Bawylie
A very OK person
Depends if you're running in combat or out of combat.
In combat, I prefer to use the simplest rules with the widest scope (in this case RAW works fine).
Out of combat. That's another story. There's a board game called Clue: Museum Caper where one player takes the role of a stealth thief in a museum taking paintings. The Clue group have to find the thief by patrolling the museum and checking security cameras and motion sensors. Players move their little color-coded game pieces around the museum and ask the thief whether they, or a camera, can see him. The thief (who takes a turn between each other player) has a map of the museum and tracks his activity on the map until he's been spotted. Once spotted, THEN he placed his little game figure on the board and tries to escape as the players run him down.
I think about this game whenever I run any stealth or darkness or blindness.
What actions draw the attention of the temporarily blinded (or the people searching for someone who is hiding)? What does it take to spot something hidden? And when it's spotted, how desperate to get away?
So out of combat, I try to not just clam up about a stealth creature. I try to leave breadcrumbs. Players then take proactive approaches (listening intently from 2 positions to triangulate, for example) to ferret-out actionable intel.
In the end, in combat or out, the fun comes from the feel more than the rules. So I want to shoot for a feeling of cat and mouse. Blindness or darkness for one or two rounds can just use the default RAW. Past that, an extended stealth encounter needs me to work that chase game.
-Brad
In combat, I prefer to use the simplest rules with the widest scope (in this case RAW works fine).
Out of combat. That's another story. There's a board game called Clue: Museum Caper where one player takes the role of a stealth thief in a museum taking paintings. The Clue group have to find the thief by patrolling the museum and checking security cameras and motion sensors. Players move their little color-coded game pieces around the museum and ask the thief whether they, or a camera, can see him. The thief (who takes a turn between each other player) has a map of the museum and tracks his activity on the map until he's been spotted. Once spotted, THEN he placed his little game figure on the board and tries to escape as the players run him down.
I think about this game whenever I run any stealth or darkness or blindness.
What actions draw the attention of the temporarily blinded (or the people searching for someone who is hiding)? What does it take to spot something hidden? And when it's spotted, how desperate to get away?
So out of combat, I try to not just clam up about a stealth creature. I try to leave breadcrumbs. Players then take proactive approaches (listening intently from 2 positions to triangulate, for example) to ferret-out actionable intel.
In the end, in combat or out, the fun comes from the feel more than the rules. So I want to shoot for a feeling of cat and mouse. Blindness or darkness for one or two rounds can just use the default RAW. Past that, an extended stealth encounter needs me to work that chase game.
-Brad
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