Being Nagged at while Being the Hero

One of the annoying things about older Bioware’s game, and Dragon Age, is the Approval System. Your companions will make comments, pass remarks and usually, second-guess what you are doing. Kreia from Knights of the Old Republic (though to be fair, it is an Obsidian Entertainment game) is like a nagging old grand-mother. Morrigan is a sarcastic whinner. You can’t seem to persuade anyone to change their point of view in Dragon Ages. You are stuck with their personality, ego and out-look. Even when you manage to talk them to your side (if the game allows it), you always feel you are the universe’s errand boy. Having to save the world while endure the naggings of your party members!

Mass Effect 1 and 2 let Shephard influences, changes and reprimands his squad members, and this has no consequences on stats, special skills or what-not! (In Mass Effect 2, there are pivotal moments where you may lose loyalty, but you can prevent it – have your cake and eat it too). Not just that, the developers arrange it to be done in a manner where you feel good about yourself. Breaking off the fight between a stuck-up biotic and a psychotic biotic-murderer is more satisfying than persuading baby-wuss Allistar to try to become the King.

What’s the point here? How are we GMs treating our players at social negotiations and interactions with NPCs. Maybe giving them a little bit more respect, and oomph, for their attempts in persuade and social skill attempts could mean more than just rewards or XP. In Mass Effect, the outcome of a persuade or intimidate, and its execution, is what tempts pople to click them. Because they got a chance to be good (or evil), and being stylish while doing i t,at the same time too!

The Nobody Hero

One more difference between Dragon Age and Mass Effect, a really subtle one, is how the main PC is being treated. In Dragon Age, mostly wherever you go, you are given scant respect (remember, even your own party members boss you around). It gets really annoying at times when “I know the Darkspawns are coming, and you are a Grey Warden, but still….I am going to make life difficult for you!” is being repeated again and again. Even after some accomplishment (say Redcliffe), there is no reaction from the NPCs on your deeds.

In Mass Effect, Shephard got a fan-boy, gets discount at shops for just who he is and heck, even have an entire alien civilisation (or two, depending on how you count) looking for him. You got a sense that you are playing a “somebody”, a mover and shaker of things.

Will it be more enjoyable for the players if their PCs get some respect like Shephard? Even disdain will be fine too, but sometimes plain indifference can suck away morale. How many times have GMs introduced powerful wizards who run the PCs around like errand boys, where the street vendors must be persuaded to give a discount and there is seemingly an over-supply of adventurers willing to explore ruins and dungeons and risk their lives at it?

When the new Lord of the Rings RPG was first announced, and a thread at RPG.NET started on it, some posters express dislike over the “rags to heroes” formula. They wish to play someone who is respected, have an reputation and could immediately do mighty deeds without grinding through rat-infested dungeons. Someone like Elrond’s sons, Glorfindel, one of Aragorn’s rangers, or some such. This gives a perspective on what sometimes player want besides XP and gold pieces. The chance to be someone great.

This, at least, is the effect that Mass Effect has on my GMing.

1. A forest of executioner’s crosses, where the local law authority leaves criminals to die and to serve a somber warning to others.
2. A prison high atop a mountain cliff, only accessible by a crude ‘elevator’.
3. Wreck of a ship used as a prison. Where have all the prisoners gone to?
4. The ruins of arena designed for trial by combat
5. A half-built pyramid
6. A quarry where half-built statues form of rocks protruding from the hillside are everywhere. Those statues are colossal, from 4 metres tall and 2 metres in width
7. A goblin’s (or insert evil demi-human race of choice here) version of a slaughterhouse…intended for humans.
8. Ruins of a bath-house with technology comparable to what the Romans has…for use by giants.
9. Sites used for judgments by rituals
10. A gigantic “well” (really a deep shaft) which goes deep downward, with wooden platforms and side excavations (think the Money Pit)

Training

From young wolf pups are prepared for the hunt by mock fights and play-biting. Tigers and lions likewise were trained by their mums; hence even orcs and goblins would need some sort of boot-camp to be combat ready, and it shows. An unorganized mob just don’t fight as well and coordinate with each other when compared to the Roman Legions.

The fighter of the party should be able, at a glance, to discern the training level of their opponents (after all, they should have some of those training!). Of course, animals are harder to gauge and if Mother Nature has done her job properly, all predators that take to the field are likely to be well prepared for it.

Why is the level of training important? Only those who have practiced together could pull of a complex tactic. It’s pretty much like the same as for football, soccer or a tennis double-play. Ordinary thugs who wander about the docks and having minimal amount of training shouldn’t suddenly pull off a complex shield wall; but if you are up against the Elite Lancers of the Duke Regent of Alterus, you better stay on our toes!

Approach

If a group has been fighting together for some times, there is likely to be some form of standard operating procedures; any horde raiding together are likely to form some effective form of attacking, retreating and defending, if they manage to survive their first battle! When planning encounters, or coming up with a random monster roll, it is a good idea to think about how they would approach the players party. Here are some ideas

1. Charge right in. Unless the monster in question is a dragon, tyrannosaurus rex, a grizzly bear or somehow insane (a horse driven to aggressive behavior because of parasites infesting its brain), most probably wouldn’t go charge into the fray unless it is really confident.
2. Sneak attack. Considering how many predators in our natural world rely on this and how devastatingly effective it  could be, GMs should let NPCs who has a reasonable amount of intelligence to plan an ambush rather than let them march straight into the blades (and blasting radius) of the PCs.
3. Divide and conquer. Another proven stratagem, and especially deadly when the opposition has magic in their hand. Many fantasy RPGs feature the so-called crowd control spells. Modern games benefit from smoke grenades, suppression fire and a distant sniper to instill fear and panic.
4. Flank. The Greek used it. The Romans too. Form a shield wall to engage the bulk of enemies, and let the cavalry flank them. The flank is a “sneak attack in battle” and whether it is effective or not depends on whether the rule carter for it (sneak attacks in D&D 3.5 for example). Even if the combat rules have no provision for flanking, the flank is one of the means to divide the PC party into smaller groups for cleaning up.
5. Combined arms. Hey, if the player party is good at this, maybe the GM should pick up some tips about that now and then too

Deciding on an approach is something that many GMs may do naturally. One additional thing is to let the PCs figure out their approach, with an Intelligence (or Cunning, for Dragon Age’s case). Of course, as the party reacts to the NPCs’ plans, the NPCs would definitely react.

Leadership

All armies have a general; if he is filled with battle-lust and engage the enemies in the field, then usually an aide or an advisor will hang back, observing the flow of battle. Likewise, for the NPCs, consider having archers, mages and other support personnel to play the role of the advisor. In a modern game, it could is even easier – a commander may even watch a battle using spying drones, and relate orders via a comm-link!

Leadership is important because the tide of a battle shifts constantly. The PCs may have found a way to neutralize the Wall of Fire spell that has split them into two halve, or the archers aren’t able to provide covering fire. The commander should order them to regroup and reassign targets and priority. While in RTS it is relatively easy to “focus fire”, in the midst of real combat it would even be harder.

To be fair, the commander may have to take a break from spell-casting or archery to issue an effective command. The GM may also want to make a Cunning/Intelligence/Leadership roll to see if he is able to communicate the order well. Factor in training as well – A well-drilled group reacts to rehearsed commands, have the discipline to break off whatever they are engaged in and knows the gravity of the situation. A group of thugs are likely to be completely absorbed in the heat of battle, unable to catch whatever unintelligible mess he is screaming (if they even have a leader in the first place).

Training and Reacting on the Fly

It is one thing to sit down and plan an ambush, it is another to change a detail of the plan while arrows rain over your head and blades clang against shield. If we break training level from 1 to 10, with 8 being the level of the legendary Roman Legions, we could have something like this:

1. Undisciplined, hard to control berserking behavior. Once battle-lust has taken over, directing them is impossible
3. Able to heed general advance and retreat commands. However any precise moment is impossible. Focus fire on the fly is a challenge (3d6 + Cunning vs. 13). Getting them to retreat, however, is damn easy.
5. Able to react to signals and pull of planned maneuvers. Always on the constant look-out for orders from the commander. Able to “mob” a specific character (“Take down that mage! TAKE DOWN THAT MAGE!”)
7. Able to complement each other in complex maneuvers; Have numerous drills for possible situations (neutralizing the mage, shielding a friend from an archer, covering for an ally and etc.). Can direct specific NPC to attack specific character though the instruction must be clear and verbose (“Kel, take down the mage with the blue hat by the window!”)
9. More than just training, this group has experience. They go for the most brutally effective means to reach their goals, and are drilled to react to most things. The commander is able to direct their allies to attack specific players with concise instruction (“Kel, the mage, 3 o’clock!”). They may even have sub-grouping of combined arms (a fighter and a rogue in a group, for example).
10. The GM is encouraged to be as tactically adept as he could with NPCs with this level of training.

Hopefully this article will provide more ideas to use “AI” to customize your NPCs’ behaviors in combat!

Table Chatter vs. Just Chattering

I used to have the idea “Well, if you just want to talk, hang out at the local Starbucks!” but after some years of playing board games, I realize that the chatter one have at a game is different from one have at coffee. When we are at a game we just don’t talk about ourselves. We talk about the situation at home. It reminds us of a scene from a movie, or some other games. Now and then someone drops a joke and we all laugh. And Mouse Guard reminds me that those are periods to enjoy too.

Thinking back, there was one incident that stands out, and I still got the chuckles when I think about it. In a homebew science-fic game (which might remind one as a classless D20 modern), I break out a grid map and some water-soluble marker to draw the walls, obstacles and terrain. One of the gamers is an artist and he insisted on adding ‘decals’ to the map – blood splutters, bullet holes and such. The one that makes me break into a smile even now is the scene began with the group smashing their car through the walls of a building to break up a group of camping enemies, and the artist drew the crashed car on the map (and pools of blood), despite my protests. But it was fun. Everyone laughed. The immersion was broken for a while but this is the sort of tales you would want to tell other game-masters (like now!).

Table Chattering being Part of the Game Experience

A friend once asked me, “Why do you still play board games when you are so into computer games?”. I play Lord of the Rings Online as my multi-player fix, and offline there is Dragon Age, Torchlight, Knights of the Old Republic Series, Majesty 2 and many other games to keep me entertained. However, board games give me interaction with other people, it’s smaller in scale and the time spent is more personal. Likewise, there are jokes, taunts, moment of suspense and in some ways, it is more fun. Truth to be told though, if it is some form of competitive board game where you are not supposed tot alk,  I think I would give it a wide berth.

Likewise, the gist of group RPGs, meeting face to face, is the interaction too. There are value to online play, but one thing that makes role-playing fun is being able to be with people, make jokes, seeing them entertained (as the GM), being entertained (by the plans of the players) and trading jests. Indeed, sometime game-mastering can be a thankless job, but when the group makes up with it for friendly table-chatter, it is in a sense its own type of reward.

I think back to my last Nobilis game, and it was then I realize that fun and engaging table chatter (about the game, not about any donkey topics) is a common ground for a fufiling session. I was playing a rules-lite, wing it on the fly game. Next to me was a group of people playing Pathfinder. All I had was a hand-drawn sketch of the area, with torn cardboard cards to represent position. The other group was going out with the tactical battle-mat, miniatures and GM-screen. I used my judgement to decide damage. They rolled dice. Yet we both share one thing – the players and GM both engage in table chatter. Players speculate the worst; the GMs grinned. The GMs pulled an unexpected twist, the players groaned in unison. It doesn’t matter what rule-sets, winging it, RPGA or what-not. If you are not having fun at the table, you are not having a good game.

So what about Role-Playing?

A lingering question is ‘So, what about being in-character and atmosphere?’. Is that a lofty ideal? Is it fun? I think there is no point in making the players miserable if making them to RP is hard, or they are just not in the mood. Likewise, like a well-placed exclamation mark or an underline, in-character role-playing may be best saved for the parts where it is important. At any rate, I guess if the in-character speech is suitable, I will let table chatter pass.

If the players are not allowed to engage in OOC table chatter about the game, what are they going to do their downtime, anyway?

Roleplaying

What type of Gamer am I?

Before going into the long article(s?) about how I perceive D&D 4E, I have to give a background of my gaming career, right? I started off with Advanced Fighting Fantasy, then delved into a number of Homebrews that are essentially roll-under systems with feats and spells. Finally I settled into WFRPG 2E for a while, then find myself going on to Spirit of the Century, which would be my niche for a long time. Dragon Warriors hold a special place in my heart, and I am quite fond of Qin: The Warring States. As you can see, I lean mostly to the rules lite crowd in PnP RPG.

I too play lots of CRPG – right now my MMO obsession is Lord of the Rings Online; I was an avid Diablo II fan, playing it hours after hours. Neverwinter Nights II, the Witcher, Knights of the Old Republic, Divine Divinity, Oblivion all has sucked time away from me before I got tired of them. Console-wise, there is Shadow Hearts (all three in the series), Final Fantasy (7 to 12, sans 11), Tales of Verspia, among others. So over-the-top summons (remember the “I can grab a sandwich and make a cup of milo while waiting for Eden to be summoned” in FF8?), fantastic spells and flying airships are all too-familiar to me.

With my background established, I guess some may understand my reaction to the D&D 4E classes as ‘Huh, this is fantasy? Which type?”

What type of Fantasy is D&D 4E?

To like or to hate 4E, first one have to established what type of fantasy D&D 4E is trying to emulate. It is defintely not Lord of the Rings. Back in the good old days of the older D&D, Gandalf was just a 5th level Magic User. Now I got a feeling in 4E a first level wizard could totally kick Gandalf’s ass. Here’s a comparison:

Level 1 Wizard gets Light, Mage Hand and the all-purpose Prestidigitation. In the novels, Gandalf used Light on a couple of occasions. Indeed, Gandalf the White is quite reluctant to show off his powers. He didn’t float a cloud of daggers, call down fire from the sky. The most magical thing he would have done is to be the light that drive off the Nazgul. That may be a variant of turn undead or something. Of course, spells are not everything. Gandalf the White may be able to dispel all sort of magic, and heck, call down a pillar of fire if he wants to. But the point is- over-flashly magic is not the tone of Lord of the Rings.

Of course, the point is not to show that 4E is flawed or something, but it is definitely not for a setting where fantastic magic is common place (how do you buy a Palantir, anyway?)

Besides looking at the  measurement of power, the power descriptions are just too over the top. I have read the Drenai saga (which could, I feel, fit into D&D 3.5, what with its dual wielding, switching of souls, walking of planes, throwing of fireballs, ability to heal with music and kill with just a look), and even in 4E, the powers still feel way too fantastic. It is definitely not a good ruleset for A Song of Ice and Fire, where magic is virtually extinct from the main narrative. There may be some epic-magic-is-common fantasy novels out there, but I wouldn’t look too far. I personally have an opinion that the fantasy that D&D 4E is good at emulating is video game fantasy (no doubt this has been told lots of time), anime and…wuxia.

What…Wuxia?

Many fighter, rogue and ranger Powers remind me of the many wuxia novels (original Chinese wuxia novels) which I have read. The ability to weave in and out of the battlefields, pushing enemies away (regardless of their size) and striking at many enemies at once. For exampe, Storm of Blows allows a fighter to strike at multiple enemies within range; that sounds awfully like wire-fu to me. Or Paralzying Strike, which exists in Wuxia as a form of ‘nerve pinching’.  Not to mention the flurry of blows powers; some of reseembles this clip from the Last Blade. Let see – moving and strking at your enemy? Checked.  Multiple attacks at one enemy? Checked.  Counter-defence that opens up your enemy’s weakness when he attacks you? Checked.

Let me try to sum up the points – the magic of 4E is over the top for most fantasy-based settings (even for Harry Potter!). Its martial abilities is more wuxia-like than down to earth. It doesn’t remind me of any fantasy novles which I have read; In fact,when reading the Player’s Handbook, it brings anime, wuxia novels and even some computer games (Diablo 2, for example) to my mind.

Is this a bad or good thing? It depends on what sort of setting and the feel of the game you like. (Even Wuxia is mentioned as one of the probable genre in the DMG). Grim and gritty it is not – D&D 4E is more like the Final Fantasy of pen and paper RPG (not in terms of mechanics, but the style and feel).  For me, I like my fantasy to have the feel of Lord of the Rings, or probably something gritter, so having fighters with wuxia-like pwoers and wizards who can call down pillars of fire over and over again doesn’t quite fit well with me.

Yet as I read through the powers’ descriptions, something just bugs me. I’ll get into it next time, when I have the chance to.

Not all Social Conflicts Should be Scaled

That said, sometimes a one-roll social roll should be used when suitable. Just as it could get tedious to have 10 rolls to climb up a 10m wall, having to roll so many times just to get a discount, or to persuade a guard to look the other way is overkill. This disclaimer being made, let’s move on to…

How to get a stubborn ox to move

Weapons of the Gods introduces a system of relationships into social conflicts. A character has relationships with other characters and factions, and each type of relationship has ways of improving and degrading. For example, in Chinese culture honouring one’s parents is important, so if a character’s parents is drawn into a social conflict, it becomes more complicated. The character may stands his ground to ignore what his elderly grey mother wants, but their relationship will suffer, which may have other consequences. A simple example would be if an inn-keeper’s grandmother is around, and you need to stay at the inn despite it being full, you can try to appeal to his grandmother’s sympathy so that the grandmother would convince the innkeeper to go beyond the call of duty (and the lure of gold). This can be easily slapped into existing games as a modifier, stunt or an Aspect.

Weapons of the Gods’ social mechanics introduce many type of relationships. Father and son, siblings, friends, lieges and vassals and so on. Such a system could be adapted to other games. Dwarves, for example, could place emphasis on their clan (take a Babylon 5 example – how Delenn managed to convince her clan that she is allowed to marry a non-Minbari); if you get his clan to pressure a Dwarven smith to produce the weapons for your armies, he is more likely to comply.

There may be a scholar who refused to translate a tome. Money don’t move him; he doesn’t need anything. However, he may have a rivalry with another scholar in the same town, and by dropping hints that you would go over to him may move things to your favour. Or he may have a mentor – you can go to the mentor, invoke an old favour (assuming he does owe you one) and add pressure on the scholar. However, relationships doesn’t work for you all the time. The scholar’s religious affiliation may prohibit him to touch a forbidden tome (perhaps you need to convince his religious leaders that reading a pagan tome is ‘for the greater good’). He may have promised his romantic love a trip and does not want to spend the time. Including all these factors would make social conflict more than just a single roll.

Upping the Stakes

Tapping into a NPC’s relationships with his friends, families and enemies to get him to act the way you want can be overkilled if all you want is to have a sword at 25% discount (or even just to get him to give it away for free). The suggestion is to only involve those factors for plot significant arcs, and for something to be significant, it must be something worth fighting for.  In the above example, it is assumed that the tome contains a powerful ritual to bind a demon. One can easily up the stake more. Examples include: persuading an entire village to flee before a band of goblin invaders come (in real life many won’t leave their homes despite impending disasters), getting an alliance of small city states to send armies against a threat, or even asking another nation into an alliance.

By extending the scale of the conflict, you get to involve more players. One player could be on a diplomatic mission to secure an army, while the other will try to get an informant to part with information about the foe. Each of them influence each other. Succeed at securing an army, and the informant may be cowed into giving the information. Get the information first, and the allies may be more willing to send out their warriors. Other acts would sway things in your favour. Sneaking into the enemy’s camp, and returning with one of their leaders’ head could become a forceful factor in a negotiation!  This allows combat characters to lend aid in a social conflict, be it his impressive battle records, history of being fair to others, his religious affiliation, providing some piece of obscure lore or even defeating the other party’s champion in a duel. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang debated with the scholars and sages of the Kingdom of Wu prior to the Battle of Chibi. He then incited Zhou Yu by saying that Cao Cao desired his wife (which didn’t happen in history).

An Example of a Large Scale Social Conflict

The political arena is often the best stage for a large scale social conflict, though a war with shifting allegiances is one too. This example contains massive spoiler from the Chinese manhua The Ravages of Time (mentioned earlier and elsewhere in my blog). Though the storyline is that of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the comic changes the details significantly. The situation is thus: Cao Cao has met defeat at the hand of Zhang Xiu and is surrounded. Meanwhile, to exploit his weakness, numerous foes begin to march on Cao Cao’s base, Xuchang and those includes Liu Biao, Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, plus Liu Yong, a scion of the Han Imperial Family (no, not Liu Bei; he was recently defeated by Lu Bu, got his ass kicked to the small city elsewhere in Xuzhou).

With Cao Cao isolated at Danyang, defeated by Zhang Xiu, and four armies approaching, what is he to do?  Troops have been stationed south to fight off Liu Biao, and an assassin finished off Liu Yong, but there’s still Lu Bu (who is smarter than how the original novel protrayed him) and Yuan Shu. One of Cao Cao’s best advisors, Xun Yun, managed to get them to fight each other. But how?

Sometimes ago, when Lu Bu was defeated by Li Si and other (shortly after killing Dong Zhou), he fled to Chenliu, and tried to take Puyang from Cao Cao, and failed. He then sought refuge from Liu Bei. Liu Bei kindly gave him a small city to dwell in, Xiaopei. However, when Liu Bei was away once fighting Yuan Shu (by the Emperor’s decreed, which was of course manipulated by Cao Cao), a group of bandits and displaced soliders invaded Xuzhou. Now, it was Zhang Fei who secretly liased with them (he’s not stupid in the comics too), as to lure Lu Bu to attack and be ambushed. However, Lu Bu knew of it and his advisor Chen Gong, paid another large sum of money to buy those brigands over, and in the end it was Lu Bu who succeeded in kicking Zhang Fei out from the city (but it’s more complex than that). Finally, Lu Bu absorbed those brigands as part of his army.

Okay, let’s return to how Xun Yun managed to get Lu Bu and Yuan Shu to fight each other. Xun Yun arrived on a diplmatic mission to Xuzhou and confered on him the General of the Left. He hinted that the people of Xuzhou loved Liu Bei, and Lu Bu’s rule may not be welcomed (working on Lu Bu’s relationship with his citizens), then confer a title which make his occupation of Xuzhou official (hence improving relationship with Cao Cao). At the same time, Xun Yun’s nephew, Xun You, went to meet Yuan Shu and said Lu Bu was coming to attack him. The latter, of course, did not believe – after all, weren’t they going after Cao Cao?

So here’s the final move in this social conflict. Xun Yun was the one who ultimately arranged the brigands to invade Xu Zhou, and joined Lu Bu. On his orders, the brigands took up Lu Bu’s banners and impersonated as his soldiers, attacked Yuan Shu. With this, Yuan Shu believed Xun You, and fought with Lu Bu, leaving Cao Cao safe. Liu Biao, seeing that he was alone in the whole affair, called off the attack. If you could, try to imagine the whole situation as a map with each character/faction as a circle, with lines linked to each other. That could be akin to a tactical map for physical combat.

Hopefully this will give more ideas for social conflicts; next time, I will try to come up with some Fate 3.0 mechanics and rules to formalize this.

This got me wondering though. Who is responsible for building effective characters. This question, however, can be broken down. What do you mean by effective? And in what situation?

Effectiveness in which Situation?

Let define the situation first. Obviously, let start with the most common conflict, and sometimes the only one which matter to a goody number of players – combat. Of course, with the advent of MMOs, where the only type of conflicts is combat (social conflicts are usually govern by the person’s skills not the character’s stats), some players transiting from computer-based MMos to table-top may only concentrate on combat-effective builds.

This leads to a classification of skills such as ‘combat’ and ‘utility’. In fact, this term probably starts with World of Warcraft (which I have never played), appeared in Lord of the Rings Online (which I do play) and I suppose many others, then finally into D&D 4th Edition. Whether table-top RPGs should rely heavily on elements from more rigid form of computer RPGs is another article and a debate-worth topic itself, so we leave that for another time.

Of course, on a table-top session, there are other situations where a character can be considered effective. Fate 3.0 in Spirit of the Century brings in some formal rules for social conflicts, as does Weapons of the God. Then there is also survival situation, such as wilderness survival, traps detection. Featuring less in fantasy games, but more in horror (especially Call of Cthlhu) are knowledge situation, where scholarship, history, lore and ancient languages plays a big part in escaping with just your live or being devoured by an ancient evil of awfulness. Another rare species of conflict is mass warfare, and the game which feature it most recently is A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying.

I believe D&D 4th edition tried its best to have the best of both worlds for every class – powers and such addresses many combat situations, while the skills system address that of survival, social and knowledge. So in this case, the game rules have taken upon itself to create effective characters.

Leaving it to the Skill Systems

Many games are not class-based, and the burden of enforcing effective characters lie in the hand of skills. Many of those games employ some mechanisms to ensure that characters are effective.  Unknown Armies introduces default skills and bring the player’s attention to them. A Song of Ice and Fire Role-Playing have templates, and in highlighted section points out some skills which would influence the player’s effectiveness….in combat.

Is it all about Combat?

In the beginning of this article, we see there are many type of situations characters can run into during table-top play. Yet something is quite amiss here when more than half of a game’s material is devoted to combat. Usually, combat is the most exciting part of the game; however, as proven by some other computer games (such as Phoenix Wright), social and legal conflicts are be just as intense.

Why does combat gets so much treatment, while social conflicts, wilderness survival challenges and so on are resolved in just one roll? Perhaps it’s not the system or classes which should enforce character effectiveness. It’s the GM, after all. But when game materials do not suggest how the GM could craft effective social, survival, exploration, political and intrigue conflicts, how could a GM come to devise one that would encourage players to just dump skill points into skills which they deem to be ‘effective’, such as Weapon Use,  Dodge and most important of all, anything that may influence Initiative?

Granted, there’s nothing wrong with a heavy-combat focus. Most of the dramatics happen there. Yet that’s only one way, a very thoroughly explored road. There are many other avenues  which haven’t been tread on yet, and I think some computer games are ahead of its time.  The ending of one of the Wing Commander games, whether if you win or lose, depends on how you talk through it. If that’s possible in a rigid computer game,  I think even for table-top games, exploring social, political, mass warfare and other form of conflicts are even more worthwhile pursuits.

So how can this be done? I hope to come up with something and when I do, I will share with you guys.

1. The Order of Saint Leondra is dedicated to perserving the history and lore of the True Faith, for they believe faith in the True Faith comes from knowledge and the words of the Saviour. The monks were (are?) holy men, and now cadavers, they persisted in their tasks even though long dead. They had been the source for religious texts (which were then sent to the churches to be distributed). A thing has happened of late, though. The Archbishop of Albion, seeking to soldify support for the unpopular King, wished to amend some of the old text. This, the Order of Saint Leondra, opposed. The Archbishop has declared that those ‘undead monsters’ are to be wiped out and have been sending in adventurers in. Would the PCs be part of the cleansing, or help to preserve the order?
2. Those are not monks of a religious order, but actually the followers of an old god, a thing that walked between voids and blotted out the stars and sun when it did. The tomes which they are writing are actually teachings of a cult that worship the old god, and it was left to those undead monks because anyone who spent sufficient time writing those text would turn insane. Now they are writing it in quantities. Who is going to distribute them?
3. An important text which the adventurers need to further their goal was destroyed during a purging by witch-hunters. All copies of it were burned to ashes. But there is a rumor of a certain place where the library is stocked with all types of ancient tome, and its inhabitants work tirelessly to preserve all knowledge. Yet could the adventurers just marched into a monastery of undead monks and get away with it. What do dead people want from the adventurers in return?

No man, it is said, set foot within the garden and goes  into the depth and had emerged alive.

1. This is just a rumour spread by a secretive group of botanists who are experimenting with exotic flowers, weeds and grapes to devise potions of dubious purposes. Some gives its drinker moments of joy, but are higher addictive. Some are potent poison which are scentless and could easily pass for wine.  Needlessly to say, if the adventurers have any business there, it would be either for information, to acquire one of those mixture, or to destroy the garden. Though the adventurers should find out more about the nature of the operation. Are they impartial businessman? Do they have a bigger agenda in mind?
2. The garden is a living chessboard which 4 powerful wizards long ago used to sort out their differences (it was a much better alternative to seek out a desolate countryside and turn the whole place to cinder and ashes). Flowers, weeds and trees are aggressive, and they attack each other.  A simple gardener was brought in to design the landscape, ornaments and other decorations, to act as barriers, obstacles and basically, to make up the terrain of the game. Indeed, the ruins of those 4 wizards’ towers are found at the four corner of the gardens. However, the enchantment holding the ‘living’ pieces at bay is weakening. The ‘game’ is spreading out into the ruins, and soon out to engulf the entire city.
3. When the House of Alarius commissioned the garden, it was more than just to “give something to society”. In fact, it is a covert operation to build a series of tunnels to underground hideouts, exits outside the city and to important locations of the city (near the barracks, just outside of the castle and so on). The merchant house was dissolved after nearly a century of business, then the thieves took over. This is the place to go if you wish to get a shortcut to a place you don’t usually get to go. However, the different factions trying to gain control of the garden has set up all sort of devious means to protect their turf – traps, ambushes and even the occasional druidic magic to bring trees to life.

1. There are legends of a pool, located in a grove, bordered by forests of the faerie, where one could see visions and images of the times to come. A seeress once dwell there, and she was responsible for prophecies and advice that aid many in averting ruins to the kingdom. However, the seeress had died, and someone else has taken over her guise and now control the pool. She can command the pool to show whatever she wishes, and she is now using it to sow discord throughout the kingdom. Whatever her aims are, it is unknown, but strife and chaos is just one on her list.
2. The Tablets of Destiny, an ancient religious writing which was used by a group of priests to foretell the future, have disappeared from their temple. Badly copied versions of those writings have appeared, and someone is circulating them. Merchant houses, noblemen, bandit lords and group of adventurers have been getting fragments of ‘prophecies’ which when interpreted, points to them as Messiahs of the world, glorious emperor, the harbinger of a new age. Those who follow the advice and heed the portends of those fragments of prophecies will have great initial success – and soon the doubting ones follow too. But the catch is that they are just following the fragments of an entire prophecy. The true prophecy can only be known if the adventurers manage to recover the Tablets of Destiny, or piece all the fragments together, and they would realise just how many are contributing to the ruin of the world.
3. A seer has been visiting those factions, and force compelling visions onto the leader of each of them. To one, they would say another is an obstacle to their goal. Then to the other, they would say the former is an obstacle as well, sowing discord and chaos in this manner. Who is this seer, and what is his real motive? And why are those given a vision are so fanatical in pursuing them? The seer has given them more than just a vision; an astral parasite has leeched into their mind as well, compelling them to believe in the visions and subtly controlling them.