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So, this, in the "What do you want to see?" thread.
What I'd like to see is a "non-combat Bestiary". Thinking up puzzle encounters or diplomatic situations to put your players in is hard. harder than, say, cracking open the Bestiary, finding a CR-appropriate monster, and having it attack the PCs.
The NPC Codex was a good start, but what I'd really like is a Codex of environmental hazards, traps, freak natural disasters, couriers bearing bad news, chase scenes, intelligent magic weapons with complex agendas, magical diseases, skill-check challenges, haunts, cursed treasure, and whatever else you can think of-- all CR-rated and accompanied by a list of suggestions as to where and why a group of adventurers might encounter them.
I want to write this. Anyone else want to write this? We should write this. And publish it. Anyone want to publish this?
It sounds interesting. Send me a full pitch. I do believe Rite Publishing has done some hazard stuff.
Okay. Sounds like something that would be made easier as a group effort.
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I've been considering the idea myself as well honestly.
Complex npc encounters that can be solved nonviolently as well as serve as springboards into further adventures. Odd roadside encounters, brushes with authority, etc. etc.
I'd do it.
EDIT: Will do it I mean. Will. As in PM me if you want to jump on this one together.
How would you react to, say, a compilation of puzzles?
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I could get on board with this, let me know if you need writers.
How would you react to, say, a compilation of puzzles?
Puzzles are a mixed bag. I personally love riddles and word games. However, mathematical puzzles suck all the enjoyment from my life when they appear in a game.
There would definitely be room for puzzles in a book of this sort. I've been tossing this idea around a bit. For the Everything But Monsters book (relax, it's just a working title) I think it would be divided into the following categories:
- Diseases
- Curses
- Poisons
- Traps
- Hazards
- Cursed/Intelligent Items/Weapons
- Adventure Hooks (messages, notes, treasure maps, etc.)
- Social Encounters (diplomacy, intrigue, and other non-combat situations)
- NPCs
How would you react to, say, a compilation of puzzles?Puzzles are a mixed bag. I personally love riddles and word games. However, mathematical puzzles suck all the enjoyment from my life when they appear in a game.
See, I love both kinds of puzzles, because, to me, they are both usually pattern puzzles. I also those spot the differences puzzles, figure out which glyph doesn't belong, whatever gets the players to look at a handout. I hate riddles that think they only have one answer, usually they don't. Then it's a guessing game for the right word. Guh, hate. Or anything based on pronunciation, since you never know how a given GM pronounces a given word. Pun-riddles are the bane of my existence.
When puzzles hit the gaming table, I've found several reactions. The first are the people that love them that immediately jump in to try and solve them. Then there are the others that sit back, start flipping through a book, and wait until there's something to kill. Some people try, and if they're having too much trouble figuring it out, will immediately go to the dice and try to solve it with a skill check or an Int roll, or a divination spell. I've also seen games grind to a halt when a puzzle proves to be beyond the capability of the players. That's where I think the problem lies: puzzles are entirely metagaming. If the players can't solve it, then the PCs can't solve it, unless there's a mechanic available to allow for it.
Granted, if puzzles are something people want offered to them, I'm willing to include them in the book. I'd just be sure to insert an appropriate roll to be made and a DC in order to bypass it.
Yeah, I hear you. I'm big on the contrived room puzzles. When I DM, I go in with a few characters, a vague idea of plot, and just proceed in an organic fashion. If it looks like it's time for a puzzle, there's a pause of about 90 seconds, then we spend the next half hour solving the creation.
The best example of my work is a little puzzle I threw together in a campaign setting that the party dubbed "Scaryland". In effect, it's the corpse of a crystalline earth god that fathered all sorts of harmless aberration races for the sheer unadulterated hell of it. Given its role both as the core of the technology of one of these aberrant civilizations and its religious heart, the Core wasn't big on fights. It was all about the skill challenges and puzzles.
Consider a party that has collected three colored quarterstaves and has been using them to shut down construct guardians that are slivered sections of the personality of the dead god. Color matching, mostly. They come across a long hallway of colored crystalline tiles, some fifteen feet wide and maybe sixty feet long. Four hallways shoot off of this hallway, one of which has high security door written all over it. The other three contain colored pedestals for the slotting of said quarterstaves. In the hallway, all magic is suppressed, save a slow effect that reduces all creatures' speed to five feet per round.
As soon as a creature sets foot in the main corridor, the event begins. The corridor takes a tally of the creatures in the vicinity. If the party is split and more are in the main corridor than down the side hallways, the side hallways are blasted with lightning (5d6, DC 16 Reflex for half) every round starting with the next round. If the opposite is true, the corridor meets the same fate. If all are in the corridor or down side hallways, no lightning occurs.
Each round, roll 1d6.
1-2 Red
3-4 Blue
5-6 Yellow
This color begins to blink. At the beginning of the next round, that color is struck by lightning. Holding a quarterstaff forces your tile to be of that color rather than what it should be. Once a quarterstaff has been slotted into place, 2d6 are rolled each round. The event ends and the door opens when all three quarterstaves are placed in their respective slots.
I'm interested, as a writer.
For NPCs I know you're going for non-combat encounters, but there are tons of npcs available from the standard classes. Having a few 3pp classed npcs would be very nice. :)
You mean like NeoExodus Chronicles: Usual Suspects for example? It has a 5-star review from Endzeitgeist so you know that it is a quality product.
Doing 3PP NPCs would be an idea. I was thinking one way to go about it would be to take some standard tropes and archetypes and twist them from standard expectations. You know, take the hooded guy you meet in the tavern before the adventure, or the damsel in distress, or the mustachioed villain and do something new with them.
I'm all for making puzzles and riddles more player-friendly. That would definitely be an approach I'd want to take for a book like this.
How about we do this:
1. If you're a writer interested in working on a project like this, pm me with an email address and any areas you'd specifically want to work in. I'll start a mass mail for everyone that wants to get involved so we can organize the effort.
2. If your a publisher and want to be involved in this, do likewise. If this is the sort of thing that would do better as a Kickstarter, I'd like some advice in that regard from people with experience.
3. If there's anything else people would want to see in a book like this, post it here.
I'm not interested in it as a kickstarter. I already have my kickstarter plans in place for the next 12 months.
Best of luck to you guys.
I'm not sure I am either, hence the "if." Once I've talked to some people more in the know and reduced the if-factor, then we can make that decision.
Kickstarters are for big stuff only - full modules, setting guides, etc. Small stuff is always out of pocket, so getting optimal prices for all freelancing and art - supplements like this one is out of pocket to me. Definitely not Kickstarter necessary.
I'll have a pm sent later today. I have machinesmith stuff I need to catch up on. But definitely interested.
I have sent off a PM. Even from a GM perspective, this product sounds like it could be great.
Have been working on something that includes the puzzles and social encounters part of this for a while, but more products (and options) are always good so good luck to whoever ends up working on this one!
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Well, this is gathering steam a lot faster than anticipated. Nice. I'll have an email sent off shortly to those of you that contacted me. If anyone has any other ideas on this project I'd still like to hear them.
Well, this is gathering steam a lot faster than anticipated. Nice. I'll have an email sent off shortly to those of you that contacted me. If anyone has any other ideas on this project I'd still like to hear them.
Oh goodness what have you done now? :-)
PM sent.
I really like this idea. I'd be happy to contribute.
Oh dear lord shadowborn what have you done?
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Let me know the flavor you'll be wanting for the puzzles. This sounds like just the sort of project that would excite my mind into doing 15,000 words a day for a week or two.
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Rite Publishing did 101 Hazards and Disasters, our #30 Haunts series, #30 Traps for Tombs, if you want to use any of that material just let me know and we could even see about letting you try out some of the IP with a license. The game mechancis are OGL of course.
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Oh goodness what have you done now? :-)
Apparently hit on an idea that people really like. That can't be bad, right?
...
Right? Oh, boy.
Let me know the flavor you'll be wanting for the puzzles. This sounds like just the sort of project that would excite my mind into doing 15,000 words a day for a week or two.
Shoot me a pm with an email address and I'll get you in the loop. Everything is still at ground level at this point and very open-ended on content. We'll get more selective and concise once we have an idea of what's on the table, who's delivering what and how much, and my head has stopped spinning enough to make some consistent decisions as lead cat herder.
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Rite Publishing did 101 Hazards and Disasters, our #30 Haunts series, #30 Traps for Tombs, if you want to use any of that material just let me know and we could even see about letting you try out some of the IP with a license. The game mechancis are OGL of course.
Thanks for the offer. It's greatly appreciated. I'll get back to you once we've gotten a bit more organized. (Plus, the head-spinning thing. See above post.)
Oh, and those of you that have already contacted me regarding this, emails have been sent. If you haven't seen them, check your spam folder. My email often tastes like spam. Mmm...spam.
Dot!
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Okay, it looks like we've got a team of writers, including three former RPG Superstar contenders. While I'm waiting for the third of said contenders to contact me so I can get them on the email list, I'll get a list of writing assignments ready and hand them out once everyone is on board. This thing is a go.
Erik Freund, still waiting to hear back from you. Check your pms.
Tark has some ideas that may need a cartographer to implement. If you've got the skills and are interested in participating, shoot me a pm.