A new D&D Encounters format...

[Asmor]

I've been thinking about D&D Encounters, and how it could be improved. I could see running my own, non-sanctioned D&D Encounters events at e.g. weekly game clubs.

Here are some goals I have.

*There should be a combat every session. It needn't be the focus of the session, and if not the focus it shouldn't be a particularly involved combat, but there does need to be one for every session.
*It should be easy for players to come in and out at any point.
*It should be easy for DMs to come in and out at any point.
*It should be easy for a DM to not accidentally spoil future encounters for himself in case he's a player in the next session.
*The encounters should be part of a coherent adventure.
*Each session should move the adventure forward tangibly.

So with those goals laid out, I've got some ideas. Mostly it's just stuff about formatting; the adventure itself doesn't really veer away from normal adventure design too much, except that you need to design it around explicit 'sessions'.

*Sessions should follow one of the following 'templates:' 1 minor encounter (5-10 minutes) and 1 major encounter (targeted at just under an hour); OR 2 medium encounters (both in the 20-30 minute range). Examples would be roleplaying + standard battle, puzzle + small battle, two linked small battles, etc.

*Each session should be physically distinct from other sessions; if not printed on separate pages (such as if loose), at least printed on opposite sides of double-sided pages (as in a book).

*Each session should start with:

1. A recap of the heroes' goal, their current progress, and the (presumed successful) resolution of the last session.

2. A list of clues the heroes should have gathered up to the current point (e.g. "The witch wore the same ring as the baron's daughter" or "You found a gleaming golden key in the wishing well"). The DM is expected to remind the players about all "open" clues they should have gotten, regardless of whether they did or not.

3. A brief overview, for the DM's eyes only, of what this session will involve. ("The players will confront the Dread Sphinx." "The players must attempt a skill challenge to find the gang's hideout. If they fail the challenge, the gang will have caught word of the PCs' approach and beef up security").

*For each combat, there should be a brief overview of any special tactics or other considerations the DM should know about. ("The rest of the gnolls flee when the flind is killed." "If they can solve its riddle, the Dread Sphinx loses its domination power")

*Each combat should assume 5 PCs, and include suggestions for tailoring it for 3-8 PCs), e.g.
3 players: -1 wererat, -1 rat swarm
4 players: -1 rat swarm
5 players: no change
6 players: +1 dire rat
7 players: +2 dire rats
8 players: +1 wererat, +2 dire rats.

*For skill challenges, there should be a technical overview of the expected flow of the skill challenge for the DM's benefit, and any important things to keep in mind. ("History unlocks Religion; Intimidate checks automatically fail; no more than one streetwise success allowed.")

*Explicit points should be given for the players to have extended rests. The players will know which session their next extended rest will come in ("The first extended rest will be in session 3"). Extended rests should be aimed at for every 3-4 combat encounters.

*There will be no treasure or character advancement. I think D&D encounters serves a nice niche, but matters of XP and treasure distribution just muddy the waters. Save them for a real campaign.

*Records should be kept. For each player, track...
Most damage dealt in a single round
Most damage received in a single round
Most damage healed in a single round
Number of times dropped
Number of times killed
Number of enemies dealt killing blow to
Number of critical hits
Number of natural 1s
...and others. Ideally each 'role' should be well-represented.

*Have milestones for each of the above metrics. Whenever a player reaches a milestone, they get an achievement point. Players also get an achievement point for playing in each session. DM gets 3 achievement points per session, for use if he ends up playing.

*At the end of the 'season' (aka the adventure), award titles and achievement points to the 'winner' of each category.

*Achievement points should be spendable for certain benefits. One idea is to limit the game to PHB 1 races and classes, and since characters are all level 1 players will have no magic items. Players spend points to unlock races, classes, and magic items. Races and classes are unlocked permanently; magic items belong to specific characters and are removed when the character dies. Races and classes should be very cheap; maybe 1 point per race and 2 points per class. Magic items should be more expensive. Maybe 5/7/10/13/18 for level 1/2/3/4/5 items.

*Reset the metrics with each season, and allow players to earn the milestone points again from scratch.

So... There's my idea for my own D&D Encounters-style event. What do you think? Did I miss anything?

 

[firesnakearies]

Sounds awesome. I remember thinking about trying to set up something very similar to this myself, before the D&D Encounters program came along. Great ideas here.

I love the attention to the recap of goals and progress, and the reminder of clues found so far. I like the idea of DMs being interchangeable from session to session without spoiling the later bits for themselves, too.


One thing that I didn't like, or didn't understand perhaps:

"Explicit points should be given for the players to have extended rests. The players will know which session their next extended rest will come in ("The first extended rest will be in session 3"). Extended rests should be aimed at for every 3-4 combat encounters."

Defined points where an extended rest can occur is good. I'm with you there. Where you lose me is the part where players know ahead of time exactly when they'll get to rest. That seems to strip away a lot of the tension, mystery, and resource management concerns, and promote total, massive metagaming. I really dislike the "well, it's the last encounter guys, let's blow all our stuff" thing. A lot.

What was your thinking on that?

I think it would be cool to wonder, each week, whether or not this was the time when you'd get the extended rest. Sometimes you'd get one sooner than you expected, and it'd be a nice relief. Other times, you'd think you were due one, and then forced to go another week without, and it would be tough and tense. I dunno, that just suits me better, for what I enjoy in D&D. I know that many people feel differently.


Also, the idea of NO advancement or treasure is okay, I think it would work fine, and avoid some issues and bookkeeping and possible weirdness. But I dunno. Maybe a little bit of pre-defined advancement would be better. Maybe there's one magic item specifically in the adventure for each character, and if they can find it, they get it. People really do like finding loot a whole lot, it seems to me.

And the way that season 2 of DDE is going to do advancement seems pretty good, too. Everyone levels at a pre-defined time, together (no worrying about XP), and they're just given their advancement details. No picking new stuff, it's pre-determined for you. I find that pretty appealing, in that it seems easy and interchangeable.

But the "no advancement or treasure" thing has its merits too.

 

[Kafen]

I would include an index of NPCs. Basic information type stuff - Session #, Name, Conditions Met, and Interaction for the GM. If you are running sessions and want to come in as a player, you will want to leave the 'contact' information in a general pool for the next GM to use on his day. It's simple work to complete during the adventure and furthers the goal of allowing players and game masters to switch off during game play.

 

[darjr]

In D&D encounters are their characters portable like in RPGA? Will characters in yours be?

 

[Kitesh]

In D&D encounters are their characters portable like in RPGA? Will characters in yours be?

In the first "season" of Encounters, the character creation was compatible with LFR rules, so you ended up with a character you could use in RPGA games.


The second season will be set in Dark Sun, and I believe all the characters for that season will be pre-gen.

 

[MortonStromgal]

Wait... does this mean Encounters right now does not always have combat?

 

[D'karr]

Wait... does this mean Encounters right now does not always have combat?

That is right. There was at least one encounter that could be run entirely without combat if the DM decided to play it that way.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Hey Asmor - this sounds like it should be in 4e discussion since it sounds 4e specific; have you got any compelling reason why you think it should be in General?

 

[Asmor]

Hey Asmor - this sounds like it should be in 4e discussion since it sounds 4e specific; have you got any compelling reason why you think it should be in General?

Well, the base idea is from 4th edition and my implementation would be in 4th edition, but there's no reason you couldn't use the idea wholecloth with any system. The game system is really irrelevant, the meat of it is just a framework for presenting a traditional adventure in roughly hour-long increments which are meant to be easy for anyone to jump in and out of any role at any time.

 

[Asmor]

Defined points where an extended rest can occur is good. I'm with you there. Where you lose me is the part where players know ahead of time exactly when they'll get to rest. That seems to strip away a lot of the tension, mystery, and resource management concerns, and promote total, massive metagaming. I really dislike the "well, it's the last encounter guys, let's blow all our stuff" thing. A lot.

What was your thinking on that?

Well, I view this as a much more 'gamist' thing, and in that sense I like the idea of giving the players information and leaving it to judgment rather than guessing about when the best time to blow all their shinies is.

It's also worth noting that, at least until you start unlocking magic items, there's no penalty for switching characters and hypothetically nothing stopping players from playing a new character every session and blowing through all their resources in every encounter. Actually, that's probably a metric you should keep track of; consecutive sessions playing the same character (with appropriate allowances to compensate players who switch characters to fill missing roles, but intended to stick with their other character).

Also, the idea of NO advancement or treasure is okay, I think it would work fine, and avoid some issues and bookkeeping and possible weirdness. But I dunno. Maybe a little bit of pre-defined advancement would be better. Maybe there's one magic item specifically in the adventure for each character, and if they can find it, they get it. People really do like finding loot a whole lot, it seems to me.

My primary issue lies with treasure distribution. The revolving door cast simply doesn't suit a traditional "We found a +1 sword, who needs it most?" treasure paradigm. Experience, I suppose, might still have a place in the game. I'd probably make exp reset, and players go down to level 1, at the beginning of each season (but they'd keep magic items unlocked).

I would include an index of NPCs. Basic information type stuff - Session #, Name, Conditions Met, and Interaction for the GM. If you are running sessions and want to come in as a player, you will want to leave the 'contact' information in a general pool for the next GM to use on his day. It's simple work to complete during the adventure and furthers the goal of allowing players and game masters to switch off during game play.

One important thing is to avoid information overload. Unless it's relevant to the current session, it should simply not be present. If an NPC the characters met earlier will play a role in the session, then it should be in the DM's notes and possibly the players' recap as well. This does risk spoiling things a little, which is a problem I have with television shows (e.g. at the beginning of the show, during the recap, they show a character's brother who hasn't been relevant in 2 seasons, so you know that the brother is going to show up in this show...), but c'est la vie.

In D&D encounters are their characters portable like in RPGA? Will characters in yours be?

In Undermountain Adventures, characters can be promoted to LFR. That's all I know. If I were to run a game like this, I'd allow players to continue using the same character in different seasons.

That is right. There was at least one encounter that could be run entirely without combat if the DM decided to play it that way.

Indeed, although even in that session it suggests that if you finish quickly (which, if you managed to avoid the combat, you would), the DM has the option of setting up an ad hoc combat, and it gives a couple different suggestions for encounters.

But this is one of the things I think Undermountain Adventures got right; there's combat in pretty much every session, and that's something that needs to be kept in the formula.