Critical Sidebars in D&D

[Quickleaf]

I'm in the process of writing a high-level D&D adventure; what kinds of sidebars would you want to be included in the "ideal adventure"?

Here are some samples....

1. Resurrection magic: How resurrection magic works different than normal in the adventure setting. How people will view the raised dead or the PC(s) that raises someone. What does getting raised from the dead look like in the adventure? Who has the power to raise the dead? What does it cost? Are there moral implications?

2. PCs fail: What happens if the PCs utterly fail at the adventure's goal? Will they be captured and interrogated? Will they be charmed and sent against their former allies? Is there a chance at escape? Will their reputations be ruined? Will their old friends turn against them? Do they "turn to the dark side", and if so what are the repurcussions?

3. PC death: What happens if a PC dies and can't be resurrected? Is there a cohort of the PC the player could take control of? Which NPCs could come under player control in the event of PC death? Are there funeral services? What about the truly extraordinary, such as having your soul trapped inside an object or becoming a ghost?

 

[DrNilesCrane]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but:

Results of questions typically asked by divinations (such as Commune and Legend Lore), as well as what major NPCs are protected from them (such as with Mind Blank)

Results of using magic to travel significant distances (via Teleport, Wind Walk, etc.)

Results of using a Sending (or similar magic) to communicate with important NPCs not physically available or in the immediate area, either allies or enemies.


Hope that helps!

 

[Patman21967]

I like what WotC used to call the "power-up suite" which is a stat block with the monster/NPC fully buffed by spells and items....and I also like a tactics part, if it is to be run by other GM's, listing what you intended the Monster/NPC tactics to be, round by round.

 

[shilsen]

Scaling the adventure/encounter to parties of different levels and composition.

Possible results of using certain spells (DrNilesCrane has covered some important ones above).

 

[LightPhoenix]

1. Resurrection magic: How resurrection magic works different than normal in the adventure setting. How people will view the raised dead or the PC(s) that raises someone. What does getting raised from the dead look like in the adventure? Who has the power to raise the dead? What does it cost? Are there moral implications?

If this is a generic adventure, I think this should be left out. It's very much the realm of the DM (and players) to decide how resurrection magic works in their campaign. For a specific campaign setting, this may be appropriate.

 

[The Shaman]

Results of questions typically asked by divinations (such as Commune and Legend Lore), as well as what major NPCs are protected from them (such as with Mind Blank)

I think this is really important - too many GMs I've encountered over the years fail to take divination magic and abilities into account, then get frustrated when their best-laid-plans go a'gley because some player's druid thought to commune with nature.

The same is true in Modern games: when developing a story, figure out in advance what information the PCs are likely to get from the internet, government records and so on - I prefer to create different DCs for different levels of information, so I know how much they get based on the degree of success of their roll.

 

[Alzrius]

I agree that sidebars dealing with divinations are important. The higher PCs are, the more often those get used; make sure to include things for scrying spells and such in there.

I don't think having one about the PCs failing is such a great idea, since that rarely happens, and when it does it's because the PCs all died, in which case it's unlikely (though possible) they'll start over as characters in the same world in the same time frame. Better would be a sidebar on what the villains do if any of them survive.

 

[Someone]

Unlikely things the players could do. For example, if they try to infiltrate the bag guy´s fortress instead of storming it, how would the bad guys react and still have a good adventure. Not too useful, because the players never do what you planned, but could help the railroading DMs to realize there´s more than one way to do things.

 

[Li Shenron]

One thing I'll like to see in sidebars is a (few lines of) background for NPCs, in order to provide some suggestions about their tactics and motivations, and therefore an insight about how they may react to PC's actions.

You could also choose to use sidebars in a different way, such as a spotlight to what the DM should read to the players (in contrast to what she shouldn't), or to encapsulate those new little things such as NPC's special magic item or spell.

 

[Ketjak]

One thing I'll like to see in sidebars is a (few lines of) background for NPCs, in order to provide some suggestions about their tactics and motivations, and therefore an insight about how they may react to PC's actions.

You could also choose to use sidebars in a different way, such as a spotlight to what the DM should read to the players (in contrast to what she shouldn't), or to encapsulate those new little things such as NPC's special magic item or spell.

Dungeon does that inline, IIRC.