The Sandbox Rumor Meta-Generator

So we already have a random sandbox mission generator for urban adventures.  That's where you already have a long list of NPCs and you want to create a mission relating to them.

This sort of generator is less well-suited for Exploratory Adventuring where the players are facing an unmapped frontier they are looking to explore.  In that case, the hooks are less interactions between two parties and more rumours of what can be found in the Great Unknown and where.

That said, here's my procedure for generating rumours for the upcoming sandbox, in the Border Princes, I'm hoping to run.

1. Ask the player what sort of rumours they are fishing for.  

For each character who is seeking rumours, get an idea of what they are looking for.  This actually gives the player some say in the sort of adventure they would like.

Responses may look like:

• We're mercenaries looking for work in town
• Looking to hear about valuable items to steal
• We're explorers looking for uncharted areas to explore

2. Determine Rumour Type to Generate

This might be clear from the previous step, or you can roll randomly.

• Patron- someone wants to hire you to do something.
• In this case, go ahead and use the sandbox mission generator
• Urban Adventure- seeking something interesting in the city.  It might be something to steal, it might be where to buy drugs or illegal weapons.
• Choose a nearby settlement at random
• Exploration- seeking adventure locales in unknown.
• Roll up (X,Y) coordinates at random on your map.  The rumor will be near there

3. Determine Rumour Accuracy

Roll a d10 where 1 is completely untrue and 10 is completely true.  You can add a bonus to the roll if it's something more likely for an average yokel to know:

• Looking for something worth stealing around town: +2
• Looking for what lies beyond the pale of human settlement: no bonus

4. Make-Up a Rumour

You now have all the info you need: make up a rumour.

Example

The party splits-up to go hunt down rumours.

• Patsy the Elf wants to find evil monsters to fight
• (Exploration,(17,14), accuracy 9)
• "In the forests near Krakenheim the trees themselves will kill you"
• Stickyfingers the Thief wants to find something to steal in the nearby settlements
• (Urban Adventure, settlement 6, accuracy 2)
• "The village Lebensmittelgeschäft has the area's only market, so there are always valuables coming in and out of town.  A large ivory statue with ruby eyes was recently found by a farmer and he is bringing it to market to sell."
• Gor the Barbarian wants to find mercenary work in the area
• (Patron- Mission Generator, accuracy 8)
• "The local vintner has been forbidden from selling to the principality of New Tilia since this principality is currently at war with them.  He's looking for someone to discreetly and safely bring his wines to another merchant there."
• Rasputin the mage wants to find powerful magicks
• (Exploration,(20,12), accuracy 3)
• "North of the town of Nuovo Trantio lies a mage's tower.  Strange lights can be seen flashing from it at night"

Now the characters can fight over which of these rumours to follow-up on first.

Observations on Applied Gamemastering

So a recent game session I played in was a bit disappointing.  Not only that, but I also got the impression that the players were disappointed in a recent session I ran.  So here are a few of my own thoughts on how a DM can improve his game.

1. Preparation

I tend to agree with Zak's recent comment that "speed of response might just be the most important thing".

The DM sets the pace of the game.  I learned this when I ran my first PBP game, but it's also true for in-person sessions.  The game won't start until the DM is set-up and gives his introduction.  Until then, people will just chat and catch-up almost indefinitely.  And during the game, if the DM is constantly taking breaks to flip though a book, then you know he didn't prepare properly.  As a teenager maybe you can get away with this, but when your game session starts at 9pm and you need to get up for work the next morning, this can really eat into adventuring time.

When preparing to run a session, one of your main goals should be, bringing down your response-time.  Think about what monster stats, what charts, what non-combat mechanics you are most likely to need during the session, and bookmark them, or photocopy them or whatever.  For mechanics you have never used before, now might be the time to run a little solo demo to make sure you understand the rules.  At the very least, read through them before the session.

2. The Lull

This recent session I played in was a WFRP adventure which seemed, for the most part, to be scripted.  The party starts out in town with a certain number of things they can do, and no jobs appear until they have wandered the town sufficiently(or something like that--I didn't actually read the adventure).  Well, after about an hour of wandering, with all our attempts to look for adventure hooks answered in the negative, us players were starting to get pretty antsy.  Finally the DM got the clue and jumped to the scripted adventure hook.

Now I'm not going to say this was a flaw with the module.  The first part did build-up some background that came-out later in the session.  But, on the other hand, this module was probably designed for a full-day session, not a 2 hour one like our group usually plays.  Bottom line, we went an entire session without combat, and with only a bit of dungeon-delving towards the end.

Something similar happened in the recent sandbox session I ran.  The players chose a more investigative route.  I didn't see any problem with this, because they made the choice.  But by the end of the session, they were also getting bored with no combats, while at the same time refusing to abandon their investigation.

So game sessions with no or sparse combat are boring, at least to my gaming group.  What do I, as a DM, do about it?

One option is to prepare a fall-back encounter.  Something where, if the game goes a half-hour without any combat, the DM pulls this one out of his pocket.  This could be a pre-prepared combat.  It could be a random encounter.  Just something to liven things up when they get too slow.

In any case, as DM, keep your eye on the clock and your finger on the pulse of player interest.  And be ready to abandon the script or abandon the sandbox tables and just throw something interesting when it's necessary.

3. Individual Player Interests

One more observation.  Different players want different things out of the game.

For one player in my group, character advancement is very important.  I have trouble relating to that.  Personally, I'm more experiential--if we pulled-off a bunch of crazy stuff during the session, then who cares about XP.  This player is the opposite.  He's OK with grinding through completely dull encounters as long as he gets to mark advancement on his character sheet at the end of the session.

Now I'm not saying that the DM has to run-around trying to everyone individual want and needs.  But it is a good idea to keep in mind what makes your various players happy, ESPECIALLY if their tastes differ widely from your own.

Meet Sigyn

Having survived the adventure included in WFRP1e, our DM informed us that a party of 3 characters won't survive what he's got in store for us.  So we all are creating a second PC(I'm apparently the only one who prefers hirelings to multiple PCs).  As such, meet Sigyn:

Seigwart meets-up with the party accompanied by a sturdily-built young woman, dressed as an independent mercenary, in a helmet and breastplate.

Signyn is the daughter of a retainer for a petty lord.  Having no sons, her father raised her in the martial arts, ignoring her desire to become a singer and entertainer.  She ran away from home, hoping to become a legendary bard.  She is looking for adventure so that she might have tales to sing about.  Seigwart convinced her that joining his party could help her find worthy adventures and that his connections could help her in finding a venue to sing in.  Realistically, he probably has unwholesome plans for the young lady, though if she finds out, he may end up taking a thrashing.

Name: Sigyn
Race: Human
Gender: F
Alignment: N
Age: 26
Height: 5"4
Fate Points: 4
Career Class: Warrior
Current Career: Mercenary
Career Exits: Artillerist, Gunner, Mercenary Captain, Outlaw Chief, Slaver, Tunnel Fighter

Attributes

• Starting Profile:
• M: 4
• WS: 38
• BS: 32
• S: 4
• T: 3
• W: 7
• I: 25
• A: 1
• Dex: 37
• Ld: 30
• Int: 30
• Cl: 34
• WP: 29
• Fel: 39
• Advanced Scheme(Mercenary)
• WS:10
• BS:10
• S:1
• W:2
• I:10
• A:1
• LD:10
• CL:10
• Current Profile:
• A:2

Skills:

Disarm, Dodge Blow, Strike Mighty Blow, Strike to Stun,

Night Vision, Very Strong, Sing, Drive Cart, Animal Care
Languages: Old Worlder, Battle Tongue

Equipment:

11GC
Sturdy Clothing, Boots, Metal Breastplate, Helmet
Sling Bag, Pewter Tankard, Cutlery, Tinderbox, Blanket
Knife, Sword, Normal Bow, Quiver, 10 arrows

Skill System Survey

While thinking about what sort of skill system to use for a pirate game, I read through a lot of different games and their skill systems.  There are a lot of different systems, but I divided them into 5 categories, which I'm listing more or less from simplest to most complex.  This list is by no means exhaustive, but I think it gives a good idea what's out there:

1. No Skills

Searchers of the Unknown is an example of this.  There is no codified mechanic for determining if a character successfully performs a particular skilled action.  That said, the DM and players can still improvise a method: "Well you said your character used to be a blacksmith, so you have a 40% chance of crafting a magic sword that shoots laser beams."

2. Class

Classic DnD uses class to determine the training characters have.  So a magic user could be considered  skilled at making potions, etc. There is also the possibility of using the same approach as in the "No Skills" system above for activities not covered by character class.

DCC, puts an interesting twist on this.  In addition to an Adventuring Class, characters have an Occupation(basically a non-adventuring class) which they practised before they began adventuring.  As such, the character is considered skilled in any skill that the occupation would cover.  Skill checks for a character with a relevant Occupation are made as a 1d20+Ability Bonus(-3...+3) vs. the DC, a number reflecting the difficulty of the activity.  Characters without the relevant Occupation may also try, rolling a d10 in place of a d20.

3. Skill Level

DnD 3.5 allowed characters to acquire skills, independent of any class or ability score.   Skill checks are rolled as a 1d20 + Skill Level(maximum 3+class level) versus the skill difficulty.

4. Ability + Skill Level

WFRP 1st Edition does this.  Basically skills can give a bonus on your ability check.  The downside is that each skill has it's own rules for doing this, which means a lot of page-flipping/memorization.

Stars Without Number allows you to become trained in skill with a level of between 0 and 4.  The skill check is then performed as 2d6+Skill(0-4)+ability modifier(-2..+2) vs. a difficulty number of about 6-13.  Except combat which is d20-based.

Cyberpunk 2020 has something similar.  Ability scores are between 1 and 10, as are skill levels.  So a skill check is made as 1d10+ Skill+Ability vs. a difficulty number between 1 and 30.  Of course, CP2020 takes the skill system a step further, making it the unified mechanic for all actions including combat, rather than a secondary system to the main combat mechanic as in DnD and WFRP.

The System for You

Anyway, so what system to pick for your game?  Well, skill systems add a complexity to character creation and the game in general.  So my personal preference is to have the simplest skill system I can get away with.  For medieval technology-level games, I don't think a skill system adds much.  For my Pirate game, that's DCC Occupations.  For a modern or futuristic game, I'm more likely to prefer some variant of Ability + Skill Level.

Swashbucklers & Seamonsters: Taking Stock

Here's a summary of posts for Swashbucklers & Seamonsters, an extension to classic DnD for running a Pirate Sandbox game. Now I just need to run the thing...

Setting

• Starting Scenario
• Sandbox Creation Toolkit
• Example Sandbox

Character Creation

• Character Creation
• Occupations
• Small Arms

Game Mechanics

• Firearms Mechanics
• Naval Hardware
• Seafaring
• Death & Dismemberment
• Naval Combat
• Naval Combat Sample
• Experience

Pirate Experience

XP Systems

So, games can help shape character goals by their Experience System.  Many players are keen on getting their characters to level-up and experience is the achieve that goal.  Experience for monsters defeated and treasure won, is encouraging characters to hack and slash their way to glory, at the exclusion of other potential goals.

A different twist on "Monsters Defeated" is to define victory more expansively.  This can encourage more thoughtful play.  For instance, if rather than killing the entire goblin tribe, we simply convince them to attack a different village, rather than the one we're defending, that might be counted as defeating them for XP award purposes.

Dungeon Crawl Classics encourages much more furtive play, by awarding XP for "Encounters Survived".  So even if the party encounters enemies they could beat, it might be worth it for them to come to a non-violent understanding, so as not to deplete their resources.

Similarly, there is the twist on "Treasure Won".  Some DMs only award for Treasure Spent.  This in-turn, encourages adventures to live large and spend their gold like scoundrels.

Finally there are systems which award XP based on roleplaying.  Like giving double awards for a knight who jousts and opponent, or a thief who steals things.

Pirate XP

So this raises the question: How should XP be awarded for a Pirate Sandbox game?

My answer: XP is only awarded on a boat!

That's right.  Going to explore a dungeon?  Combats will only gain you 1/2 XP while you're not on a boat.  Similarly, treasure XP will only be counted once you haul it back to your ship.

This should encourage PCs to play as mariners, rather than reverting to a bunch of landlubbers with occasional boat-rides.

Saltbox Example

So here's an example of a saltbox created from the toolkit.  The map to the right shows numbered islands on a 36-mile grid, as well as the path of the trade route in dark.  Far to the North the route continues to the New World, while to the south it eventually arrives in the Old World.  PCs can eventually reach those locales, but they will need a big enough ship, as well as a solution to their fugitive status.

The Native Islanders

The PCs start-off in a rowboat, just East of Island 17(19,27 towards the center of the map).  The nearest settlement there is the Toowakoka Family homestead.  Being on the trade-route, the homestead is a prosperous one and it hosts an irregularly active market.  Here, colonist ships stop to trade weapons and tools for precious metals, animal hides, foodstuffs, and oddities.

To a day's travel to the southeast, on the Western shore of the island is the village of Poodita, from where the Island's chief, Rolla Dolla, rules.  The village is fortified with a tall stockade.  There is a power struggle going on between Chief Rolla Dolla and the village conjurer Zarziban.  Zarziban leads a cell of cultists who would secretly like to summon unholy powers so that he might rule over all the islands.

Poodita's main rivals are on Island 8, a fortified village of islanders under Chief Kowampa who have made a horrible pact with the Mackrelmen.  This tribe also has a homestead on Island 15.  The Mackrelmen's city and main lair is underwater between islands 11 and 12.  The ruin of their ancient fortress is on Island 12, why they no longer go there is a horrible mystery in itself.  Kowampa's people never go on island 10 with it's ruins of an ancient of a settlement founded by Inhuman Things from Another Dimension, now inhabited by a tribe of degenerate islanders.

There are a few other scattered settlements of islanders around.

The Colonists

The Colonist Town of New Madrid is on Island 25(26,8 along the trade route).  The town is quite large, but has begun to deteriorate as the Leaders have made a secret pact with the Mackrelmen, and there is a gang of colonists who have reverted to cannibalism that wanders the streets at night.  There is a very good quality brewry in town, which doesn't help matters.  The town is led by a retired sea captain with a Napolean complex who goes by the title "Master Commander".  Under his influence are two Naval Outposts, a large one on the same island, and a smaller outpost on isle 28 which protects the other branch of the trade-route.  Also, he controls a village on Isle 20.

Reverend Birch saw the moral deterioration of the colony, and founded a break-off settlement on Island 24 to the South.  The village is flourishing there, thanks to a lucrative gold mine and and passing ships do more business there than in the main colony, resulting in both a goldsmith and a market.  The colonists are just finding out that their settlement is not as safe as they had hoped, the island is populated by dinosaurs, including a few very large carnivores.  At the peak of the island is an ancient fortress, built by space aliens.

Other Settlements

Island 22 to the South East has a secret settlement of escaped slaves, who took over their ship and beached it on the island.  The village is fortified but primitive due to lack of trade.  They do, however, have a skilled armorer who makes wonders from leather, animal hides, and tortoise shells.

Island 16 is the lair of Captain Ivan the Black and his pirates.  Except Ivan is the only one left.  Perhaps it's due to the Ancient Space Alien settlement on the island and it's horrendous curse.

Other Adventuring Locales

Besides the things mentioned above, there are a couple other significant locations.

• Island 6 is inhabited by vindictive Harpies, who patrol the area, looking to inflict pain on any unfortunate passers-by
• Island 13 has another cursed ruin of an alien settlement