Last August at the end of my big birthday game, Landa, the Elf cleric
of Istus, and Ockná, the
Hobbit bard, were cut off from the rest of the party and stuck in a
nexus chamber. They had to choose between five teleport exits:
Irongate, Rel Astra, Fellreev Forest, the Valley of the Mage, and the
Elemental Plane of Air. They didn’t know it was Irongate or
Rel Astra, but they saw a picture of every possible destination, and
a big, crowded city looks way less risky than the Elemental Plane of
Air. Each destination had its own specific challenges and dangers,
but the Elemental Plane of Air was definitely the most
challenging / dangerous of the five.
In a city like Rel Astra or Irongate, they could have located a
College of bards and a temple of Istus, along with rangers and guides
to escort them back to their home turf around Phostwood. But no.
They gleefully hurled themselves into the Elemental Plane of Air.
*
Brother Thomas, the cleric of Boccob, and the two magic-users, Klynch
and Heir, were trapped in another section of the dungeon, and they
also faced a dilemma. They had to choose between four destinations /
encounters: negotiating with two gauths, walking into the
unpredictable Shadow Door, passing through a rift hole, or heading
right into the Sanctum and clash with 27 cultists. Again, each option
had its own specific challenges and threats – but the frontal
assault on 27 cultists was by far the riskier path.
They charged the 27 cultists.
Yep.
One cleric, level 5, two magic-users, levels 4 and 6, and one fighter
NPC, level 3, against 27 cultists, levels 1 to 3. There’s no
denying it: it was a ballsy move.
But wait. Hold your horses.
Every year I work my ass off to build interesting, demanding,
hellacious terrain like this abandoned witch tower, or that room with
stairs and platforms and various nooks and crannies to climb or hide or fight into…
Players never do what you expect them to do. I get it. Role-Playing
Games 101. But how come they’re always super careful and super
hesitant to dive into the madness when there is beautiful terrain on
the table, and so damn bold and fearless when all I have is a paper
map and pieces of blue foam for cultists? What gives?
This Sanctum with the 27 cultists had 198 HP worth of baddies to
dispose of, and would deal between 68 and 170 points of damage due to
34 magic missiles.
In comparison, the abandoned witch tower only had 45 HP worth of orcs
inside of it, and that cool dungeon room with the undead dragon had
165 HP.
Seven players didn’t even approach the witch tower – we
just made lots of smoke effects around it with the ranger’s
e-cigarette. And all seven players remained huddled together in the
center of the elaborate dungeon room – where there was nothing
– for the entire scene! They were a party of seven, with
three fighters, and the entire room had 165 HP; two years later, a
group of four, with but one fighter, charges 27 cultists with
198 HP.
Go figure.
My next big game with lots of terrain, I’m gonna tell the guys, “If
you want to go crazy and charge the enemy, now is the time to do
it! You jump into the god damned Elemental Plane of Air when I
don’t have anything prepared, and you charge 27 cultists when all I
got is an ugly white map and 20 pieces of foam – and I’m all for
it. Fearless is the way to go in D&D. Just don’t forget
to be fearless and ballsy when I put 100 hours of hard work on the
table for your sole enjoyment.”
Go ahead. Charge. Scatter around. Climb that wall. Tumble down
those stairs. Look into that dark hole. Pull that lever. Touch that
strange crystal ball. Think of it as if it were a bunch of cultists.
You can do it.
We can’t say it enough: getting it just right is hard. The
magic formula for a perfectly balanced game simply doesn’t exist.
Role-playing follows a changing, chaotic recipe with fickle,
temperamental ingredients.
Now, I still have to run a solo game for the barbarian, because he
was cut off from Landa / Ockná
and
from Heir / Klynch / Brother Tom. If I offer him the choice between a
wrestling match with Demogorgon in a lava pit and bargaining with two
hobgoblins, he’s gonna wrestle Demogorgon, right?