Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
Previous entries in this series: (part 1 | part 2)
Last time we talked about quick tech map solutions; today, we'll talk about dealing with monsters and NPCs. In a lot of ways, the challenges are the same. A prepared encounter can have nuanced challenges, teams of complimentary monsters that are designed to make good use of the terrain where they fight the PCs. But when the PCs go off script and you need to make something up, you don't have the time to strike those perfect harmonies.
A quick caveat – I use web-based tools to build and organize my NPCs and monsters for games, but most don't lend themselves very well to ad lib work, so a lot of these ideas are going to be fairly low-tech, thought still a little gadgety.
Minis: Don't Even Try to Get Close
When we first started using minis for our games, we put up with a lot of abstraction. I played in games where painted minis were the exception, and games with guys who used the same single mini for any character they played, no matter what race or class he was. It was the equivalent of always insisting on being the top hat in Monopoly. And it worked.
We're spoiled today, having multiple sources of good pre-paired resin minis that we assume we need that. But just like you don't need the details in the map, you don't need them in your minis.
You can always use one plastic mini to represent something else – explain that these skeleton archers are really orc shamen, etc – but if you can't have the “right” mini, why no use something else entirely.
I'm a big fan of Itty Bitty Devil Ducks. They come in a rainbow of colors, they're cheap, and easy to write numbers or letters on if you need to code them in some other way. A supply of ducks on hand when you're DMing can stand in for anything you need them to be.*
*In preparing this article I tried to find a good, inexpensive source of itty bitty devil ducks online, and failed (looks like they're discontinued). However, on an errand to a local target I walked through the toy section and found a ton of perfectly acceptable little figures (a variety of different brands of collectible pencil toppers or small figures) that will fit the bill.
Keep an eye out for other options – gumball machine toys often make perfect minis. A handful of poker chips can turn medium sized ducks into larger opponents. Sure, gathering a kit of these sorts of improvisational supplies will take a little preparation, but it's not the same thing as preparing a library of monsters you might need – this is all about having the tools on hand to make up what you need for any encounter you might decide to throw at your players. I keep a drawer of stuff like this on hand.
Alea Tools makes a line of magnetic discs that are a gamer gadget lover's staple – they're one of my favorite ways of marking conditions and status on minis, but in a bind they can also become minis, too. Again, using different colors to make distinctions between different types of opponents, you can even write on them with dry erase marker to help tell them apart.
Stats for Monsters
So, your PCs have wandered off the track and into the lair of some random opponents – and for whatever reason you're tickled by the idea of making them face Hoops – probably because you were in the bathroom skimming a copy of the original Gamma World, and the idea of humanoid Rabbits as fearsome warriors makes you snicker. You can use your daughter's Polly Pockets for minis, but what the hell do you do for stat blocks on the fly?
A lot depends upon your game system – if you're playing some of the latter editions of D&D there are some terrific tools for you to use when you're building monsters and have time to work on them. But when you need to get the game moving, you don't have that kind of time.
Skip trying to find the right stat block – if you were to find it, odds are it won't quite be the right level of challenge for your party, anyway, so there's not much point in trying to get it “right” when you're pressed for time.
What you need is a set of numbers you can play with. If you have an idea of what level of challenge you want (later editions of D&D make that easy, because monsters have CR or Levels, but even in other games there are usually some sort of rough grades of monsters).
Do your best, and don't hold out for Mr. Right. You're not getting married, you're speed dating, and you're only going to need this stat block long enough for your PCs to kill it, so find something that isn't completely wrong and roll for initiative. Then you can reskin it on the fly.
If you have convenient access to the Compendium (for instance, through the excellent Compendium iPad app) try doing a quick compendium search for monsters that have a key attribute. The trick here is you want to move very fast, so you're not looking for a perfect match. But if your monster should have a special ability – swamp walk, for example, because of the environment in which the encounter will take place, search for “swamp walk” rather than anything more specific (make sure you turn off the “search on names only”). In this example, a search produces 54 possible monsters that have the swamp walk ability – pick one and go, reskin it if you need to.
For 4e D&D, we can even go a step further. Some resources are out there that make it incredibly easy to create monsters – or even just monster attacks and monster abilities – on the fly.
One last resource popped up recently that I also find incredibly handy. Chris Perkins, writing for DDi in his column “The Dungeon Master Experience provided a set of tables – Monster Damage by Level (in his post "A Suite Alternative”). This set of tables isn't necessary if you're great at doing math in your head, but I find it incredibly helpful – I'm winging an orc champion and I want his weapon attacks to be d12s, can just look at one of the tables and pick out the number of dice I'd like his attack to roll and find what the bonus needs to be.
Those three tools, together, will give you the tools you need for faking your way through ANY sort of monster or hazard.
Reskinning
This isn't the right forum for a lengthy discussion of reskinng, especially reskinning on the fly. Some systems make it easier than others, but the bottom line is that your players don't know what's on the page in front of you -- all they know is what you tell them. So, whatever the mechanics are, describe what happens in terms that make sense for what the stat block should be, instead of what it is.
Making this sort of detail up as you go can be nerve-wracking if you're used to working with prepared material. But don't worry -- for your monsters, keep in mind that your PCs are going to make short work of them -- they'll get a few rounds to be active and interesting, but that's it. Pick one aspect, one attribute, that you want to focus on. So, if you need to come up with attack powers for a fire mage and all you have is a highwayman, when you use the highwayman's stats, describe his slashing sword as a gout of flame, and you're all done.
Beyond D&D
If you don't play 4e, the digital monster building resources drop off quickly. There are a lot more character builders out there than there are monster builders, but the same caveat applies: you're not going to have time to build your monster. So find something that can provide the right numbers and reskin it on the fly. Without a database of options like the compendium, you're likely stuck with having to do a text search on a PDF. One important disadvantage there is that you probably can't search multiple PDF sources in a single search, so your option set may be a lot smaller.
Bottom line
In the end, the story here is much the same as it was for maps. If you can make up the stats on the fly, do it. If you can't, find something about right and reskin it on the fly. Don't get caught trying to find a "better" fit.
Next time: Story, gadgets, and ad libbing.
What are your favorite tools for faking your way through an NPC or monster for which you don't have a prepared stat block or mini? I know I don't know all of them, especially not for all systems, so share!!
Last time we talked about quick tech map solutions; today, we'll talk about dealing with monsters and NPCs. In a lot of ways, the challenges are the same. A prepared encounter can have nuanced challenges, teams of complimentary monsters that are designed to make good use of the terrain where they fight the PCs. But when the PCs go off script and you need to make something up, you don't have the time to strike those perfect harmonies.
A quick caveat – I use web-based tools to build and organize my NPCs and monsters for games, but most don't lend themselves very well to ad lib work, so a lot of these ideas are going to be fairly low-tech, thought still a little gadgety.
Minis: Don't Even Try to Get Close
When we first started using minis for our games, we put up with a lot of abstraction. I played in games where painted minis were the exception, and games with guys who used the same single mini for any character they played, no matter what race or class he was. It was the equivalent of always insisting on being the top hat in Monopoly. And it worked.
We're spoiled today, having multiple sources of good pre-paired resin minis that we assume we need that. But just like you don't need the details in the map, you don't need them in your minis.
You can always use one plastic mini to represent something else – explain that these skeleton archers are really orc shamen, etc – but if you can't have the “right” mini, why no use something else entirely.
I'm a big fan of Itty Bitty Devil Ducks. They come in a rainbow of colors, they're cheap, and easy to write numbers or letters on if you need to code them in some other way. A supply of ducks on hand when you're DMing can stand in for anything you need them to be.*
*In preparing this article I tried to find a good, inexpensive source of itty bitty devil ducks online, and failed (looks like they're discontinued). However, on an errand to a local target I walked through the toy section and found a ton of perfectly acceptable little figures (a variety of different brands of collectible pencil toppers or small figures) that will fit the bill.
Alea Tools makes a line of magnetic discs that are a gamer gadget lover's staple – they're one of my favorite ways of marking conditions and status on minis, but in a bind they can also become minis, too. Again, using different colors to make distinctions between different types of opponents, you can even write on them with dry erase marker to help tell them apart.
Stats for Monsters
So, your PCs have wandered off the track and into the lair of some random opponents – and for whatever reason you're tickled by the idea of making them face Hoops – probably because you were in the bathroom skimming a copy of the original Gamma World, and the idea of humanoid Rabbits as fearsome warriors makes you snicker. You can use your daughter's Polly Pockets for minis, but what the hell do you do for stat blocks on the fly?
A lot depends upon your game system – if you're playing some of the latter editions of D&D there are some terrific tools for you to use when you're building monsters and have time to work on them. But when you need to get the game moving, you don't have that kind of time.
Skip trying to find the right stat block – if you were to find it, odds are it won't quite be the right level of challenge for your party, anyway, so there's not much point in trying to get it “right” when you're pressed for time.
What you need is a set of numbers you can play with. If you have an idea of what level of challenge you want (later editions of D&D make that easy, because monsters have CR or Levels, but even in other games there are usually some sort of rough grades of monsters).
Do your best, and don't hold out for Mr. Right. You're not getting married, you're speed dating, and you're only going to need this stat block long enough for your PCs to kill it, so find something that isn't completely wrong and roll for initiative. Then you can reskin it on the fly.
If you have convenient access to the Compendium (for instance, through the excellent Compendium iPad app) try doing a quick compendium search for monsters that have a key attribute. The trick here is you want to move very fast, so you're not looking for a perfect match. But if your monster should have a special ability – swamp walk, for example, because of the environment in which the encounter will take place, search for “swamp walk” rather than anything more specific (make sure you turn off the “search on names only”). In this example, a search produces 54 possible monsters that have the swamp walk ability – pick one and go, reskin it if you need to.
For 4e D&D, we can even go a step further. Some resources are out there that make it incredibly easy to create monsters – or even just monster attacks and monster abilities – on the fly.
- Sly Flourish's Master DM Sheet a single PDF table of Skill check DCs, damage expressions, defenses, HP values and attack bonuses. With this table, you can fake a monster at just about any level.
- Quickleaf's DM's Cheat Sheets If you haven't seen these, get thee hence – they're an awesome compilation of tables and tools geared for four different stages of DMing activity.
One last resource popped up recently that I also find incredibly handy. Chris Perkins, writing for DDi in his column “The Dungeon Master Experience provided a set of tables – Monster Damage by Level (in his post "A Suite Alternative”). This set of tables isn't necessary if you're great at doing math in your head, but I find it incredibly helpful – I'm winging an orc champion and I want his weapon attacks to be d12s, can just look at one of the tables and pick out the number of dice I'd like his attack to roll and find what the bonus needs to be.
Those three tools, together, will give you the tools you need for faking your way through ANY sort of monster or hazard.
Reskinning
This isn't the right forum for a lengthy discussion of reskinng, especially reskinning on the fly. Some systems make it easier than others, but the bottom line is that your players don't know what's on the page in front of you -- all they know is what you tell them. So, whatever the mechanics are, describe what happens in terms that make sense for what the stat block should be, instead of what it is.
Making this sort of detail up as you go can be nerve-wracking if you're used to working with prepared material. But don't worry -- for your monsters, keep in mind that your PCs are going to make short work of them -- they'll get a few rounds to be active and interesting, but that's it. Pick one aspect, one attribute, that you want to focus on. So, if you need to come up with attack powers for a fire mage and all you have is a highwayman, when you use the highwayman's stats, describe his slashing sword as a gout of flame, and you're all done.
Beyond D&D
If you don't play 4e, the digital monster building resources drop off quickly. There are a lot more character builders out there than there are monster builders, but the same caveat applies: you're not going to have time to build your monster. So find something that can provide the right numbers and reskin it on the fly. Without a database of options like the compendium, you're likely stuck with having to do a text search on a PDF. One important disadvantage there is that you probably can't search multiple PDF sources in a single search, so your option set may be a lot smaller.
Bottom line
In the end, the story here is much the same as it was for maps. If you can make up the stats on the fly, do it. If you can't, find something about right and reskin it on the fly. Don't get caught trying to find a "better" fit.
Next time: Story, gadgets, and ad libbing.
What are your favorite tools for faking your way through an NPC or monster for which you don't have a prepared stat block or mini? I know I don't know all of them, especially not for all systems, so share!!
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