Creating Goals for our Party

In this post we're going to revisit things you can do when you have more time to prep. In this article we'll dive into the next idea: integrating characters into the story through party & individual character goals. I found this to be an excellent way to mesh character backstory & goals with the overarching campaign plot.

My Process:

1. Write 2 goals for each character. Think about the characters and their backstory: what do they hope to accomplish that they haven't yet? These should be things the players would be excited to pursue but haven't yet for whatever reason. Often times the Main Plot™️ is endlessly urgent, so the players need reassurance that they can pursue personal character goals as well.
2. Tie those character goals to fun rewards. Based on their play style and commonly used abilities, what magic items or artifacts would they really like? Get creative here! You can also reward titles, deeds, information, membership into certain groups, etc.
3. Create plot-related goals with fun rewards. This helps provide additional motivation beyond "we have to do the right thing for the sake of it." For some goals, I required the party to visit many different cities and complete various tasks.
4. Tie leveling-up to the completion of plot goals and/or a certain number of personal goals. This is probably the most controversial step– further down I'll discuss the potential downsides of doing things this way.
5. Create a display board for the goals (optional, but fun!). Thinking up and creating these sorts of props is why I love GMing. It doesn't have to be fancy, but having physical props definitely helps with engagement. For a free / online version, you can use something like Google Sheets / Google Docs. Final result below:

What went well:

• The players all seemed to like the goals! They tied in well to the characters as I had a good idea of who they were by then. This may work best if you introduce the goals partway through a campaign once you understand the characters well.
• The rewards were enticing but not game-breakingly powerful. It helps that the goals were already things the party was pursuing.
• It's good to have a mix of goals the party can actively pursue (i.e. complete tasks at these locations) as well as goals that we have more control over (when certain enemies are encountered / defeated). This helps us to adjust the pacing of the campaign on the fly.

What can be improved:

• Leveling up after completing certain goals seemed like an interesting idea at the time, but it's hard to balance and sync up well with story beats. In my case, the goals are taking longer than I anticipated, so it's been a while since the party has been able to level up.
• Having to travel to lots of different areas takes a while.
• Be careful that the rewards don't become obsolete by the time they are earned.

Next Project: 5e Travel Sim Mobile App

 

Hello everyone! I'm very excited to announce my next project: a mobile app that helps you run travel and exploration adventures. Be sure to follow the project on Kickstarter to be notified when it goes live!

Here's how the app works:

• Each day of travel, the app generates a mixture of various events and encounters. These can include environmental challenges, monsters, interesting discoveries, role play encounters, helpful boons, and even entire dungeons.
• Each encounter uses straightforward 5e mechanics to provide a framework while leaving room for creative solutions.
• At the end of each travel day, the app generates a campfire question to spark role-play and character development.
• The app supports various travel modes such as exploration, race against the clock, tracking, and survival.
• Encounters can be customized through homebrew secrets & clues, landmarks, and quests.

If you are interested in learning more or following the project, be sure to check out the Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dmmicycle/5e-travel-simulator-ios-and-android-app?ref=4cz926

Resource: Black Market Stalls

Since my party was in a sketchy town, I decided to include some interesting black market stalls for them to explore. Here's a list of the stalls I included:

• Shady amulet dealer: Magic amulets for sale, but each also carries a minor curse. They are suspiciously cheap.
• Mystery meat skewers
• Witch selling hexes, jinxes, curses, etc
• 2 Hex spell scrolls – 20 gp each
• 2 Bestow Curse spell scrolls – 100 gp each
• Remove Curse spell scroll – 150 gp
• Forger: fake identity documents
• Potions and poisons
• Arrow poisons – 10 uses, arrows must be coated ahead of time. +1d6 poison damage. 100 gp
• 2 Potions of healing – 100 gp each
• Stolen goods: jewelry, art, coin purses
• Seer selling blessings: player rolls 1d6
• 1: Curse. -1 to all d20 rolls until next dawn.
• 2-3: Nothing happens
• 4-6: Blessing. +1 to all d20 rolls until next dawn.
• Random magic item auction
• Gambling games
• Snail racing track

Let us know if you have suggestions for more black market stalls!

Fortune Teller Mechanics

In this post we're going to revisit things you can do when you have more time to prep. Specifically we'll dive into the first idea: using a fortune teller to develop the larger story. I found this to be a fun way to provide hints / secret information, foreshadow events, and create some intrigue / mystery.

Here was my process:

1. Think about the next mini-arc of the campaign. Which quests are the party likely to tackle? Which locations / NPCs / enemies might they encounter? what unresolved character backstory elements can I work in?
2. What useful / fun information can I provide that relates to these elements?
3. Create fortunes out of that information. They should ideally be enigmatic in the moment but provide that "Ohhhh" moment once the situation is encountered.

These are the fortunes I came up with:

1. Your hearts are held by the one of fire (a wizard was the one who kidnapped a character's children– foreshadowed by a flaming statue)
2. A chained animal is always most dangerous (during a prison break, some of the other prisoners may betray the party)
3. The stick of change lies deep underground (hint for a wand of true polymorph)
4. Those who are fiery may be tempered by cold (BBEG & lieutenants are vulnerable to cold damage)
5. As you search for knowledge keep your nose to the ground (useful book may be found on the lower shelves of the library)
6. Beware the one-eyed head (mayor with an eyepatch may betray them)

Fortune teller mechanics: 

The players can choose to receive 3 random fortunes or roll to see how many they'll get. If they choose to roll, they will roll a d6, with the number corresponding to the fortune they'll get. They can keep rolling until they repeat a number.

Feel free to share your thoughts / ideas on these mechanics!

Leaning into “Yes, but…”

While prepping for my latest session, I thought about a situation that perfectly encapsulated the concept of “Yes, but.” This is just one example, but the idea can be applied to many situations.

The encounter: The party is trying to retrieve a set of keys from a guard house. I know they can cast Mage Hand, and from experience they'd probably want to try and use it here.

The "No." approach: We may be tempted to find a reason why they couldn’t use Mage Hand. After all, a single cantrip circumventing the whole challenge feels anticlimactic. But doing so negates the choices our players made during character creation. It’s fine to challenge our party’s weaknesses sometimes, but we should balance that with opportunities for them to showcase their strengths, as well.

The "Yes, but" approach: We can anticipate what our party might do and account for them in the encounter. In our example, we can allow them to use Mage Hand to retrieve the keys, but they must make a Sleight of Hand check to avoid being noticed. Although we're still requiring a check, it may be easier than not using Mage Hand at all. We should think of our party's abilities not as instant solutions, but as ways to attempt to solve a problem (which may or may not work– it's up to the dice).

Are there any other approaches you would take?

Simple Auction Mechanics

In a recent session, I had an auction of magic items and other artifacts and wanted to share the simple mechanics that I used. The goal was to have a more random and interesting way to acquire items.

The setup:

1. Make a list of 3-5 items for bid. Most should be randomly generated to model the feel of a random auction. For added intrigue, you can reveal only some info about an item (for example, a "magic ring" could be up for auction but they don't know what it does).
2. Decide on a starting bid for each item, perhaps 60-70% of what a shopkeeper would charge.
3. Decide on a bid increment for each item. If the starting bid is 150 gp, a good bid increment is 10 gp. (This doesn't have to be exactly balanced. Prefer easily countable increments.)
4. Decide how many other "bidders" are interested in the item to start. A useful magic item may attract 10 bidders, while something less popular may only have 5 or 6.

The auction:

1. Start by allowing the party to bid the starting amount if they are interested in the item.
2. Roll a d20 for each NPC bidder. If the result is a 10 or higher, that NPC is willing make the next bid. Remove any dice that are 9 or lower. If no NPC rolls a 10 or above, the PCs win the auction.
3. If there are still NPC bidders, allow the party to bid higher if they are still interested. If they decline, an NPC wins the lot.
4. Repeat steps 2-3 until a winner has been decided.

Example:

Item: Winged Boots

Starting bid: 100 gp

Bid increment: 10 gp

Bidders: 7

1. Party makes a starting bid of 100 gp.
2. NPCs roll: 18, 13, 14, 4, 5, 18, 7. Four bidders are still interested and bid 110 gp.
3. Party bids 120 gp.
4. NPCs roll: 16, 4, 7, 12. Two bidders are still interested and bid 130 gp.
5. Party bids 140 gp.
6. NPCs roll: 4, 9. No bidders are interested, party wins item for 140 gp.

Have you ever used an auction in your game? Let me know what mechanics worked well.

Free app to help players engage with their character

I've just released a new free mobile app, Dnd Character Journal, designed to help players engage with their characters and larger campaign world. There are downtime activities, backstory prompts, fun role play questions, and journal areas for organized note taking. The app is free to download:

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/dnd-character-journal/id6469010732
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.michaelwu.dndcharacterjournal

There's also a video if you want to see a preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWSY4c5gZPo

If this seems useful I hope you will share it with your players! Happy gaming.