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RPG Evolution: Oh No, Everyone's Here!
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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8821053" data-attributes="member: 2629"><p>We're all busy. When we reserve time to play, I am hesitant to end early. It is not uncommon for people to have sacrificed other options in order to be with us and play - and calling the session short can be less than generous to them as a reward for their faith in the game. </p><p></p><p>To that end, I have a number of 'extension' tricks I can play if I run out of material that is well prepared for a game.</p><p></p><p><strong>Bust down the door options: </strong>The PCs have enemies all over the place. I am always ready to bring them into the game to complicate matters when the PCs need a bit more content, change of pace, or are feeling indecisive about what to do next. If RPI see that I may need one of these options, I start forshadowing it. Perhaps a PC realizes someone is trying to scry on them. Maybe someone uses a sending spell on a PC in an attempt to get them to reveal their location. Maybe the PCs catch sight of a scout following them. Then, when I need it, the bad guys can jump into the situation. Maybe they're there to steal the dragon treasure while the PCs are injured from the dragon fight. Maybe they're trying to steal something from a PC. Maybe they just want to fight. There are a lot of variations on this theme.</p><p></p><p><strong>RP Moments: </strong>These can be good times to have a big role playing moment for PCs. This can be between PCs, or between a PC and an NPC. You see these on Critical Role a lot - but they also work in your games. Conversations between a PC and their mentor, or their God, or their sponsor, or their friend ... give them something to talk about and let it go.</p><p></p><p><strong>Puzzle Treasure: </strong>One of my favorite tools is a treasure item that is also a puzzle. I usually do not alter my world once I place something in it, and do not add things to it on the spur of the moment - but these are the exception to that rule. I will drop a puzzle box that is a combination to something interesting in a treasure heep. The most significant example is something akin to the Hellraiser Puzzle Box (the Lament Configuration) that can be shaped into a cube or 5 other shapes. However, the puzzle rearranges itself, so each time you use it you have to figure it out all over again. The other shapes, when created, open a portal to 5 different locations that a lich used for bases. One is in Hell, another in the Astral, another in the Elemental Plane (I have one Elemental Plane rather than a series of planes), one is in a Ravenloft domain in the Shadowfell, and the last is in his home town, his incredibly trapped tower in a MASSIVE Drow City in my (Dyson Sphere style) Underdark. When PCs find this cube, they can try to find a way to a particular location using it, but might end up in one of the others. This gives me a 'dungeon on the go' that they can enter at any time. I could run several campaigns (1 to 20) based upon what can be accessed from the puzzle box. It has existed for over 30 years in my setting (although it has evolved), so I have a lot of material for it ... I can update that stuff to 5E on the fly.</p><p></p><p>However, despite best attempts - sometimes it just isn't going to happen due to illness or exhaustion of the group. So there have been times when I called it really short, just as the OP did - but those times are rare.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8821053, member: 2629"] We're all busy. When we reserve time to play, I am hesitant to end early. It is not uncommon for people to have sacrificed other options in order to be with us and play - and calling the session short can be less than generous to them as a reward for their faith in the game. To that end, I have a number of 'extension' tricks I can play if I run out of material that is well prepared for a game. [B]Bust down the door options: [/B]The PCs have enemies all over the place. I am always ready to bring them into the game to complicate matters when the PCs need a bit more content, change of pace, or are feeling indecisive about what to do next. If RPI see that I may need one of these options, I start forshadowing it. Perhaps a PC realizes someone is trying to scry on them. Maybe someone uses a sending spell on a PC in an attempt to get them to reveal their location. Maybe the PCs catch sight of a scout following them. Then, when I need it, the bad guys can jump into the situation. Maybe they're there to steal the dragon treasure while the PCs are injured from the dragon fight. Maybe they're trying to steal something from a PC. Maybe they just want to fight. There are a lot of variations on this theme. [B]RP Moments: [/B]These can be good times to have a big role playing moment for PCs. This can be between PCs, or between a PC and an NPC. You see these on Critical Role a lot - but they also work in your games. Conversations between a PC and their mentor, or their God, or their sponsor, or their friend ... give them something to talk about and let it go. [B]Puzzle Treasure: [/B]One of my favorite tools is a treasure item that is also a puzzle. I usually do not alter my world once I place something in it, and do not add things to it on the spur of the moment - but these are the exception to that rule. I will drop a puzzle box that is a combination to something interesting in a treasure heep. The most significant example is something akin to the Hellraiser Puzzle Box (the Lament Configuration) that can be shaped into a cube or 5 other shapes. However, the puzzle rearranges itself, so each time you use it you have to figure it out all over again. The other shapes, when created, open a portal to 5 different locations that a lich used for bases. One is in Hell, another in the Astral, another in the Elemental Plane (I have one Elemental Plane rather than a series of planes), one is in a Ravenloft domain in the Shadowfell, and the last is in his home town, his incredibly trapped tower in a MASSIVE Drow City in my (Dyson Sphere style) Underdark. When PCs find this cube, they can try to find a way to a particular location using it, but might end up in one of the others. This gives me a 'dungeon on the go' that they can enter at any time. I could run several campaigns (1 to 20) based upon what can be accessed from the puzzle box. It has existed for over 30 years in my setting (although it has evolved), so I have a lot of material for it ... I can update that stuff to 5E on the fly. However, despite best attempts - sometimes it just isn't going to happen due to illness or exhaustion of the group. So there have been times when I called it really short, just as the OP did - but those times are rare. [/QUOTE]
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