Dread Pool (dice idea)

[Matthias]

This may sound somewhat vindictive, but how about any time the party gets through an encounter or challenge a little bit easier than you thought they should have? In the movies, you always hear the line: "that was too easy"and then the worse happens. And in your game, it should too.

Even better is: "the worst is over." You think so, huh, player? Just wait...

 

[dd.stevenson]

This may sound somewhat vindictive, but how about any time the party gets through an encounter or challenge a little bit easier than you thought they should have? In the movies, you always hear the line: "that was too easy"and then the worse happens. And in your game, it should too.

Even better is: "the worst is over." You think so, huh, player? Just wait...

I like this idea. It doesn't need to be vindictive at all, as nothing prevents the DM from designing a monster that adds a dread die upon death. Think of it as a trap that is automatically triggered when the monster is defeated and inflicts one dread die on the party.

Would add an extra incentive to avoid encounters with otherwise weak mobs.

 

[Quickleaf]

First off, I like it! Though you might consider cards since those are traditionally Ravenloftian.

I would sort of combine the advice from [MENTION=6694112]Kinak[/MENTION] and [MENTION=6683099]dd.stevenson[/MENTION]

Dread dice accumulate when the PCs take a non-heroic course of action. This includes committing evil deeds, using cursed artifacts to win a battle, waiting out a conflict so their enemies kill each other off, withdrawing from a dungeon despite a looming deadline, or playing it safe when only a risk can save the day. And then you can have cursed monsters who impose a dread die when slain without lifting their curse. IOW a sort of "risk vs. reward" mechanic. My 2 coppers.

 

[Starfox]

Grow the pool every time you make a dread check and nothing happens. Describe this an an ominous silence or other escalating but unseen dread.

Shrink the pool (by say 3) every time something bad does happen. The terror is always lesser once its been seen.

 

[Jester David]

Tried it during my last game.

When I explained that they had to roll when doing actions that don't require checks, there was the reply "so you're trying to encourage us not to do anything". It's tricky, as the point of the game is to poke around, but you don't want to make them stop playing. On the other hand, poking around is exactly when bad things happen.

Tying the increase and decrease of the Dread Pool to attacks was a bad idea. It meant when the bad guys were hot and rolling well the Dread Pool jumped, but if the bad guy dice were cold the Dread Pool dropped.
Instead, just having it increase at random intervals or, even better, tied to story events might be nice. I can imagine doing certain things increasing or decreasing the Dread Pool by set amounts. And, as before, failing a Dread Pool roll lowers the Pool by 1.

 

[N'raac]

Dread dice accumulate when the PCs take a non-heroic course of action. This includes committing evil deeds, using cursed artifacts to win a battle, waiting out a conflict so their enemies kill each other off, withdrawing from a dungeon despite a looming deadline, or playing it safe when only a risk can save the day.

This seems like a "Dark Powers of Ravenloft issue - except the Dark Powers typically try to encourage those callous, uncaring or even outright malevolent acts where this system acts to discourage them. If non-heroic actions increase the Dread Pool, perhaps when the party is disadvantaged by unheroic actions of their enemies, the pool should decline (perhaps only where the heroes refrain from reacting in kind - "if we stoop to their methods, we'll be no better than those we seek to oppose").

And then you can have cursed monsters who impose a dread die when slain without lifting their curse. IOW a sort of "risk vs. reward" mechanic. My 2 coppers.

When I explained that they had to roll when doing actions that don't require checks, there was the reply "so you're trying to encourage us not to do anything". It's tricky, as the point of the game is to poke around, but you don't want to make them stop playing. On the other hand, poking around is exactly when bad things happen.

Combined with the slowdown imposed by increased die rolling, this seems like a dead end approach.

Tying the increase and decrease of the Dread Pool to attacks was a bad idea. It meant when the bad guys were hot and rolling well the Dread Pool jumped, but if the bad guy dice were cold the Dread Pool dropped.

Seems like this approach makes the enemy even more lucky if they're lucky and even less lucky if they're unlucky. Again a problem with tying the pool to random dice rolls.

Instead, just having it increase at random intervals or, even better, tied to story events might be nice. I can imagine doing certain things increasing or decreasing the Dread Pool by set amounts. And, as before, failing a Dread Pool roll lowers the Pool by 1.

It seems like linking the pool to events where the characters have choices, and to other events within the game/story, would be a better approach. Falling into a trap for the right reasons might decrease the pool, while placing their own convenience or safety above that of others might increase it. Defining the type of actions the power behind the pool seeks to encourage or discourage would help to adjudicate this.

 

[dd.stevenson]

Tried it during my last game.

When I explained that they had to roll when doing actions that don't require checks, there was the reply "so you're trying to encourage us not to do anything". It's tricky, as the point of the game is to poke around, but you don't want to make them stop playing. On the other hand, poking around is exactly when bad things Happen.

I think this might have been a presentation issue.

If, as a player, I was told that I would need a dread pool roll whenever I got too nosy during exploration, I might be unhappy with that too. On the other hand, if I was simply told that I would need to roll when the oppressive darkness of the world pressed down upon me, I'm not sure I wouldn't mind at all.

And, it to be fair, it's not really inaccurate to present the matter this way… In reality you're going to roll when ever you want to increase the dramatic tension. So the dread pool rules aren't necessarily keyed to exploration.

 

[Matthias]

This is also a player mindset issue. If a player is told, "If you go into such-and-such dungeon, you'll have to fight to fight a bunch of monsters," most will reply, "great, let's go" because (1) this is an acceptable and fun part of the game, and (2) there are tangible rewards for defeating monsters, i.e. XP and treasure. There is risk of character death , curses, loss of favorite toys, and so on, but a player does not hesitate if he knows he stands to gain more than he will probably lose. You could run a campaign of wilderness survival consisting entirely of encounters with treasureless animals, but many players would not consider that "fun" --such an environmental challenge is better applied as a temporary diversion from a more normal campaign setting where there's gold and magic items to be discovered and more interesting critters to fight.

The issue here may be lack of incentive to participate. The benefit of story participation and advancement can be effective, but only to a point. Unless a player is a Real Roleplayer (tm), he or she expects more out of the game than the warm fuzzy feelings that come from performing heroic deeds and fighting evil.

Perhaps if a Dread Pool manifestation (Very Bad Thing) carried with it and XP bonus along with whatever XP was earned surviving it normally, players will regard less as an obstacle to enjoyment and more as an opportunity for DM curve balls.