative order you clip the clothespins near the top of the dowel, going in descending order from first to last. Then, once someone has taken their turn, you rotate their clothespin to the other side. This shows the initiative changing, and since the names are on both sides, you can just flip then back to their initial position as you go through the next round!

Add The Final Details

Once you've checked to make sure your clothespins hold and spin properly, all you have left to add are the fine details. Stuff to take your new initiative tracker from functional, to finished!

If you want your dowel to be extra secure, consider using some glue to hold it in place. Don't soak it to the point that the foam is glued into the cup, but be generous. Once you have the dowel where you want it, add in some terrain along the top of the foam (moss and soil, fake grass, small rocks to form a bier, a pile of small skulls, or even just a handful of spare dice) to camouflage the top of the foam.

Also, if you want to go the extra mile, you can stain the dowel so it's nice and dark. You could give your clothespins the same treatment, but keep in mind the names on them need to be legible.

Once you've done all of that, you've got a handy, vertical initiative tracker that's attractive, economical, and which adds a little spook to your table!

Also, if you're looking for some more handy things to try for your game, make sure you also take a moment to read through:

- Organize Your Spell Cards With a Portable Spellbook!

- Need Cheap Minis? SCS Direct Has You Covered!

Like, Follow, and Stay in Touch!

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

Again, for more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, and stop by the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio. Or if you'd prefer to read some of my books, like my 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!

Everything Has a Weakness (So Be Sure You Know Your Options)

There is an old saying one of my martial arts instructors taught me when I was young; soft on hard, hard on soft. The idea was that you need to match the type of strike to where you're hitting your enemy, otherwise you're going to do more damage to yourself than you will to them. The stomach is a soft target, so you strike it with a fist for a hard blow for best effect. The head is a hard, rigid target so you should use a softer blow like a palm strike instead of a punch so you don't shatter your knuckles on your opponent's skull.

What does that have to do with gaming?

We've all had those moments in our games where we've run face-first into a wall. Where the enemy's armor class was too high, their strength too great, their damage resistance too big, or their movement speed too fast. When you come up against one of these challenges, you've basically got two options; throw up your hands and admit defeat, or switch tactics to strike at their soft spots.

Dammit, parried AGAIN?!

I'll be talking about Pathfinder here, but the basic theory can be applied to almost any game. All you have to do is ask, "What is this enemy bad at defending?" and that should be the first step of your strategy.

A High Armor Class Isn't As Unstoppable As You Think

Take your shot, there's a 20 on that die.

One of the most common situations you'll run into is an enemy with a really high armor class. Maybe it's a rampaging tank, or a magically-augmented machine, or your party just wasn't built to for the battlefield, but for whatever reason you need to roll really high just to land a hit on this thing.

The issue is that you're probably attacking the enemy's biggest strength, when you should instead be either attacking something different, or reducing that strength in some way. When you find yourself facing this situation, consider alternative options like:

- Attacking a Saving Throw: It doesn't matter what kind of armor you have on when a fireball goes off, or the illusionist hits you with color spray. This typically requires use of a spell, but items like grenades and thunderstones as well as wands and scrolls make this option available to any PC.

- Attacking Touch Armor Class: Whether you're hucking a tanglefoot bag or shooting a scorching ray, it is generally much easier to hit a target creature's touch armor class than their standard one. While not all items/abilities that hit touch armor class will deal damage, many of them can cause useful status effects that will make the combat easier.

- Attacking Combat Maneuver Defense: A big, bad suit of armor and a heavy shield can make someone tough to hit, but it doesn't add anything to their combat maneuver defense. So whether you want to trip them, disarm them, or grapple them if you're really sassy, this can be an extremely useful alternative attack strategy. It will provoke attacks of opportunity, of course, and the higher an enemy's size, Strength, and Dexterity are the tougher it's going to be to succeed... but it should be considered all the same.

- Reducing The Enemy's Armor Class: There are dozens of ways you can reduce the enemy's armor class in order to make it less potent. Items like a tanglefoot bag (or tanglefoot arrow, if you want to keep the target at a distance) can provide a serious advantage, as can spells like adhesive spittle. Tripping the enemy puts them prone, which gives you a +4 advantage to hit them. Sundering their shield or armor would mean they no longer gain a benefit from that particular item (though it also means you'd have to repair it before you could use it yourself when the battle is over).

High Saving Throws Aren't Unassailable

Parry this, ye blasted casual!

Another issue (particularly for spellcasters) is that enemies often have saving throws that are just too high to give your spells any real impact. Assassins that can cartwheel through area of effect magic without taking any damage, frenzied giants whose constitutions are nearly unstoppable, or learned wizards whose minds and wills are like juggernauts.

Again, this won't make you completely useless (especially if you choose spells that still do something even if the target succeeds on their save). It just means you need to aim for the target's vulnerable areas instead. Try strategies like:

- Switching Saves: Most enemies will have one save that's worse than the others. If they're acing your Reflex and Will saves, consider testing their Fortitude. A variety of tricks in your bag helps a lot here.

- Reducing Saves: As with armor class, an enemy's saves can be reduced. If you can render an enemy shaken (whether it's through a spell, an Intimidate check, or some other feature), that imposes a -2 penalty on their saving throws. If the enemy can be entangled, that reduces their Reflex saves. Doing damage to (or imposing a negative on) an enemy's attributes will reduce an associated saving throw.

- Focusing on Other Areas: If an enemy has really good saving throws, it's likely their touch armor class (or even their regular armor class) isn't very good. Targeting that area instead will allow you to get more bang for your buck.

Other Issues You May Need To Counter

Armor class and saving throws are the most common challenges for players to overcome, but they're far from the only ones. Which is why it's a good idea to consider having a plan for some of the following effects.

- Flight: Flying enemies are the bane of any melee character. Whether it's ensuring you have a way to fly yourself, tanglefoot arrows to cut their speed and bring them back down to earth (if you're lucky), or even something as simple as a lasso to rope and hold your foe in place, this will show up in game sooner or later. And, of course, always have a back-up weapon, wand, or spell for the occasion.

- Damage Reduction: Some creatures take a particular type of weapon to hurt. What a lot of players don't know is the higher the magical enchantment is on a weapon, the more forms of damage reduction it ignores. For the magi, paladins, and warpriests out there, if you can get the flat bonus to +4 or higher, it allows you to ignore silver, cold iron, and even adamantine requirements for DR. Something to keep in mind, along with knowing that tossing acid and alchemist fire at werewolves is also a solid choice.

- Elemental Resistances/Immunities: This is a big one, especially for characters who are committed to their fire, ice, or lightning schtick. Always have a way to switch up which element you're using, and make sure that you're not stuck with only one option. Otherwise you're going to find yourself in a situation where your biggest sledgehammer might as well be a feather duster.

- Darkness/Senses: One of the big advantages a lot of enemies have over the PCs is that they can see in places the party can't. Whether it's normal darkness (which is typically rendered null by magic weapons that shine like a torch, as well as regular darkvision), deeper darkness (something you need a daylight spell at the very least to get rid of), or the ability to turn invisible (glitterdust and smog pellets are your best friend in these situations), there's always a chance the foe tries to use their ability to see, or to go unseen, when it's the biggest disadvantage to the party.

The Game is Always Multi-Dimensional

There are so many different tools and strategies that it's impossible to be prepared for everything that might come your way. With that said, it's good to have at least 2-3 backups in your belt pouch should your main gun happen to be ineffective against a particular encounter. And the more options you can keep on-hand (especially if it provides the option to the rest of the party), the easier a time you're going to have throughout your campaign.

With that said, I would like to take a moment to remind everyone of an old project of mine I worked on for TPK Games. Because the Feats of Legend series was a lot of fun, but it also put a lot of unique tools into players' hands. So if you haven't had a chance, take a moment to glance over them!

I try not to play favorites... but if you were going to pick one, I'd recommend this one.

- 20 Infernal Feats: From devil-spawned tieflings, to worshipers of dark powers, if the fires of hell run in your veins then these feats will be perfect for you.

- 20 Undead Feats: Whether you want to put one foot in the grave to gain some of the resistances of the living dead, or you've simply run too much dark power through your soul, these feats are what you've been looking for.

- 20 Celestial Feats: From the faithful, to those whose ancestry mixes with the celestial realms, these feats put the power of the holy light into your hands. The bane of wicked foes!

- 30 Fey Feats: A bigger collection than normal, these feats are for those with a tie to the first world... a place where the rules don't apply, and logic has never managed to take root.

- 20 Orc Feats: One of the best-reviewed collections of the Feats of Legend series (by Endzeitgeist himself) this one lets you put some real fire in your orcs and half-orcs!

Like, Share, and Follow For More!

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 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.

Alignment's Roots Go Deeper Than We Might Think (How Much Stuff Do You Lose Pulling It Out?)

Since I recently started doing my Alignment Deep Dives series, I've been thinking a lot more about alignment as a concept. Because while it doesn't exist in all games, and it's been mostly de-fanged in the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons, it still has quite a lot of teeth in my preferred game of choice, Pathfinder. And while I've seen a lot of people saying they want to remove alignment from their games entirely because it, "just gets in the way," I thought I'd take a moment to go down that rabbit hole. Because I've found the roots go a lot deeper than we tend to think... both mechanically, and otherwise.

So, if you're someone who is serious about yanking alignment out by its roots, here are some things you're going to have to change, re-write, or re-conceptualize.

Trust me, in the end it's just not worth the effort.

First, The Obvious Stuff

There are a lot of obvious parts of the game that rely on character alignment to determine certain effects or limitations. Paladins must maintain their lawful good alignment, barbarians cannot be lawful, clerics must remain within a step of their deity in order to maintain their connection to their powers, druids must remain neutral, etc. This is the most obvious thing alignment is used for, and honestly I think it's about as far as a lot of players and DMs think of it; it's just an impediment that stops them from playing certain characters, or which restricts the actions they can take in-game without dealing with consequences.

No, Geoff, you cannot play a barbarian/monk with Way of The Great Ax.

 

And sure, alignment does do that. It also stops players from claiming to be good characters on one hand, and then casting spells with the Evil descriptor on the other hand. It makes it clear that certain actions, use of certain items, and even certain classes require you to maintain a certain philosophy and behavior. If you're going to be an antipaladin, a bloody jake, etc., then you've got to devote yourself to that.

To be very clear, alignment doesn't actually stop players from taking in-game actions. However, if you are a character that requires a certain alignment to maintain your powers, then altering too far in any particular direction might mean you face consequences for those actions. And if your character doesn't depend on alignment at all? Well, they might consider their actions necessary for the greater good, or they might think of good and evil as philosophical concepts rather than anything physical. The character may not even think in terms of good and evil, but only in terms of what is expedient and efficient. That doesn't stop them from being good or evil, but it means they themselves are not concerned with those labels since it doesn't affect their life in any meaningful way. And unless there's a local spellcaster, they'll probably go their whole life without ever having someone use a spell to check and see what their alignment actually is.

Another consideration is that eliminating alignment either removes or severely undercuts many abilities in the game. From smite, to domain powers, to specific spells and magic weapons, alignment is one of the major guiding forces that underwrites them, or makes them useful at all. So if you get rid of it, you either get rid of these things, or you need to re-write them. From the holy avenger, to holy/unholy weapons, to spells like holy smite and chaos hammer, they cease to function without alignment to determine their effects.

But alignment affects far more than just the party. It is a huge part of the cosmos at-large. Without it, entire aspects of the game just fall... the hell... apart.

When Heaven and Hell Are Real

In the Golarion setting (as in a majority of other settings I've seen for fantasy RPGs), there is a planar multiverse. And without fail there are planes that are attached entirely to certain alignments. So there are planes that are wholly good or wholly evil, wholly lawful and wholly chaotic. Most games have at least one heaven, and at least one hell, though Golarion has the hells and the abyss, as well as heaven and the celestial realms, among other places.

Go then... there are other worlds than these.

Alignment is predicated on the idea that there are places, beings, actions, and things that are wholly good, or wholly evil (wholly lawful or wholly chaotic as well, but that tends to get less play in most games). Good and evil are facts in these settings, not philosophies, or opinions. Because if that were not the case, how could demons and devils exist? How could angels, celestials, and other beings that are wholly determined by the aligned energies that spawned them? How could the realms they are from (and even the gods who command them) be truly good or truly evil if good and evil were up for debate, rather than cosmic facts of the universe? And if we get rid of these places, and the creatures that live in them, then what becomes of their results on the world? With no angels or devils we have no aasimar or tieflings. We lose the celestial and infernal bloodlines, and all the things that draw power from them. Because the alignment of these outsiders is their main, defining attribute... without it, their reason for being sort of fades away.

Perhaps the biggest example of why alignment is often necessary is the idea of divine judgment. When characters die, they go to the afterlife they've earned/deserve based on their actions... but what determines whether those actions were good, evil, lawful, chaotic, or otherwise? What determines whether they were proper adherents to their particular faith, or people who just said the words and never followed the dictates of their deity? The very idea means there must be actions that are good or evil, and that the gods have a checklist they can use to grade someone to determine where they end up.

For divine judgment to function, good and evil must be facts. If you remove alignment, it throws that aspect into chaos, and removes that basic building block.

You May As Well Go Back To The Drawing Board

This rabbit hole goes a lot deeper when you stop and ask just how many creatures, outsiders, antagonists, and even nations (in the core setting, at least) are resting on a foundation of alignment. From Cheliax's obsession with devils, to Nidal's embrace of dark powers, to the Worldwound itself, so many of these things rest on good and evil being real, tangible facts in the setting. While some of these aspects might still function without alignment, others are going to topple right over like dominoes that hit an unfortunate breeze. And as anyone who's ever tinkered with a mechanically complex game knows, the more things that fall over, the more you're going to have to do to back fill what you changed... which could come with its own unexpected consequences.

Do you need alignment to play fantasy RPGs in general, and Pathfinder in particular? Absolutely not! Just because it's a traditional element doesn't make it required to play in the slightest. But if you want to rip alignment out of a game where it already exists, actually has a function, and is sewn into the fabric of the setting, all you're going to do is rip the lining out of your blanket, and drop all the fluff on the floor.

And that isn't going to get you anywhere. Trust me.

I say this as someone who writes and tinkers with RPGs as a living... you are just going to make a colossal amount of work for yourself if you try to remove a functional alignment system. Instead, if it is such a problem for your table, consider playing a game that doesn't use alignment at all, or where it's a completely vestigial thing that will have no effect on the game. Or, if your only issue is a relatively minor component of how alignment works in your Pathfinder game (the aforementioned barbarian/paladin multiclass), dig through the rulebooks and ask questions on the forums... chances are good there's actually a way to do what you want without changing a single aspect of the rules as they're written.

It might be obscure, and it might be in the reams of optional rules that have been written for the game, but I can practically guarantee you that it's out there, and it's an option. Don't go in to remove an organ that's connected to so much stuff if there's a way to do what you want without elective surgery.

 

Also, before we go, I wanted to let everyone know I've got a new novel out from Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press! If you've got a soft spot for cats, and you'd love a hard-hitting noir mystery set on the mean streets of New York City, then Leo's adventure in Marked Territory is definitely one that you don't want to miss.

Seriously, go get your copy today!

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!

Rise of The Runelords Chapter 27: The Path of Temptation

The Companions stand upon the doorstep of the hidden realm of Xin-Shalast. Many foul creatures, ancient evils, and terrible monsters had stood in their way, but soon they would face Karzoug on the steps of his own realm. As they turned to watch Shepherd lead his charges back home toward the south, they could hear the yawning void within the cave. They knew not what lurked beyond, but according to Mirelinda's harrowing it could be nothing good.

 

So they went, prepared for anything... except, perhaps, what they found. For those who need to catch up regarding this adventure, previous installments are below!

- Chapter 1: Blood and Butterflies
- Chapter 2: Murder and Glass
- Chapter 3: The Sin Pit
- Chapter 4: Tussles in The Tangle
- Chapter 5: The Assault on Thistletop
- Chapter 6: Secrets Behind The Curtain
- Chapter 7: Murders At The Mill
- Chapter 8: Halflings and Ghouls
- Chapter 9: Fox in The Hen House
- Chapter 10: Something Rotten in Magnimar
- Chapter 11: The Crumbling Tower
- Chapter 12: Demonbane
- Chapter 13: Trouble at Turtleback Ferry
- Chapter 14: The Taking of Fort Rannick
- Chapter 15: Water Over The Dam
- Chapter 16: Mad Lovers, And Lost Captains
- Chapter 17: The March of The Giants
- Chapter 18: The Taking of Jorgenfist
- Chapter 19: The Secrets Beneath Sandpoint
- Chapter 20: At The Gates of The Runeforge
- Chapter 21: Storming The Halls of Evocation
- Chapter 22: The Bowels of Necromancy's Tomb

- Chapter 23: The End of Runeforge

- Chapter 24: Preparation For The Final Journey 

- Chapter 25: The Hunger in The Mountains 

- Chapter 26: The Gateway to Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 27: The Path of Temptation

- Chapter 28: The Three-Fold Challenge of Xin-Shalast

- Chapter 29: Crossing The Barrier of Greed

- Chapter 30: The Fall of Karzoug

So what lies ahead? Only the darkest secrets of the soul...

Through The Nexus

 

As the Companions entered the cave, the wind gave way to something else. The stone around them began to crack, and through the cracks they could see far-away lights. The smells of the material plane fell away behind them, and there was only the empty scent of a vast gulf. Light came from everywhere and nowhere, but it did nothing to illuminate the cavernous blackness as the walls fell away. Their paths floated untethered in a void... a void that seemed to respond to them strangely.

Where the hell are we, exactly?

As the Companions advanced, weapons and spells at the ready, they began to hear things... strange things. Voices of those long dead. Whispers from the void speaking of what might have happened in other places, and other times. Zhakar was in the midst of attempting to reassure his friends when he heard a familiar voice for the first time since he'd been a child; his mother's voice.

He stopped cold, the steel of his manica shrieking as spikes ran down the metal like gooseflesh. As he turned his face, a path of stones manifested, and built into a doorway. Darkling light shone through, along with screams of anguished pleasure. Shadows danced beyond, and he stepped forward, knowing as he did that he did not wish to see what lay beyond that gate.

My son... how you've grown...

As Mirelinda shouted for Zhakar to turn back, and Thokk yelled for his friend, Zhakar stared through a gateway and into a scene from hell. His mother stood there, facing the gateway. Her skin shone like burnished silver, and her hair like spun gold. She wore a simple dress of white, but it seemed wrong somehow... the white of a wraith rather than that of an angel. That was when Zhakar realized she was not alone.

Looming over her, his perfect face filled with indolent desire, was a creature Zhakar had only heard of spoken in whispers. He bore his bat wing and red scales with pride, his tunic cut to show rather than hide his corruption. The clawed hand that rested on his mother's shoulder was possessive, the claws digging into her skin. When the archfiend Belial spoke, it was the sound of a beautiful serpent, singing to distract you as it dripped poison into your ear.

"My son," the creature said, genuine pleasure in its voice. "You have made me proud."

 

Zhakar stood in horror, rooted to the stones, his control over his form slipping. His wings flared, the fire filling his eyes sparking from a coal to a blaze. Rather than seeming afraid, the Lord of Lust simply smiled wider... a parent watching its child run instead of walk for the first time.

"Come," the fiend intoned, holding out its other hand. It held Zhakar's mother tighter, wringing a gasp of pain from her. "Join us. This is where you belong, blood of my blood, and flesh of my flesh."

 

Shaking, torn between fear, rage, pain, and fury, Zhakar reached for the runeforged weapon at his side. A weapon that would be the bane of a shapeshifter, as he well knew his father to be. He gripped it until his knuckles cracked, and he stared through the portal. He held his mother's eyes. Eyes that held their own fear, and their own pain... but eyes that had once faced down the horrors of the Worldwound and kept their sanity. Eyes that had seen a thousand battles, and who understood. Zhakar gazed upon the too-perfect face of his father, and spoke with a formality none had heard from him before. The voice of a squire taking his oath.

"When my task is complete, and my deeds here done, I will come for her. I swear it upon this steel," Zhakar said. "And were I you, I would hope that day does not come."

 

His fiendish father merely grinned, and spoke the words that would echo in Zhakar's mind from that day forward. "Do as you wish."

An Oath Made, and a Duty To Be Fulfilled

The portal collapsed as Zhakar turned his back upon it. His shoulders sagging, his face open and naked. The fear was gone from his face, the hatred drained away... the man who stumbled toward his friends seemed more like the scared child that he had been when he had lost his mother the first time, and was cast out by the zealots and witch hunters that fancied themselves crusaders. Thok embraced his friend, holding him as if he meant to keep his soul from fleeing his body.

Zhakar gathered strength from that moment, standing tall once again. He was himself, but more than that... he seemed more like the man who had stood with them at Sandpoint when the goblins attacked. Like an old sword that had been sharpened and honed, it was as if the edge had returned to him... the fire in his heart that had nearly guttered growing once more.

"Let us see this done, my friends," he said, turning once again to the bright light springing into being on the other side of eternity. "It seems I have other business to attend, and do not wish to keep it waiting long."

Next Time on Table Talk!

The adventure draws toward a head! Karzoug has nowhere left to hide, and he has chosen the home territory of his mountain fortress... but will it be enough to save him from the Companions' vengeance? Stay tuned, and I'll see you next time on Table Talk!

For more of my work, check out my Vocal archives, as well as the YouTube channel Dungeon Keeper Radio where I help out from time to time. Or, to check out books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife or my recent 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, and Twitter, as well as on Pinterest where I'm building all sorts of boards dedicated to my books, RPG supplements, and greatest hits. Lastly, 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 donation can have a big impact.

3 RPG Design Tips For Professionals and Homebrewers Alike

For those who aren't regular readers, I've been a freelance RPG designer for more than six years or so now. I've written modules like The Ghosts of Sorrow Marsh, designed feats and encounter tables in products like Feats of Legend: 20 Orc Feats as well as 100 Encounters in a Fey Forest (both for the Pathfinder RPG), and I've contributed class archetypes in supplements like Letters From The Flaming Crab: Puppet Show along with The Demonologist from TPK Games.

I'm leading with this because I don't want anyone who goes further to think I'm armchair quarterbacking the realities of designing tabletop RPGs. On the contrary, making games is very much my day job, and not a day goes by where I'm not elbow-deep in something's engine trying to figure out what's making that rattling sound, or how to get just a little more horsepower out of it.

There's your problem; no universal dice rules.

So whether you're a fellow professional, or just someone who likes to retool games and make changes for your personal friend group, I would ask that you please keep the following tips in mind. I say this from experience; they are going to help far more than they're going to hurt.

Tip #1: Do Not Play Favorites

As someone who's up to my shoulder in a core rule book right now (I'll tell you more when I can, trust me), I truly sympathize with everyone out there who has a favorite in their games. Whether it's a particular class you're all gung-ho about, or a character race or background package, or just one particular faith in your game, do not give them all the toys. It will not endear them to your players, and it will draw into question your objectivity when balancing a rule set for fairness.

Look no further if you need an example.

If you've never played the first edition of Scion, it's a game with a really cool premise. In short, one of your parents was a god, the titans have escaped their prison, and now you need to stand with your parents to become a hero like those in the old myths and legends. Eventually you will ascend to stand at your parent's right hand as a god yourself... if you survive.

Which powers you get access to, and which attributes you can make godly, vary largely based on your parent, and which pantheon they belong to. If you read this book it's pretty clear someone on the design team loved the Norse gods, and Odin in particular. The one-eyed wanderer is hands-down one of the most powerful parents in the game, and if you're going for raw numbers and options there's very little reason to play a scion of any other god at least 80 percent of the time.

That sort of favoritism creates problems in game balance and design, and it can make players who'd rather opt for something else feel like they're being punished for wanting to explore other options. Make every option unique and viable, and you'll have a better overall game.

Speaking of significance in game design...

Tip #2: Make Your Options Mechanically Significant

 

One game I played a lot of when it first came out was D20 Modern. While it had all the usual flaws of 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons, it presented a lot of fun options and unusual potential for playing modern fantasy games using an at least vaguely familiar class system with prestige classes, feats, and other recognizable elements.

It's really not that bad, if you can overlook the flaws.

One of the big issues I felt this game had from a design perspective (a flaw shared by Shadowrun, and some books in the World of Darkness as well) was there were entire tables dedicated to modern firearms of every make, size, and style over the decades. But when all the semi-automatic handguns did the same damage, had the same rate of fire, and the same size clip, there was really no point in including three dozen variations that amounted to the same thing. Ditto the shotguns, machine guns, submachine guns, etc. If it's all the same, why waste the page space?

I've seen this with classes, with monsters, with weapons, armor, and background traits. If there is no mechanical difference between two aspects of the game, or if you're just going to assign the same value to a dozen different options, don't bother reprinting them. Flavor reskins are a part of any game, but don't waste your players' time and energy reading through a bunch of palate swaps.

Tip #3: Don't Let Random Chance Reign Supreme

Randomization is the function of the dice. However, that randomization should be something that affects the challenge of the game, not something that decides every aspect of it. Put another way, if it's possible for a character no matter how ill-prepared to overcome a challenge entirely on a single roll of the die, then your system is little more than a slot machine; unbalanced, and probably grossly tilted in favor of the house.

It's an RPG, not a craps table.

To give an example, a character who rolls a natural 20 on an attack is going to hit in basically every edition of Dungeons and Dragons. However, even if that farmer with the hoe smashes an impossibly lucky blow into the face of the conquering tyrant Eldrakkar, it isn't going to kill him. Eldrakkar is the game's big bad, after all, and a CR 17 fighter/necromancer. Such a lucky blow is unlikely even to phase him, likely giving him little more than a thin cut along his cheek. This firmly establishes that it is always possible to hit, but that it is not possible to randomly destroy a powerful character because of a lucky roll of the die... whether that's the campaign's big bad villain, or the party's front line fighter once they really hit their stride.

All it takes to throw that out the window is to add a chart of random critical hit effects. The chart might have some less potent options like, "stunned for a turn," or, "character loses weapon," but often more brutal entries like, "character loses a hand," or, "character is decapitated" wind up on these lists.

Imagine that you're playing a campaign, and the big boss that you've had all this built-up for dies in a single hit because the wizard's player got lucky, and stabbed the bad guy in the heart for an instant death. Or, flip the script, and imagine that your heavily armored professional soldier who's survived dozens of encounters is killed in the first round of the first combat of the game because the DM rolled a natural 20, and then chopped your head off because a goblin sergeant got in a lucky hit with a hatchet.

That kind of extreme randomness is not good game design. Especially when you consider that in any game the DM is going to roll far more dice than the players, meaning that the players are going to be on the receiving end of any unfair odds. There's always going to be elements of chance and randomness, and good or bad luck can sway how a game goes... but if every roll of the die literally carries the potential to end a challenge (or the party) I'd suggest trying to re-balance the game so you're not swerving all over the road when you fire it up.

Also, while we're on the subject of randomness in game design, I would like to ask all my fellow designers to please stop padding out games with huge tables of random things. Don't waste page space with twenty different criminal backgrounds, or random starting ages and weights for characters. Even random encounter tables are a little passe at this point, since a majority of groups would rather focus on the story they're all there to tell without wasting an hour fighting off two enraged grizzly bears who were just there for the lulz. We've got limited time, and focusing on meaningful challenges and story beats is often far more preferable.

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!

The Cowboy Wizard

Atrius smiled, and twirled his fingers through the air, speaking the single whisper of power before slapping the steer on the side. When he took his hand away, his personal sigil was clearly marked on the animal's flank, though there was no wound, and no discomfort. The beast grunted, and Atrius snickered as he urged his horse forward. Within the next few hours, the herd was properly marked, all of them calm and grazing.

The drive wasn't as bad as it might otherwise be. From atop his saddle, he could easily direct the herd where he wanted them to go with no more than a few flicks of his wrist, and an occasional eldritch incantation. He kept them calm and moving forward, resisting the temptation to ever enchant them to cut the drive time. He'd seen where that could go, if a man wasn't careful.

Snow Tips watched during the night, the gray barn owl keeping a sharper eye out than he ever could. Still, Atrius kept his wands close, and his field grimoire well-thumbed. There were worse dangers than the threat of a stampede out in the wild lands, and if he wanted his herd to make it to Tracker's Ford in one piece he'd have to keep himself ready for any sort of trouble.

He still had student loans to pay, and univeralist wizards weren't in-demand.

The Cattle Rancher Wizard

When most of us look at a wizard's spell list, we think of the application in terms of dungeon crawls, combats, and adventures. However, there are a lot of spells that could really make the grueling work of a cattle drive so much easier on someone. Whether it's casting a spell on your horse to enhance its speed and endurance, using arcane mark so you can always find your cows, or just turning your lasso into a rope trick so you can camp comfortably in the most inhospitable conditions, a little bit of magic goes a long way when it comes to completing tasks that would otherwise take an entire team of workers.

This concept isn't just about being a cowboy who happens to be a wizard, though.

The idea is, more broadly, to stop thinking of a wizard as a profession instead of a skill set. Rather, this character uses their knowledge of magic to accomplish some other task. Why not a transmuter who's a farmer, turning arid soil into potable land that grows amazing crops? Or a diviner who acts as a bounty hunter, always one step ahead of whoever is trying to get away from her? An abjurer who works as a bodyguard, perhaps? An enchanter who's a diplomat? An illusionist who works for the circus, who operates as a spy, or perhaps both? An evoker who works as a forest ranger, using their spells to conduct controlled burns, stop forest fires, and occasionally to deal with bandits?

The idea here is to take a profession that is typically mundane in some way, shape, or form, and to ask yourself how a wizard would use their skills and powers to do the job. From traveling merchants, to sewer cleaners, to medical examiners, to archaeologists, there's a plethora of possibilities out there... and if all else fails, you can always fall back on roping steers and driving cows!

For more thought-provoking ideas on this class, check out my 5 Tips For Playing Better Wizards, which is part of my ongoing 5 Tips series!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a dungeon master.

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 most recent collection of short stories The Rejects, then head over to My Amazon Author Page!

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

The Dialogue of Challenge (Because It Should Be a Back-And-Forth Between Players and The DM)

Challenge is one of those elements that has to be present for there to be any satisfaction in an RPG. Whether it's a monster who forces you to get creative with your strategy, a mystery you need to wrack your brain to solve, or a complicated heist you need to pull off, there is something your characters need to overcome in order for the story to have a real, meaningful payoff.

And creating that challenge is, mostly, the dungeon master's job.

It's not an easy job, but somebody's got to do it.

What a lot of us forget about challenge, though, is that it's not supposed to be a static thing. Challenge is supposed to change based on who is around your table, what characters they bring, and what actions they try to take. And challenge is supposed to be a two-way street; it's a communication. If all you're doing is talking, but not listening, then you're missing half the conversation.

Before we move on, I had two other updates I figured readers might be interested in. The first, Table Attorneys VS Rules Lawyers: How To Be Fair Without Bogging Down Your Game might be worth reading over if you find yourself in a position as a DM and you want to be fair to your table. The second, Partners and Polycules: Polyamorous Designations Based Off Dungeons and Dragons Dice is just a bit of fun. If you haven't seen it, and you could use a chuckle, go give it a read!

 

Are You And Your Players Communicating With Each Other?

 

I'd like to start this section with a story. It's a story I bet a lot of folks reading this have heard before, and maybe one you've told before. If so, stick with me while I go over it for everyone else.

The DM has put together a challenging scene. The skill checks are tough, the enemies are dangerous, and the party has little time to prepare for what they're facing. As the scene progresses, one player finds their character really isn't geared for the challenge that's going on. They're more of a smarts and social-based character who has nothing to contribute here. So on their turn they make a suggestion to the DM of how they could use their abilities to assist their fellow party members. They believe that by using their knowledge of a creature they should be able to make a distraction that will give their allies an opening. The DM agrees to let them try, and demands several, rigorous skill checks. Skill checks that, if the character failed, could have resulted in injury, or even death. The player manages to make these checks, and their character succeeds by the skin of their teeth.

Then, after accomplishing the very dangerous task, the DM informs the player, "You manage to avoid hurting yourself, but nothing you did makes a difference."

Then why did you bother wasting my time?

There are several instances here of a DM who isn't listening to their players when it comes to challenges. The biggest sins to keep in mind are:

- Setting a Challenge That Doesn't Reflect The Party: Purists will argue that if the DM makes a dungeon crawl plot, or a fight-all-the-monsters game, then it's the players' fault for not putting together a heist-based party, or Seal Team Six. But the DM is the one who approves characters, and you should ensure the character fits your game, or that your game fits the characters.

- Wasting a Player's Time: If a player asks you if taking X action will lead to Y result upon success, and you tell them yes, you've entered into an agreement regarding what will happen if they pull it off. Taking away a success (especially if it was a serious risk) is bad form in the extreme. If the player succeeds, give them a cookie for it. Even if it's a small cookie, it will let them participate, and that's what you want. And if they can't succeed, don't waste their time by making them roll meaninglessly.

- Rigid Solution: The biggest issue, and one that crops up a great deal when discussing challenge, is when a DM will allow only one solution to work. Even if by the book other ways should solve a challenge, or at least contribute to a solution. The monster must be fought, for instance, and cannot be bargained with, cannot be mind controlled, and cannot be stealthed past. No matter what other tools or strategies the party has access to, only the proscribed solution will work... even if it is something the characters are not equipped to do.

The important thing to remember is that the party, and the characters in the party, need to actually fit the game they're in. Not just thematically and lore-wise, but challenge wise. If you're running a game that expects the party to be the A-Team, then you can't take a group of combat-averse scoundrels and get the proper results; that's trying to put a square peg into a round hole. All that's going to do is frustrate both you and your players because you're not talking to each other... you're talking past one another.

Instead, you need to find a solution.

The Fluid Nature of Challenge

There's an old saying that the most perfect battle plan will never survive first contact with the enemy. In much the same way there is no module out there, and no plan you could compose as a dungeon master, that will ever survive first contact with the party.

The dungeon master must wear many masks.

The thing to remember is that you should watch your players, and talk to them. Collect their opinions, and find out what they like, what they don't like, and what is frustrating them. Most importantly, understand what their characters are actually capable of, and shift the game to suit them and what they're trying to do in order to keep things moving forward.

For instance, you might have designed your dungeon to be a slog through traps, guards, and with a huge combat at the end. If your party clearly wants to turn it into a Mission Impossible style scenario, and that's the sort of thing their characters are geared for, then change gears to keep the ball rolling. If you really wanted the party to get into the subtlety and political machinations at the duke's ball, but they aren't exactly the socially-skilled sort, then throw them a bone and liven things up! Maybe a noble gets into an argument, and the fighter volunteers to stand for him in a duel. Perhaps a gang of brigands breaks in expecting a bunch of soft lords and ladies, only to get one-two punched by the monk and the barbarian. By doing what they do best they'll have earned allies and admirers (and perhaps foiled the plans of your villains) without trying to contort themselves to handle a challenge they really were not meant for in the first place. Best of all, you can use the NPCs and general scenario you already had, but tweaked to get more of the table involved!

The thing you should keep firmly in mind is that the party are the main characters of the story you're trying to tell. They should struggle, and they should work, but make sure that you're actually giving them the sort of challenge they're here to achieve. And to do that you need to talk to your players, and watch how they react to things they encounter. Read the room, ask for input, and (when necessary) make alterations to the game so that the square pegs have actual square holes to fit through. They don't need to fit easily, but at the end of the day they do need to be able to squeeze through and participate in the story.

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!