The Encounter Ramp Goes Both Ways

The Encounter Ramp is a concept from scenario design which tries to match your parties experience with the strength of the monsters they are facing.  In D&D this is often referred to as the Challenge Rating.  As PCs gain more experience and become more powerful the strength of their opponents must increase to maintain the feeling of challenge.

Sometimes the stars align but more often than not they are never in the right bloody place at the right bloody time.  As a GM it is your job to make the adventure a heroic challenge.

I thought I had unwittingly led my players into an encounter that was going to result in a Total Party Kill (TPK) and an early bath for the GM. In my current campaign the party is relatively low level comprising of  

• 3 x Level 1, 
• 1 x Level 2, 
• 1 x Level 3 and 
• 1 x Level 4 PC

That's a total of 12 levels of experience between them but the scenario is designed for 5 to 8 Characters of Levels 7 to 9 (between 45 and 56 Levels). 

OK, I admit it, I fell in love with the scenario and didn't really worry too much about how the PCs were going to fare. I mean it's never supposed to be easy right?

To cut a long story short, their first big battle finds them fighting some pretty big guys, a Troll and 3 Bugbears, with a second wave in the room above being 1 Ogre and 5 Gnolls. As individual encounters these would be manageable, difficult but manageable. However, as a second wave these are not one hit minions, they are going to descend on the PCs like a hammer.

Oh and did I forget to mention that this is just the start. If I were playing this by the book they will still have to fight their way past 12 bugbears, 1 giant 2 headed troll, 2 hill giants, 2 giant trolls, 4 trolls, 8 ogres, 11 gnolls. That's a lot of hit dice they have to overcome.

The Solution?

Ramp it down a little. I always knew I was going to have to reduce the number of monsters to make it manageable for them.

Hit Point Reduction - make a few of them one hit wonders.  Give your PCs a free perception check to spot the ones that are limping or carrying a few fresh wounds from some recent war band pissing match.

The Call of Nature - There's always one bad guy who is in the middle of something else when they hear the battle cry or the bugle.  Having a Bugbear otherwise detained sitting on the khazi, asleep or drunk is perfectly legitimate and offers that added advantage of potential information gathering once the battle has ended.

Morale Fail - Often overlooked, but a perfectly legitimate excuse for a GM is to make the monsters flee rather than fight it out to the death. 

Take Two Bites - PCs often overlook the adage "Run away and live to fight another day" or in otherwords run away and have a short rest, drink some healing potions and try again.  Dead bad guys are still going to be dead whereas PCs often have heroic recoveries.  Tactics can be re-evaluated, strategies can be re-examined and knowledge gained during the fight can be exploited.

Zach Kanin (The New Yorker)

 

I know what you did last Summer!

Okay I admit it...

I was kindly asked by Joe Wetzel of Inkwell Ideas to contribute some random maps for his successful Creature and Encounter Decks Kickstarter project (I did the spaceship deck plans in Encounter Deck 2).  Joe sells these decks on his website which also contains some of the best RPG random generators the internet has to offer (like the amazing hexographer I reviewed in my mapping mini series) and comes highly recommended.

So What the Heck is an Encounter Deck?

Card #06 from Encounter Deck 2
(featuring map by me)

It's a deck of 56 cards containing ideas for DMs to use either during play to add a little randomness or spice to their game.  They can also be used during scenario or campaign preparation as a random idea generator.

Each card has on one side:

• A Map - this could be a room, a building, an outdoor space, a map of a region or even a section of spaceship deck plan.
• A Trap Idea - something to throw at your players in game if they're having it too easy.
• A Twist - Something to stir up the plot
   
• A Trivial item or Treasure - Something to reward your players with, it could be inconsequential or it could become the focus for an entire game.

and on the reverse side a generic scenario idea split into:

• Title and Outline - A brief synopsis of the scenario with some keywords to get you thinking about where to take the plot.
• Getting the PCs Involved - a couple of plot motives for your PCs.
• Encounters - A bunch of potential encounters you might want to throw at your PCs in line with the overarching plot outlined above.
• Conclusion - A couple of ideas on how the scenario might pan out for the players.

Example of their use as an Idea Generator

Here I've simply taken 7 different cards and selected one item from each category to use to generate my scenario.  I could have just used the entire scenario idea from the reverse of the same card, but my objective here is to generate something really random and get those creative juices flowing.  I've used cards from Encounter Deck 2 and referenced the card number next to each item for those of you who want to recreate my steps. 

• #46 The Hunted - (Protection, Battlefield) - The refugees approach the city with tight lips and haunted eyes.  The lord cannot turn away his charges in their time of need, but what drove them from their homes may hunt them still.
• #55 Getting the PCs Involved? - The PCs stumble across the gypsies at dusk.
  
• #05 Encounters - The would-be interlopers (The PCs) are offered information by a diviner, but at a hefty price.
• #16 Trap Idea -  The slime on the walls and floor of a corridor has been deliberately cultivated, conducting the energies of an attack spell throughout the area.
• #32 Twist: A group of mercenaries mistake the party as searching for the same treasure that they are.
• #56 Trivial? Treasure - A small one foot cubed metal box with a door on one side.  Inside the temperature is always just below freezing.
• #47 Conclusion - With the troublesome cult revealed, the news must be spread and the panic halted.

My Adventure Outline (as outlined using the cards above)

An evil plague is spreading over the land, leading to an influx of refugees into the capital city.  This plague is a magical slime whose epicentre is a town some twenty leagues from the capital.  The PCs have been passing a steady stream of refugees all day as they head in the direction of the town.  That night as they search for a likely looking camp spot they encounter a band of Gypsies. 

The gypsies agree to let the PCs stay the night in their camp, which is unusually subdued, and during their conversations learn that the Gypsies have been blamed by the locals for the outbreak of this slime.  The Gypsies have nothing to do with it, but one of their number is a fortune teller who predicted that they would meet the PCs.  The Gypsies insist that one of the PCs must have their future foretold, during which they must forfeit some item of great value (or a lesser body part like a finger, toe or earlobe).

During the divination the gypsies reveal that they must retrieve the mystical cube from the shrine of St. Haute Pointe and take it to the slime infected town.  Once there, they will know what to do.

On the way to the shrine of St. Haute Pointe the PCs are ambushed by another adventuring party who are also heading to the shrine (but they are after a legendary chalice said to be able to restore missing minor body parts, observant PCs will notice that their leader has lost one of her ears).  There will most likely be a stand-off, a chase, another stand-off and the final realisation that the two parties are after entirely different things and either leave on good terms, or not.

After recovering the cube, the PCs finally arrive at the town.  From a hilltop vantage point they can see that the town is dotted with patches of this slime and overtime they will notice brown robed riders arrive in town on horseback and then leave shortly afterwards carrying a cylinder on their backs.

If they venture into town they will observe a cult of brown robed human monks congregating around the towns municipal water well.  They are decanting slime and something like frogspawn from the well into these cylinders and handing them to the dispatch riders who arrive in town.  All the while chanting some eldritch verse.

The solution to the PCs problem is to slay the monks and venture down the well where they discover some small innocuous looking creature the monks have chained up, laying its eggs.  If they capture one of the monks, preferably the leader, they can transport him and a frozen sample of the eggs back to the capital for the Lord's apothecaries to inspect.

To Adventure and Beyond 

Naturally, the Lord rewards the PCs for their heroism and then mention that he has another problem of a delicate nature.  He explains that as a young man he had an unfortunate hunting accident and now the kingdom (and his wife) is pressing him to sire an heir.  He's heard that there's a fabled chalice, located somewhere in the kingdom, that is rumoured to have the power to restore minor body parts...

The Ruined Tower of The Archmage

Ruined Tower Prize

David over at the Tower of the Archmage is running a competition to win one of his scenic models, a ruined tower.  Unfortunately for me I'm based in the UK and am therefore ineligible (the postage to the UK would be ruinous) but I liked the model enough to knock up a quick map and the basics for an encounter.

The Ruined Tower of the Archmage

The ruins of this solitary tower sit atop an exposed moorland hill which is constantly blasted by the elements.  Anyone crossing the moor on a particularly stormy day or night will be glad to shelter inside the towers walls even just for 5 minutes.

1.  Ground Floor - Even in its ruined state, the ground floor of this 20ft wide tower offers a welcome respite from the storm.  If the PCs search the tower or try to light a fire they disturb 3 Wolves who have made a den under the spiral staircase.  They fight to the death.

2.  Spiral Stairs - The spiral stairs stop after 1 half revolution, anyone making a leap of faith whilst on the outer part of the staircase will pass through a dimensional portal onto another set of stairs which lead to the 1st floor.  The portal is invisible and can only be detected by magical means.

3.  The Library - This room is dedicated to learning and storing knowledge as evidenced by the many bookshelves which line the walls.  A staircase sweeps up to another floor above,

4.  The Storeroom - A small 10ft by 5ft room containing shelves stacked with a myriad assortment of magical and mundane ingredients.

5.  The Laboratory - An octagonal room whose walls are chalked with all manner of magical symbols and signs.  The floor is dominated by a pentacle and a cloud of oily black smoke writhe within in the shape of a column.  Sprawled face down on the floor just outside the pentacle is a white haired old man dressed in long robes clutching a book.

Enjoy....