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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6769209" data-attributes="member: 6696971"><p><strong><em><span style="font-size: 12px">Who Are the Bad Guys?</span></em></strong></p><p></p><p>In combat, it is usually fairly simple to determine where the adversity is coming for the PCs. It is the grim-looking fellow(s) holding the point bit of steel opposite them. However, in noncombat conflict resolution, it isn't so straight forward. Just like in combat, the way to the answer arises from the question "what threatens the PCs' realization of their goal?" Looking at some conflicts from genre fiction is always the best place to start. I'll begin with a rather famous example.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>The Fellowship of the Ring's Perilous Journey</em></strong></p><p></p><p><strong>Time</strong>: Here you make them feel the crunch of the moments relentlessly ticking by toward doom. Tempt them with branches that would be safer/less punitive immediately (easier DCs versus the alternative or where they feel they can leverage resources that have a higher % chance of success) but may end up being more costly long term (will require "the long way around", will make them double back, will force a nigh-impossible Group Check that might spiral). Tempt them with a direct (Mines of Moria?) but extremely dangerous route (a singular success might provide 2 successes but the fallout for failure - multiple surge loss and borderline overwhelming combat encounters - would be dramatic).</p><p></p><p><strong>Provisions/foodstuffs</strong>: This stuff is typically handled off-screen, but this is a good opportunity to make it relevant. Samwise needs po-tay-toes to make a nice stew with. Unfortunately (due to a failure in the challenge), rations have spoiled, or the sack carrying them ripped unknowingly, or it fell down a crevice during a treacherous climb! And you're only two legs in to a 4 leg journey! Better forage or your group is going to have to face a Group Endurance Check at the High DC!</p><p></p><p><strong>Tis a Barren Wasteland, Riddled With Fire, Ash, and Dust</strong>: Topographical/environmental adversity is ever-present and likely your bread and butter. Your trailblazer/navigator suffers from disorienting circumstances that must be navigated lest you hopelessly get lost. Glacial crevasses and false floors mar the only way forward. Pestilential swamps threaten you with disease or trench foot. Extreme heat or cold imposes the risk of exposure. A sheer, vulnerable climb down a cliff face or constructing a make-shift raft and riding it headlong down a rapid-filled river becomes an uncomfortable choice. Perhaps the land itself is enchanted and rises up against you to foil intrusion (Mirkwood). Here you are challenging several different skills and hitting the PCs with lots of surge-loss and attacking them with Diseases/Conditions.</p><p></p><p><strong>There is Evil There That Does Not Sleep</strong>: Your scouts better be wary twice-over. The enemy is ever-watchful and has spies everywhere. Even the more mundane creatures out here are not benign. They want food and they want to protect their territory and their young. You are food, you're in their territory, and you threaten their young. This means combat encounters; proactively nested as a mini-SC for a success/failure in the greater challenge - PCs chose this or it cannot be bypassed by available means - or reactively deployed by the GM as a result of failure that must be overcome to move on at all.</p><p></p><p><strong>A Terrible Burden</strong>: Something haunts them. This might be a restless spirit, a malevolent artifact, a vulnerable companion, a dangerous prisoner, or a relationship soured. The longer the journey, the more opportunity for the burden to manifest its terrible potential.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6769209, member: 6696971"] [B][I][SIZE=3]Who Are the Bad Guys?[/SIZE][/I][/B] In combat, it is usually fairly simple to determine where the adversity is coming for the PCs. It is the grim-looking fellow(s) holding the point bit of steel opposite them. However, in noncombat conflict resolution, it isn't so straight forward. Just like in combat, the way to the answer arises from the question "what threatens the PCs' realization of their goal?" Looking at some conflicts from genre fiction is always the best place to start. I'll begin with a rather famous example. [B][I]The Fellowship of the Ring's Perilous Journey[/I][/B] [B]Time[/B]: Here you make them feel the crunch of the moments relentlessly ticking by toward doom. Tempt them with branches that would be safer/less punitive immediately (easier DCs versus the alternative or where they feel they can leverage resources that have a higher % chance of success) but may end up being more costly long term (will require "the long way around", will make them double back, will force a nigh-impossible Group Check that might spiral). Tempt them with a direct (Mines of Moria?) but extremely dangerous route (a singular success might provide 2 successes but the fallout for failure - multiple surge loss and borderline overwhelming combat encounters - would be dramatic). [B]Provisions/foodstuffs[/B]: This stuff is typically handled off-screen, but this is a good opportunity to make it relevant. Samwise needs po-tay-toes to make a nice stew with. Unfortunately (due to a failure in the challenge), rations have spoiled, or the sack carrying them ripped unknowingly, or it fell down a crevice during a treacherous climb! And you're only two legs in to a 4 leg journey! Better forage or your group is going to have to face a Group Endurance Check at the High DC! [B]Tis a Barren Wasteland, Riddled With Fire, Ash, and Dust[/B]: Topographical/environmental adversity is ever-present and likely your bread and butter. Your trailblazer/navigator suffers from disorienting circumstances that must be navigated lest you hopelessly get lost. Glacial crevasses and false floors mar the only way forward. Pestilential swamps threaten you with disease or trench foot. Extreme heat or cold imposes the risk of exposure. A sheer, vulnerable climb down a cliff face or constructing a make-shift raft and riding it headlong down a rapid-filled river becomes an uncomfortable choice. Perhaps the land itself is enchanted and rises up against you to foil intrusion (Mirkwood). Here you are challenging several different skills and hitting the PCs with lots of surge-loss and attacking them with Diseases/Conditions. [B]There is Evil There That Does Not Sleep[/B]: Your scouts better be wary twice-over. The enemy is ever-watchful and has spies everywhere. Even the more mundane creatures out here are not benign. They want food and they want to protect their territory and their young. You are food, you're in their territory, and you threaten their young. This means combat encounters; proactively nested as a mini-SC for a success/failure in the greater challenge - PCs chose this or it cannot be bypassed by available means - or reactively deployed by the GM as a result of failure that must be overcome to move on at all. [B]A Terrible Burden[/B]: Something haunts them. This might be a restless spirit, a malevolent artifact, a vulnerable companion, a dangerous prisoner, or a relationship soured. The longer the journey, the more opportunity for the burden to manifest its terrible potential. [/QUOTE]
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