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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6698944" data-attributes="member: 6787650"><p>Sure, and so when I talk about tools for orchestrating NPCs offscreen I intend to include a measure of randomness. Something like, "When this NPC sends the alarm to this other NPC, it takes him 1d6 rounds to get everyone within shouting distance to understand the situation, and then he moves on while the guys he just alerted strap on their armor and shields and grab their weapons (depends on NPC equipment--may take up to 10 minutes for heavy armor) and then moves towards a point of contact identified by the first NPC, which may or may not be where PCs currently are, but if they hear anything on the way over they may redirect to the new point of conflict. That is, assuming they are guards/combatants, otherwise they just keep their heads down and/or flee." That's precisely why I need tools to use that approach, because it's way too much information to keep in my head.</p><p></p><p>I really like your idea of a "director's cut" version that you show the players afterwards. I think if I spliced the player's timeline into my tool's version of what is happening ("this is what was happening when you guys finished casting Animate Dead on all ten corpses, after five minutes; you can see that five wights have already arrived and so has the wizard, and all of them rolled at least 16 on their Stealth so that's why you didn't hear them") I would feel a lot less shy about giving the players nasty surprises from off-camera, because I could show them the plays afterward. The amount of work it would take to get there is daunting but it's a great idea to consider.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6698944, member: 6787650"] Sure, and so when I talk about tools for orchestrating NPCs offscreen I intend to include a measure of randomness. Something like, "When this NPC sends the alarm to this other NPC, it takes him 1d6 rounds to get everyone within shouting distance to understand the situation, and then he moves on while the guys he just alerted strap on their armor and shields and grab their weapons (depends on NPC equipment--may take up to 10 minutes for heavy armor) and then moves towards a point of contact identified by the first NPC, which may or may not be where PCs currently are, but if they hear anything on the way over they may redirect to the new point of conflict. That is, assuming they are guards/combatants, otherwise they just keep their heads down and/or flee." That's precisely why I need tools to use that approach, because it's way too much information to keep in my head. I really like your idea of a "director's cut" version that you show the players afterwards. I think if I spliced the player's timeline into my tool's version of what is happening ("this is what was happening when you guys finished casting Animate Dead on all ten corpses, after five minutes; you can see that five wights have already arrived and so has the wizard, and all of them rolled at least 16 on their Stealth so that's why you didn't hear them") I would feel a lot less shy about giving the players nasty surprises from off-camera, because I could show them the plays afterward. The amount of work it would take to get there is daunting but it's a great idea to consider. [/QUOTE]
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