Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Flambeaux wrote:

TheRedPriest wrote:face an astonishingly superior force

Edit: On second thought, that likely comes under Unusual Tactical situation. I'll leave it up though.

If it is a large enough force it may go beyond Tactical.

I hadn't thought on that scale, but you've got a point. Not sure how this would be classified, but presenting the players with a job that should be turned down or left for when the characters are better prepared (sufficient level & magic).

Blah... I think this may now fall under "Offer clues to risks and rewards"

Still, it's useful to recognise the subcategories, I think. I don't know whether Mythmere would be opposed to doing so in this thread, but I think it would be quite useful in and of itself.

May fall under tactical, but have the party plan a elaborate heist, from information gathering to time and resource management to actual execution of the plan.

- Wheggi

Wheggi wrote:May fall under tactical, but have the party plan a elaborate heist, from information gathering to time and resource management to actual execution of the plan.

- Wheggi

Apropos of nothing, I did that in a Top Secret game years ago. The players failed to grasp what was expected of them. TPK

Somewhere I think I once posted my subtable of Unusual Tactical Situations. I'm working on a book of tables, and most of these categories do indeed have subtables. Until I'm satisfied that I've covered the topics well, though, I'm not going to post or publish them. I'd rather release a finished form rather than a draft.

Torture (getting information, good cop bad cop).

Prisoners (let them live or die, turn them into slave/NPCs that could later turn on you) hmmm maybe "risk assessment".

Whats cool is how most of this stuff just happens on its own. As DM I never thought in terms of presenting puzzles vs. getting players to think tactically. This stuff just evolved out of nec. I think.

Flambeaux wrote:

Wheggi wrote:May fall under tactical, but have the party plan a elaborate heist, from information gathering to time and resource management to actual execution of the plan.

- Wheggi

Apropos of nothing, I did that in a Top Secret game years ago. The players failed to grasp what was expected of them. TPK

Sounds like my players. I tried to get them to solve a mystery once. I even made it easy: the butler did it! But they managed to kill themselves by intentionally setting the building on fire. In fact, they killed everyone else in the scenario, too -- except the butler, who was down by the river disposing of some evidence.

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:Enforce logical consequences. (Exactly how are you going to fence the jewelled eyes you levered out of the spider god's idol? Who will you fence it to? Whose side are they on?)

Resolve challenges through narrative rather than dice rolls. (You're looking for traps? Where, how, what precautions are you taking? Oh, okay. There's a poison dart trap but it discharges harmlessly over your head.)

Emphasis mine.

I agree wholeheartedly.

PapersAndPaychecks wrote:Enforce logical consequences. (Exactly how are you going to fence the jewelled eyes you levered out of the spider god's idol? Who will you fence it to? Whose side are they on?)

Resolve challenges through narrative rather than dice rolls. (You're looking for traps? Where, how, what precautions are you taking? Oh, okay. There's a poison dart trap but it discharges harmlessly over your head.)

Although I agree for the most part I do want to say it has to be within some limits. By this I mean, the player’s comments must be taken in context to their real ability vs the character’s ability.

Example: I once joined a game where I was asked to play a thief. The DM made everyone describe everything they wanted to do in detail and “talk” through the effort. He then gave bonus or negative adjustments based on how you did. My character (the one he gave me to take over) was a seventh level thief. I, on the other hand, have never picked a lock and can only guess how it might be done. So when it came time to pick a lock I did my best to describe what I thought my character would do. But each time I received a negative because he said I did not sound like I knew what I was doing. Duh. I didn’t. My character on the other hand should have.

So while I agree try and get the players to play through a narrative, at times the player has to be given some slack to just not know.

Daniel

grodog wrote:Mapping. Many folks just can't, so make them regret it if they don't

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Limited resources management, such as going into an area needing to use a lot of spells, potions, etc....

Hmm...vaguely familiar this sounds.