Anybody tried a campaign "Machinations Meter"?

[Daern]

...like described here and below?
Critical Hits Podcast
I enjoyed this interview. I was particularly interested the application of the 5x5 "Machination Meter". The 5x5 tool seems to be a happy medium between sandbox and plot-driven styles, but Davethegames' recent write up of his Temple of Elemental Evil sessions intrigued me quite a bit more.

Here is the relevant quote from the blog:
"These I dubbed the Machination Meters: a list of goals that each temple element was pursuing for some ultimate agenda. Advancing a step on a track represented the passage of time and the goals advancing while the PCs adventure." -Davethegame

The basic idea (I think) is to have a variety of plots or threads that will develop as the players move through the game, without PC intervention.

The effect is to make players think about the pacing of their Extended Rests, forcing them to conserve resources throughout their adventures, think strategically, abrogating the 5-minute day and as a knock on effect, giving players a sense of the campaign world at large.

This structure seems applicable to any rpg, set of event chains that have multiple phases that advance as a campaign progresses. Of course, I would think it very important to make the players aware of these events in various ways, thus creating game consequences for their decisions.

Has anybody tried something similar? Thoughts?

 

[Daern]

Here's what I've come up with for a potential adventure. I realize that what I have created is more of a timeline than a variable meter. I wonder if a broader scope would allow more variation. A DM could draw out element by having columns two and three advance one day, and columns one and four advance the next. Of course PC actions could slow or halt any particular column.
I can really see this as having alot of useful possibilities in a larger campaign, but you might not want to advance the meter at every rest.

 

[shadzar]

The basic idea (I think) is to have a variety of plots or threads that will develop as the players move through the game, without PC intervention.

Things happen all the time when the PCs aren't standing right beside them. The world isn't frozen in time waiting for PCs to interact.

Some details on this exist in:

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Archive: Dungeon Master's Design Kit

The world is ever changing around the PCs....

 

[jedavis]

It looks reasonable, but the scale's kind of short. I'm running Traveller, so timescales are measured in days or weeks, mostly. This has inspired me to go build timelines for the plots of various factions, though. I intend to just advance it by in-game time (so, at the end of Month 3, the Inquisition does X, and the sentient memes do Y), since the 5x5 method seems kind of gamist (I'm leaning simulationist / narrativist this campaign).

 

[Daern]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Archive: Dungeon Master's Design Kit

Hah! I own that! Bought it at the mall WAY back when! It had great forms to fill out and make an incredibly complicated adventure. I used to sit and roll the percentiles for hours and hours.

I understand that timelines are nothing new. I guess the intriguing element to me is to have a sort of modular timeline of machinations that are within reach of the characters. That way it effects players' decisions about resource management.
Of course, spreading this out to a larger scale is also interesting. Would it be practical to maintain the element of resource management at that scale?

 

[kitsune9]

I've created a variant for the campaign that I'm running. It's a pretty cool concept.

 

[Iron Sky]

I'm not sure if this is related, but it gave me a cool idea: make local, regional, national, and planar charts each with timelines that advance every given time period.

After each day(once per session, once per milestone, after they complete a quest, etc) you might roll on the local chart and one organization's agenda advances one on their timeline.

For regional, it might be once per week(every other session, when a local timeline is completed, etc), national once per month(RL or game time, once per level), planar once per year(once per major campaign arc, every 3 levels, etc).

Example:
Local
1. Brigands: 0 Form - 1 Steal Weapons from the Hammerdawn Armory - 2 Make hideout in Broken Mill - 3 Raid Hammerdawn
2. Goblins: 0 In Lair - 1 Send scouts into Hammerdawn Hills - 2 Kidnap peasants from villages near Hammerdawn - 3 Take peasants back to lair
3. Baron Urik: 0 At Council - 1 Send riders to announce conscriptions - 2 Conscript people off the streets - 3 Sent conscripts off to war(advance Regional Baron War plot 1)
Etc.

Regional
1. Baron War: 0 Tensions rise - 1 Border skirmishes - 2 Raiding parties - 3 Invasion
2. Plague: 0 Rumors of plague - 1 Minor outbreaks in remote villages - 2 Minor outbreaks across the Baronies - 3 Massive outbreaks

The party is raiding a tomb, they survive, return to town to rest and sell loot, the DM rolls a d3 against the local chart and gets a 3. When the party returns to Hammerdawn, they hear word that Baron Urik is going to start conscripting locals. They ignore it, head back to the tomb to go deeper and end up spending five days in the depths of a tomb labyrinth.

When they finally return to the surface, the DM decides it's been long enough that he rolls 3 times on the local chart and once on the regional, getting 1 twice and 3 once, and a 2 on the Regional chart.

The party reaches Hammerdawn in time to find out that bandits have raided the Hammerdawn Armory and are holed up at the Broken Mill, but as they plan to go confront the bandits, Baron Urik's soldiers show up and begin conscripting any able-bodied people they see (PCs included). Etc etc etc.

Dunno, maybe its interesting only to me, but I like a mix of randomness and scripted events and this gives a mix of both. Another thing to try next time I run a game...

 

[shadzar]

Hah! I own that! Bought it at the mall WAY back when! It had great forms to fill out and make an incredibly complicated adventure. I used to sit and roll the percentiles for hours and hours.

I understand that timelines are nothing new. I guess the intriguing element to me is to have a sort of modular timeline of machinations that are within reach of the characters. That way it effects players' decisions about resource management.
Of course, spreading this out to a larger scale is also interesting. Would it be practical to maintain the element of resource management at that scale?

I don't listen to podcast, so not really sure what the thigns is saying.

If the objective is for the DM to have a list of things that is going on around the PCs, then That has been done and is nothing new.

The level of planning ahead you do so that things are in motion around the PCs, in their immediate vicinity or in farther off parts of the world is up tot he DM to figure out based on the speed of the game and travel.

If the idea is managing PC resources, or forcing PCs to expend then, then I have no clue.

If I am understanding and the idea is "here is what this group is doing in the foreseeable future" then just set it up so the world doesn't look like it is waiting for the PCs. Let things happen as they were intended, and let them change when the PCs cause something to interfere with that "plan". Then with the PCs there the plans change, and after the PCs leave a continue set of advanced plans for this group can be made to let you know what this group is doing at all times, should they meet up with the PCs again.

Is this supposed to be some sort of plot outline instead for the PCs to do things, or the PCs plan, not a DM tool?

 

[TarionzCousin]

I have no clue.

Perhaps you should read the article or listen to the podcast before commenting. Otherwise you are simply advertising your ignorance and that doesn't contribute anything worthwhile.

 

[shadzar]

Perhaps you should read the article or listen to the podcast before commenting. Otherwise you are simply advertising your ignorance and that doesn't contribute anything worthwhile.

Why don't you post on topic rather than post something "that doesn't contribute anything worthwhile" to the topic.