Unconventional encounter: how would you handle this?

Halivar · Oct 29, 2008

Tonight, I'm running a session where one of the encounters takes place in M.C. Escher's Relativity (attached). At first, I considered having multiple "battle areas" set up on the wet-erase mat with arrows pointing to what connects where. On thinking about it, though, I think would be too confusing, both for the players and for me.

So, here's my idea: I'm going to print a double-size copy of the picture (on four A4 Letter sheets taped together), hand out tape measures, and use inches instead of squares.

Does the idea have merit? Are there any gotcha's to using free-form movement in 4E? Given the image, are there any other considerations I need to make with respect to 4E tactical rules? Can you think of any other cool stuff I can throw in the make the fight interesting?

Henry · Oct 29, 2008

You just made my brain hurt.

The big thing to consider is jumping, climbing, or flying players who try to take "shortcuts" just to see how you'll handle them. I would recommend planes of gravity localized to each surface. You jump far enough, you're slamming into the floor above you like you fell to it.

Crothian · Oct 29, 2008

Ya, how does gravity work? For a good visual on this see near the end of the movie Labyrinth. It is inspired by the same piece of art.

Phaezen · Oct 29, 2008

Some quick thoughts,

Divide the space up into zones - each staircase and flat surface is a zone with its own relative gravity.

A character can move from one zone to another by simply walking into the next zone (see The Labyrinth - Jarred does this). Jumping from one zone to another - roll for distance and if the character misses thier zone, they fall into the next closest zone.

For ranged combat, impose a penalty of -1 per zone between the attacker and the target.

The archways work like gates, you can either pre allocate destinations or roll randomly.

Have fun with it, roll with any zany ideas the players come up with, and post the results tomorrow

Phaezen

Halivar · Oct 29, 2008

Henry said:
You jump far enough, you're slamming into the floor above you like you fell to it.

Ooh! Nasty idea: if you run up to a wall with a localized gravity field, you could be taking falling damage.

Missile fire is severely hampered. -2 penalty for firing out of a local gravity field.

I was planning on linking the two open doors, and linking the closed door with the open balcony in the upper right. Players will enter the room from the stair case at the bottom of the picture.

Dragonwriter · Oct 29, 2008

I will put a third recommendation up for "Labyrinth" (though, point of order, the Goblin King's name was Jareth, not Jarred).

Also, you could make the map randomized. Roll what the dimensions are each time a character steps onto a new area. After all, it is Relativity

.

Phaezen · Oct 29, 2008

Dragonwriter said:
I will put a third recommendation up for "Labyrinth" (though, point of order, the Goblin King's name was Jareth, not Jarred).

I am embarrassed.

For punishment I will subject my self to a Labyrinth, Willow, Dark Crystal marathon on the weekend. That will teach me to make mistakes like that.

Back on topic.

Staircases could have 2 relative gravities at ninty degrees . . . .

Pheazen

Halivar · Oct 29, 2008

Phaezen said:
For punishment I will subject my self to a Labyrinth, Willow, Dark Crystal marathon on the weekend. That will teach me to make mistakes like that.

Great. Now I got "Dance, Magic Dance" in my head. It doesn't help that I have the damn thing memorized. Geez, but it's catchy.

Dragonwriter · Oct 29, 2008

Halivar said:
Great. Now I got "Dance, Magic Dance" in my head. It doesn't help that I have the damn thing memorized. Geez, but it's catchy.

At least it's not "It's a Small World"... That thing gets stuck and you can't un-stick it.

Primitive Screwhead · Oct 29, 2008

There are some issues with freeform combat in 4e, but I think there is a way to reach your goal of a confusing encounter and still play 'by the rules'.

First, have your monsters be primarily ranged fighters.

Second, use the MC Escher painting as a visual representation while using two other tools for the mechanics of the battle.

Use a couple battlemaps to represent the 'floors' that the PCs are on. Hopefully they will stay together instead of splitting up.
If the PC's ever catch up to a monster, then they can melee with it.

Floor to nearby floor is 30 squares, with an additional -2 penalty to ranged attacks due to the dimensional warping.

Finally, use the StarMaze Chess, a 5D mess of dimensional jumping. Left/right/up/down moves are done through doorways while diagonal moves are done on staircases.

You can describe the maze as all one room, or a room within a room, or two rooms phased on-top of each other... so you might be on the same 'floor' as an opponent but phased wrong (black vs white squares)

And my brain hurts now...