Dark sun style!

[ItBeJonnyD]

Hey everyone

New DM here im pretty stocked on the work i put into this upcoming game session. But i was wondering, besides the encounters creating rising action and tension whats a good way to keep the game flowing without skill challenges or traps or encounters? For example rooms that really have nothing in them, but get you from one encounter to the next. How do i create a sense of realism, is there any simple tricks or tips not neccisarly involving rules? It would be great to get some help in this department!

thanks

 

[MrMyth]

There can be a time and place for a truly empty room, but I try to have every room have something of interest. That doesn't always mean an obstacle or encounter, though. They key is to try and think of how even basic elements can connect things for the PCs.

Say we're exploring an orc dungeon. Some rooms might be empty or unoccupied. You can certainly provide various description about the squallor and filth left about the place - but player's aren't likely to pay much attention unless there is something to catch their interest.

Maybe, in one room, there are deep gouges in the walls - signs of a battle between some of the orcs. And keen-eyed players can even notice that some of them were caused by an axe far larger than most orcs carry. That might give them some insight into an upcoming enemy - the weapon he wields, possibly even one a PC might covet as treasure.

Or another room might have a crude altar to Gruumsh. No actual magic about it, but perhaps signs of a recent sacrifice, and a blood-stained ring left upon it. When they get back to town, they might track down the family that matches the crest upon the ring - who, it turns out, have had their son missing for weeks. The PCs can deliver the ring and provide some closure, if nothing else.

Stuff like that - it doesn't take up too much actual time in game, and may require nothing more than the occasional roll to notice something or see what knowledge the PCs have available. But it helps provide a sense of a more complete game world - the dungeon feels lived in, it feels connected to its inhabitants, to the neighboring area, etc.

Now, obviously, you don't want a mini-quest in every single room. But having a handful of such 'minor quests' throughout the dungeon, plus rooms that give hints and insight into the inhabitants and maybe even the plot the PCs are dealing with? Those elements can break up the monotony of back-to-back encounters, and help the dungeon feel like a bigger place as a whole.

 

[MrMyth]

I realized the above post was more on keeping the empty rooms of a dungeon interesting, but might not have directly addressed your question about keeping the tension level rising. Especially in Dark Sun, where that sort of thing is a core part of the gameplay.

I'd probably recommend similar ideas, but with more of the tidbits showing the brutality of the setting - or even tempting the PCs with very minor bits of relief.

As they explore crumbling ruins, they find a trickle of clean water dripping out of a crack - but it has barely enough for a single PC to drink a mouthful before it dries up. Another PC can maybe get a mouthful of grittier, putrid water - and the rest are left with only dust. Suddenly you've got some tension in the group, and a reminder of the harsh world they are in. And maybe that second PC might have a disease on the way...

In another room, they might find a withered corpse with no sign of what killed it. If they investigate further, from what they can tell, the figure simply sat down to rest and then died right there. Maybe something stung him, maybe he just perished of thirst, but without them knowing for sure, it will keep them on edge and make them very paranoid about where they rest.

Or they can find a trap, but one that has been recently sprung. It is no danger to them - but it both gets them wondering about what other traps lie ahead, as well as what might have triggered this one. A double dose of tension!

And, like before, including tidbits and scraps of info that help them learn about their enemies and the like. Sure, finding signs of the poisonous claws of the dune beast they stalk might help them better prepare to fight it - but make those signs fearsome enough (such as discovering places where the poison has burnt through stone, or killed strong men in only a few moments) will make them very, very cautious about getting close when they find the beast.

 

[ItBeJonnyD]

Sweet thanks a bunch everyone. Okay a place like a dungeon seems easy enough to keep it interesting but what about a warehouse? Currently the pc's are on a Prove Your Worth quest for the Veiled alliance. They must poison 2 heavly guarded merchant house [FONT=&quot]Txalaxa distillers. (yes house txalaxa can afford to have 1000 pound metal pots) which is why they are heavily guarded. But in a place such as this how could you make a simple warehouse seem interesting?[/FONT]

 

[Pbartender]

Here's some general advice...

Description, Atmosphere and Detail.

What I do is first I ask myself, "If this was a scene in a movie, how would it be filmed?" I imagine the scenery, with way the camera would pan or zoom in. I envision the the lighting and the sound effects and the music to set the mood.

Then, I ask myself, "If this movie scene was part of a novelization, how would it be written?" Using my favorite authors as inspiration -- and hopefully drawing from one who writes in the same genre as the adventure I'm running -- I compose a description of the scene. Then, it's just a matter of reciting it to the players.

Now, all this is to help set a particular mood for the scene. Movies are great inspiration for getting the right "look" for a mood, and novels are great inspiration for expressing that "look" in words.

What you're trying to accomplish is to get a viceral reaction out of the players through descriptive details, without resorting to incentives via the rules. It takes a little practice, but it's use descriptions, even they use popular modern day references, that players (rather than the characters) can understand.

So, for example, say the PCs enter a pyramid temple, and have found the pit that leads to the dungeon below... "At the top of the pyramid, you find an immense stone alter made of the same perfectly cut grayish green stone that the rest of the pyramid is made of. Channels that have been stained dark run down the sides of the altar and into a well that has been cut into the floor before the altar. The hole is perfectly round and is ringed by three concentric circles of indecipherable ruins that have been chiseled into the floor. Even your brightest cannot penetrate the darkness to see the bottom, and at intervals, you can feel a faint, warm breeze wafting up and out, as if the pyramid itself were breathing."

Or, for example, to describe a healing potion created by a not-exactly-evil necromancer... "It has the consistency of oily tapioca pudding watered down with half-melted jello, and has the taste and smell of water drained from a can of tuna if that water had been fermenting in the u-bend of your kitchen sink for a week or so."

And so on. Even a relatively empty and boring room can be described in such a fashion to set the mood... "The warehouse is terribly dark. Only a trickle of moonlight filters in through the narrow windows set high up on the walls. Towering, tottering stacks of crates and barrels create a labyrinth of narrow alleys that vanish into utter darkness. In the perfect silence, the door quietly squeaks behind you as you push it closed. A couple of startled birds (Or are they bats?) flutter through the rafters high above. If keep quite still, somewhere within the warehouse, you can hear faint footsteps pacing, but they echo off the walls and the crates... You cannot tell where they come from, or who or how many are making them."

The technique can be used to describe NPCs, as well. A gypsy fortune teller I used once was described as... "Imagine Ernest Borgnine as a woman."

 

[MrMyth]

Sweet thanks a bunch everyone. Okay a place like a dungeon seems easy enough to keep it interesting but what about a warehouse? Currently the pc's are on a Prove Your Worth quest for the Veiled alliance. They must poison 2 heavly guarded merchant house [FONT=&quot]Txalaxa distillers. (yes house txalaxa can afford to have 1000 pound metal pots) which is why they are heavily guarded. But in a place such as this how could you make a simple warehouse seem interesting?[/FONT]

As Pbartender notes, you can still enliven even a warehouse with good description. I tend to prefer short and sweet descriptions that catch the attention - mentioning bats or birds fluttering overhead is a good touch, for example.

In terms of elements that might help increase tension, again, you can have them make minor discoveries that help build connections through the game world. As they sneak towards the distillery, they might come across some trade notes that reveal how House Txalaxa is cheating some powerful merchants. It has little impact right now, but after completing their quest, the PCs have to decide what to do with it - turn it over to the Veiled Alliance for some extra insurance against Txalaxa? Reveal the info to the merchants in order to get a reward? Try to blackmail Txalaxa with it? Or destroy it and hide any evidence of their presence at the distillery?

You don't want such side-quests to overwhelm the main mission of proving themselves to the Veiled Alliance, but it can help give them some other elements to think about along the way.

In terms of more immediate decisions to make that don't really involve an obstacle - maybe in one room, they find some dying slaves, overworked by Txalaxa. They can easily sneak past the slaves without notice, or they can spend time tending to them, but risking discovery. This scene would help emphasize the harsh nature of the setting, help stir up the PCs anger against Txalaxa, and present them with a dillema over how to proceed.

Or you can add in elements that could help make other parts of the mission easier. While sneaking through the barracks, if they spend time investigating, they uncover evidence that one of the guards is stealing from his bosses, or has some other secret. Later, they can use that evidence to convince the guard to leave his post rather than having to fight past him.

Anyway, no idea how appropriate these scenes would be for your adventure, and you don't want to go too overboard with secrets hidden in every single room - but those are the sorts of encounters that can present some memorable elements for PCs that don't involve a direct challenge or fight.

 

[ItBeJonnyD]

Awesome thank you that helps me out a bunch .