Roleplaying Suggestions E-newsletter #1216
A Transient Phrase From Johnn
Alas, the week received away from me, so it is a uncommon weekend version of Roleplaying Suggestions.
I’d like to offer you one piece of recommendation after which transfer on to in the present day’s villainous suggestions. The recommendation comes from an incredible Zoom session assembly I had final evening with Platinum Wizard of Journey deadshot2021, who gave me permission to share particulars of what we talked about.
deadshot2021 reached out explaining he was having roadblocks prepping his Ptolus 5E marketing campaign. We dug into {that a} bit extra and we noticed that a part of the issue was complexity.
Right here’s the factor. We wish nice campaigns. We wish our gamers to have a blast (actually, within the mage’s case). And we have now visions of grandeur of how our crafty plots and concepts will unfold.
This leads to further complexity behind the display screen. We’ve got extra stuff to ideate, plot, and construct. We’ve got extra threads and loops to attach and coordinate. And we at all times have one foot stretched far right into a brittle future we’re making an attempt onerous to herd the cats in the direction of.
As an alternative, I suggest we begin easy. Gamers, who should take care of far more Fog Of Battle than ourselves and due to this fact have incomplete data to make choices with, will at all times make issues advanced on their very own.
And this multiplies our complexity! If we start with intricate plans and concepts, then our GMing solely will get trickier as gamers stack on their shenanigans.
But when we begin so simple as doable, and reply to participant actions as an alternative of pre-planning them, we make our GMing simpler (and extra enjoyable in my expertise).
As well as, why not give ourselves one of the best likelihood to succeed each session with ongoing effort to simplify our campaigns:
- Shut loops as usually as you may
- Kill an NPC each session
- Mix participant and character wishes with our plots
- Mix a number of loops when the chance strikes
- Maintain foes and obstacles black and white till they make contact with the celebration
By weeding our gardens we assist the attractive flowers attain and thrive within the solar and stand out to the attention. So too ought to we weed our campaigns to maintain them so simple as doable so we will give attention to our gamers and reply to character actions.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed along with your marketing campaign, begin trimming. And resist the impulse to make issues advanced. As an alternative, apply simplicity. After which let our gamers tangle themselves up!
In Right now’s Difficulty
Characteristic
- 5 Suggestions To Creating A Really Evil Villain
Reader Suggestions
- Fast Dungeon Guidelines
- Session Recaps
- Shiny Blue Half-Masks
Have an incredible weekend!
Cheers,
Johnn
5 Suggestions To Creating A Really Evil Villain
From Johnn 4 (it is a refresh of RPT#14)
My favourite villain in actual life is the lowly mosquito. I’ve seen this tiny creature wreak extra havoc than a competition of deviant halflings. However with one slap it may be slain. And even a slight breeze knocks it off-course. So it should be a really intelligent villain to trigger a lot chaos.
We will take a number of classes from this evil creature and apply them to villains in our campaigns. I’m a bit jaded today on making villains ever-more highly effective to shore up damaged recreation methods or problem good gamers. It’s a refreshing change making an attempt to punch up with villains.
So utilizing mosquitoes for inspiration, listed here are 5 methods we will have gamers hating on our villains and shaking their fists on the GM display screen.
1. Quite a few, Non-Deadly Assaults
My new villain doesn’t have the sources to utterly wipe out the character celebration and nonetheless preserve her different plots and plans going. So she is going to use a number of, non-lethal assaults upon uncovered areas to drive the characters as far-off as doable.
Whereas mosquito bites show lethal in elements of the world, they most frequently trigger itching, a little bit of bleeding, and a curse or two. However every assault weakens and distracts us just a little extra.
- Examples of non-lethal villain assaults:
- Use minions to destroy weaker allies (i.e. these 0 degree villagers the characters appear to like a lot)
- Assault henchmen and mounts so the celebration should carry its personal stuff or depart stuff behind
- Forestall the PCs from getting relaxation and therapeutic (unusual noises, ambushes, forest fires…)
- Destroy celebration provides, objects, and tools
- Use assaults that impose circumstances as an alternative of deadly injury (confusion, blindness, fatigue…)
2. Anticipated Shock Assaults
Which means, the gamers will know the villain’s on the market, however they gained’t know when or the place her subsequent assault can be till she’s already drawn a pint of blood. Stealth helps us right here, as do diversions, misdirection, and crimson herrings.
The mosquito flies at nightfall to make it tougher to see. Its soft-legged touchdown goes unfelt most occasions. And its preliminary jab accommodates a tiny little bit of anesthetic so victims don’t really feel the sting.
Some instance villain shock assaults:
- Bribe immoral villagers and associates to betray the PCs
- Unfold nasty rumors concerning the characters so they can not convalesce in close by villages or cities (they carry the plague, are murderous troublemakers, appeal to dangerous luck…)
- Ship sneaky minions to sabotage the celebration (poison the PCs’ meals, steal useful objects, sabotage tools, plant a false map…)
- Carry out false flag operations
- Give false clues to the celebration to ship them into harmful dungeons
3. Make the PCs Do Issues They Don’t Need To
Villains can earn the celebration’s everlasting enmity simply by forcing them to alter their plans, modify their conduct, and take actions they don’t need to carry out.
How many people take pleasure in glooping on the chemical compounds to repel bugs? Or what about sitting trapped in our properties on scorching summer season nights as a result of our tiny villains reign supreme exterior?
Some methods villains could make characters do issues towards their will:
- Take harmful detours due to blocked paths and roads
- Flood the PCs’ residence base by damming a close-by stream
- Wack harmless NPCs as a result of the participant characters have been mislead
- Gradual the celebration down with traps and hazards
- Scrying or in any other case observing the PCs to damage their plans, keep away from shock, and preserve characters busy with anti-detection actions
4. Create An Annoying Itch Afterwards
Think about how you’ll really feel in case your worst enemy carried out some heroic deed and all you heard from your pals thereafter is how the villain is a hero, an incredible individual, courageous, and exquisite?
The mosquito annoys us so as a result of their bites itch. And whereas one chunk serves up mere minor irritation, many bites trigger victims to flail round, scratch till they bleed from a number of wounds, and yell.
Some examples of how villains can create annoying itches:
- A personality’s trusty steed has been branded or marked with insults concerning the PC or celebration
- NPCs gained’t provide the celebration any items or providers, or belief them with data, as a result of the villain has threatened or tricked the NPCs
- As an alternative of doing injury, profitable assaults appeal to extra monsters
- The villain places hefty bounties on the PCs
- The villain charms a PC or offers them a love potion
5. Deadly Hazard to Characters With out Threat to the Villain
The villain seemingly delivers horrible assaults with impunity. Every failed effort to whack the villain makes the gamers angrier whereas placing beloved characters in higher hazard with every try.
Mosquitoes carry lethal illnesses. That aspect of threat turns them into true villains. And so what should you kill one? There’s a thousand extra with empty bellies buzzing nearer….
Listed here are some instance of villains infuriating gamers with deadly risks with out private threat:
- The faction pyramid means the villain can assault with many minions
- The villain charms or convinces an ally to betray the celebration
- Lengthy-range assaults resembling dropping objects onto the celebration from a top
- The villain builds fame such that nobody believes the PCs once they search assist towards the BBEG and third events as an alternative assault the PCs for the tried smear
- The villain makes the celebration a goal by claiming characters carried out vile acts that the villain really made
- The villain or their minions have immunity to assaults that have an effect on PCs resembling immunity to poison or hearth
Be an Evil Villain
I consider villains that function by way of harassment, get underneath participant skins, and weaken the celebration with methods, dilemmas, and penalties are far more enjoyable for everybody than pure fight constructs you solely encounter and run as soon as. Be a villain your self by creating an underdog NPC who should use each benefit they will muster to defeat the Large Unhealthy Evil Group!
Suggestions From Roleplaying Suggestions Sport Masters
Have a roleplaying tip you’d wish to share? E-mail it to mailto:[email protected] – thanks!
Fast Dungeon Guidelines
[Comment from Johnn: I stumbled across this post on Goblin Punch and think it has awesome ideas in it. I’ve summarized the checklist below. Check out the post for explanations.]
Right now I wrote a guidelines of issues to place within the dungeon. The primary couple objects are fairly apparent, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good to enumerate their utilization.
Use This Guidelines
Learn it as soon as earlier than you write your dungeon. Then learn it once more whenever you’re finished, to be sure you received all the pieces.
The Guidelines
- One thing to Steal
- One thing to be Killed
- One thing to Kill You
- Totally different Paths
- Somebody to Discuss To
- One thing to Experiment With
- One thing the Gamers Most likely Gained’t Discover
Session Recaps
From RPT GM Valentino
re: How To Create Participating Session Recaps To Get Gamers Prepared To Play
One strategy which works very well for me is to let the gamers do the recap. Then I add essential data which the participant may need forgotten however not the PC.
I begin the in-game session by describing the “scene” and emphasizing what they will see, hear, scent, and even really feel, if relevant (as a lot senses as doable).
After that I at all times say: the stage is yours.
Shiny Blue Half-Masks
From Platinum Wizard of Journey ronaldolmoura by way of the RPT Discord
[Comment from Johnn: I’m always a sucker for sentient magic items. When ronaldolmoura posted this homebrew item for The Demonplague, I asked for permission to share it with you as I thought you might find a great use for it in your campaigns.]
Shiny Blue Half-Masks
(Impressed by this Reddit submit.)
Wondrous Merchandise, very uncommon (requires attunement)
This ominous wanting masks was damaged in half. Both half can be utilized individually, or they are often put collectively to make it one single merchandise once more.
The masks has an beautiful texture whose faint darkish blue shine displays with nice depth when uncovered to gentle. It adapts to the wearer, merging in an ideal match to half of their face, requiring an motion to be placed on or eliminated.
Profit
Your injury bonus is doubled in each profitable assault made whereas carrying this half masks.
As well as, it has the next properties:
Smile within the Face of Demise
It’s possible you’ll add your Charisma modifier to your demise saving throws.
In Excessive Spirits
You’ve got benefit on all Knowledge saving throws.
Deadly Enthusiasm
You rating vital hits on assault rolls of 19 or 20 on the d20.
Value of Life
Sporting the masks causes the wearer to expend bodily, emotional, and psychic power. Often that displays into 1 degree of exhaustion for a couple of minutes of use. Nevertheless, on the DM’s discretion, that exhaustion may be elevated or decreased, in keeping with the importance or effort employed on utilizing the masks.
Sentience
This masks is a sentient merchandise of True Impartial alignment, with INT of 12, WIS of 14, and CHA of 16.
The merchandise communicates each by transmitting feelings to the creature carrying or carrying it, and by talking by way of the wearer. It could possibly communicate, learn, and perceive Abyssal, Widespread, Dwarvish, Elvish, and Goblin.
Character
This masks presents itself as a really educated and useful being with a optimistic ‘can-do’ angle. It’s considerably needy, yearning for firm and a focus, however additionally it is desirous to compensate its wearer and their allies with all the assistance it might present. It speaks of its objective to serve, explaining it was cursed by an envious sorcerer with that harming property (‘Value of Life’).
If given an opportunity, the masks will inform, affect, instruct, and attempt to persuade the wearer to quest for its different half, promising that when each halves are introduced collectively, and a selected ritual is carried out, the curse can be eliminated. Then, it would grant even higher advantages with out inflicting the exhaustion ranges in its wearer.
(True Sentience)
This masks accommodates (is the jail of) the soul of an historical sorcerer of True Impartial alignment, with INT of 16, WIS of 18, and CHA of 20.
(True Character)
This historical sorcerer was led to the Luna Valley in an unscrupulous quest for forbidden information. After years of search and research with a couple of fellow magic wielders, (s)he began plotting a scheme to take immense energy, drawing from a supply trapped beneath the valley. The buddies found the plot and judged that (s)he was past salvation at that second. Unable to easily kill their buddy, they determined to lure her/his soul into the masks and break up it into two. They hid the items not too distant from one another and dedicated to return after some time to (perhaps) reverse the punishment, if that point disembodied proved adequate to carry her/his senses again.
The buddies by no means had an opportunity to return. The items of the masks have been discovered and utilized by totally different adventurers throughout the centuries, nevertheless it has by no means been profitable in convincing its wearers to search out the opposite half and carry out the ritual that can carry her/him again to life into somebody’s physique. That’s the last word goal of this soul and it’ll attempt to deceive its wearer to perform that purpose.
