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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tolen Mar" data-source="post: 413711" data-attributes="member: 1295">Thanx for such a quick reply (This goes to everyone!), and I did come up with a few questions after reading your form.I dont yet have a company.  I have the name of a company I want to build, and the name of a company I am associated with, but neither are official.  In fact they exist only in name.  Obviously I have to idicate ownership of the work.  Can I use either of those company names, or do I use my name (in real life, obviously)?Would I need to register this with anyone, or simply keep it on hand until I think someone stole my work, then drag it out and take it to court (see! he signed it!)?Again, I want to publish, but I want to make sure it is tested and polished before I shop it around to anyone, unless most publishers prefer me to not do that...I expect a balanced and tested book would sell better than one not...On the other hand, if I were brave enough, Id form one of those companies and publish myself, but I have zero resources for that.But back to the other topics.  I thought about 1.5 times the number of creatures, and it seems resaonable to me.  I just worry that I rig the encounters too hard or too easy and thats why I lose players all the time (I really need to get better at this): boredom or annoyance.  Aside from reinforcements, how would I go about making an encounter more difficult once its begun?  Any ideas?I realize that there are no hard and fast rules about any of this (Save the legal stuff, which should have been placed in a second thread), but 4 per session and 4 sessions is at least an aiming point.  Up to now I either used premade adventure modules or 'winged it.'  Most of my past adventures had little more than a concept noted.  Of course, the ones where I actually did the work went over much better.Here are a couple of encounter ideas I've had for when this new game starts.  Ill save all the details about the campaign and just give you the set up.  (Shadow, dont read any further!!!)....................Encounter 1:  6 goblins (this is a first level party, BTW) have retreated after some ambush attacks (or rather 6 plus the survivors, if any, of those attacks) across a ravine deep enough that you dont want to fall into it, and just wide enough that jumping will be a serious difficulty (I think in my notes it was 20-30 feet).  They have a bridge they used and can raise it.  They pelt the PC's with arrows from across the ravine.  Obviously, this can become a ranged duel with spells and arrows flying all over the place, but if any of the fighter types dont have either, then they end up just watching.  The ropes that hold the bridge up can be shot through, with difficulty, and there is a suitably large tree that could be felled if they can cut it down while being pelted with arrows.  Again, the goblins will fall back to a cave behind them if the PC's get ahead in the game or across the chasm.Now this is difficult enough as it is (Enough to seriously make me consider reducing the number of goblins).  But if they were having too easy of a time, what would you do to beef it up?  Also, what EL would you give this one?Encounter 2: The cave beyond.  The goblins have a retreat path picked out, but short of a good search (DC 25 or more), it looks like a regular cave.  Once they get halfway across the cave, they see two things.  First, they see another pit that stretches the width of the cave and 50 across.  There is a net suspended over the whole thing, and a path further beyond it.  Second they find a magically trapped Earth Elemental (small), whose sole job is to bull rush the PC's onto the net (Alternatively, I considered a simple pressure plate trap that uses a swinging log to push them onto the net).  At first the net seems sturdy, but after 3 or 4 of them are on it (about 500 lbs total weight), pins securing the net break lose, and the center of the net falls, which cinches up the net into a bag holding everyone in it.  The pit here is shallow enough to fall into and rather easy to climb out of, but the goblins are back, again with the bows to take advantage of the trap.  Are these too tough for a level 1 party (Keep in mind, the possibility of 6 characters as opposed to 4)?  What would you change?  What EL would you assign them?Maybe this gives you something of a look into the way I think about things, and how devious I can be as a GM.  At the same time, though, I want to be reasonably sure they survive this (I really hate killing low level characters).  Of course, I dont want it to be too easy either.</blockquote>

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