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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Garthanos" data-source="post: 7066979" data-attributes="member: 82504">LudesThis is the second in my "Three Pilasters" series of articles.  In this article, I plan on talk about the first Pilaster of D&D: 'Ludes.  "-lude" is a suffix that means "play", and is appended to three prefixes which correspond to a different type of 'lude: the prelude (before play), interlude (between play), postlude (after play).  Do not confuse 'lude with noncombat.  Play happens whenever the adventuring party has gathered and tries to accomplish a task, even if that task is as passive as "resting for the night", or as esoteric as "wandering around looking for your next adventure".  A 'lude, for purposes of this article, is any non-adventuring task a character attempts to accomplish without the other adventurers in the party.  I do not mean solo adventures.  If a rogue wants to break into the Church of Pelor and take the Goblet of Gold, and leaves the paladin behind, that's a side trek or a solo adventure.  I mean those tasks that a character undertakes that contribute to the team as a whole, but do not involve anybody but the character.I identify three or four "subludes" in each of the three 'ludes.  In preludes, there is birth, upbringing, and training.  In interludes, there is crafting, leveling, earning, and shopping.  In postludes, there is destiny, politics, and strongholds.If a 'lude is something that happens without the other players around, why then, is it worth considering?  The reason is that these are things that players want to consider.  They help flesh out a character and gives the character details and history and personality that make the character more than a sheet of numbers.  But the more time spent dwelling on these details, the less time spent sitting around a table and playing with friends.  And playing with friends, is, in my opinion, what D&D should ultimately be about.So the key is to make 'lude mechanics that are fulfilling and rewarding, without being time-consuming or requiring a DM to exclude the other players while adjudicating one player's interlude.  Let's examine how 'ludes have been handled in the past.PRELUDEA prelude is all the stuff that happens to the character before the character meets the rest of the adventuring party.  Basically, this means the entire process of character creation.  The nice thing about the prelude is that since every player has to go through the process, the DM can run everyone through it simultaneously, thus eliminating the dilemma of having to tell the other players to sit out while one player's 'lude is being developed.  We can break this up into three subcategories:<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950147" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/b3c5711c1a21dacf6d4ae58001cccd32.jpg?v=18204" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Birth: In D&D, birth has generally meant one thing -- race.  You are born as a race, and the race comes with certain mechanics attached.  Race is a good prelude because it takes little time to handle, and yet has a deep and meaningful impact on a character.  In fact, if you ask someone about a character, the first work you are likely to hear, is that character's race.  In 4e, Backgrounds added more birth options.  You could be born in tundra, or born in a tropical area, or even born with a curse.  I'll discuss the issues with backgrounds later, but at least it gives players an opportunity to accommodate circumstances of birth other than their race.Birth rules could be limited to racial selection, but it would be nice if there were a simple mechanic to distinguish races raised in the tundra from those raisedin the jungle.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950151" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/b8d3219ede810236a814c8010c8e6877.jpg?v=9202" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Upbringing: Upbringing basically describes the skills that a player might possess that is not directly related to the character's adventuring abilities.  In 1st edition, this took the form of the optional rule known as Secondary Skills.  In 2nd edition, it took the form of the optional rule of Non-Weapon Proficiencies.  In 3rd edition, it took the form of some Skills.  In 4th edition, you could take a Background that detailed your upbringing, and you could also choose Skill training to reflect upbringing as well.  Some Themes also helped develop your character's non-adventuring interests in 4e.  In any edition, you might spend some of your starting cash on individual items, like a signet ring, or a musical instrument, to reflect a personal style not directly related to your adventuring career.  (I once created a gnome illusionist who fancied himself a portraitist first and an adventurer incidentally... because he specialized in making portraits of adventurers, and was often drawn into their adventures in the process.)Upbringing rules should be straightforward and easy to apply.  I like 4e Backgrounds as a concept, although the mechanic they chose (free Skill or Language training simply didn't offer mechanics that let you feel like you had the upbringing your background indicated.  I don't think enough thought was put into backgrounds, possibly for fear that individualized backgrounds would be unbalanced.  The designers need to take the risk and give us some mechanics that match the promised feel.  <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950149" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/b2db62fb40aae9ddafbf9eaa3ac74738.jpg?v=46000" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Training: Training represents every other quality you give your character during character creation, which means all of your adventuring skills, like class and theme.  Class, like race, is a defining aspect of a D&D character, and is likely the second thing you learn if you ask a player to describe the character.  I don't have a lot to say here, because training is going to be absorbed into the character mechanics related to the three pillars of combat, exploration, and socialization.  You don't need to consider much more for the pilaster of 'ludes.INTERLUDEThe interlude is stuff that individuals may want to break off from the party and accomplish without the involvement of other players.  I don't merely refer to things that other players could be involved in, but the first player is just being a jerk.  I mean stuff that, traditionally, wouldn't reasonably involve other players.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950969" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/cc81b4b70b5656e0ae59108e76aeeb4d.jpg?v=45704" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Crafting: People want to make things.  A wizard scribes a scroll.  A fighter returns to his old blacksmithy and makes a new dagger.  A bard sits in the corner of a tavern and drafts a love poem to the dryad whose tree he was regrettably required to burn to the ground.  Crafting is a deeply individual experience and one that can both lead to more adventure, but also soak up time at the table.  In AD&D, crafting mundane objects had few rules (maybe a non-weapon proficiency in 2e), and it was generally assumed that the character was better off hiring a professional than doing this himself.  Crafting magic items, however, was an arcane and thoroughly obscure process that required unspecified rare components (yay adventure hooks), and was often more trouble than it was worth (boo, useless mechanics).  In 3e, feats handled magic item construction, which cost XP and gold but no rare components, resulting in predictable mechanics that offered no adventure hooks.  In 4e, rituals and practices (or Backgrounds) handled all construction which also resulted in predictable mechanics that offered no adventure hooks.  Crafting in 3e, however, was an arcane process of spending silver pieces and rolling Craft skill checks over and over.  This was the worst of all worlds.  It consumed time at the tabel where other people were, at best, rolling Aid Other checks, it involved almost no adventure hooks, and required you to consult unnecessary mechanics just to get a table.  Crafting rules should be evocative.  They should add adventure hooks if the DM wants it to, or be simple if the DM doesn't want them to.  They should take up as little game time as possible, but still be detailed enough so a player who has a fighter who used to be a blacksmith actually feels like his character has some skill at blacksmithing.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950967" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/6ca138fb9533bb4bd9a31bc2676b3852.jpg?v=28728" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Earning: Related to crafting is earning.  This is usually the stuff a player has a character do to kill time.  It might be singing for your supper, or working at the local quarry.  When the fighter is recuperating from wounds, and the cleric is performing ablutions in the local temple, what are the others doing?  In 1st edition, there were actual rules related to how much living expenses a character spent per week (based on level, and reduced for paladins and monks who took oaths of poverty). Only 3e ever tried to have mechanics at this, in the form of Perform and Profession skills.  Frankly, I think this was a bad way to go about it.  First, free money can be unbalancing at low levels.  But more importantly, you spent a lot of time rolling Perform and Profession checks for no reason other than to fill the time until the next adventure.  It ended up being a time-waster. Earning rules can be evocative, but they need to be simply to apply and easy to run.  They should only get more complicated when invoked during an adventure.  For instance, if the minstrel is singing to make some coin while the rogue is consulting with his guild contacts about a lead on a mystery, it should be straightforward.  Don't waste time.  But if the minstrel is singing at court while the party is trying to convince the duchess to let them enter the noble's hunting grounds to kill the rampaging ankheg clutch, then it can be incorporated into the larger socialization encounter (which is part of that pillar).<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136950965" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/11f1dcb717990ca5d6f4918bdaeaa717.jpg?v=85709" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Leveling: Like the training prelude, leveling is something a player does alone.  However, since characters tend to level-up together, like character creation, it's something that doesn't have to require some players to sit out.Leveling should  occur to all characters at once.  This prevents alienation or boredom.  Also, even though you can have varying levels of complexity for characters, no class should be so complex that the effort needed to level up will draw substantial time away from the other players' time to play.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136974423" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/90b97576f2a7e36c88315620325e3b5f.jpg?v=156600" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Shopping: The last interlude is shopping.  I am not discussing whether magic items can be bought and/or sold.  I'm not concerned here with what can be bartered, only with how the bartering occurs.  Every campaign has had its charts of stuff adventurers could buy and how much it cost.  Usually, this is done as a group.  A party gets to town, divvies up the loot, converts it to gold pieces if they don't want it, or writes it into their stuff if they do, and then everyone looks at charts and determines what they want to buy that's available.  It is all quite civilized and simple.And that's how it should be.  I am not an advocate of roleplaying out every shopping excursion, unless it is the hook for an adventure.  Let people buy and sell at the table with everyone else there and be quick about it.  Don't introduce dice.  Don't roll to barter with shopkeeps for a discount, unless the whole party is involved.POSTLUDEThe postlude is what happens to the character after the adventuring ends.  Call it an epilogue, requiem, or retirement.  Assuming the character is able to vanquish all enemies, what happens after the dice are put away.  However, the best postlude mechanics have effect in the game.  They introduce the player to thinking of the character's life after adventuring, which again helps enrich a character and develop them as most than a sheet full of numbers.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136951041" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/de3994a794cf096259235fa3bd87a2de.jpg?v=160200" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Destiny: 4e introduced the concept of the epic destiny, and I love this mechanic.  It encourages people to think about where their characters are heading and how to get there.  it doesn't even need much mechanics tying it into the current story, though sometimes it makes sense to get powers that can lead you towards a specific destiny.  Sure, the character could die, and leave the destiny unfulfilled.  but a destiny is almost like a side pact between the DM and player, with the player opening up about a desire and the DM promising to make that happen if feasible.Destinies should be simple and should be established when the DM is beginning to think about closing out a campaign.  All it requires is a few lines, a few examples, and maybe swapping out some class features for a destiny feature or two.  It can be incorporated into the leveling process and can lead to a much richer story experience.  Don't let destinies die!<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136951039" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/4d64920ba37a9d0dc1f27c7570f44b6a.jpg?v=65892" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Organizations: In prior editions, a rogue might establish a rival rogue's guild, a cleric might found a church, and a monk might establish a monastery.  In AD&D this occurred at "name level" and required players to spend time tracking their followers, naming them, directing them, etc.  This was often time consuming and distracting, but also immensely rewarding.  I think players should get to choose as a table whether, at a certain level, they want to add a module on organizations.  Does the warlord raise an army?  Is the rogue running a guild?  The table should decide this as a whole, because otherwise, the wizard is twiddling his thumbs while the fighter rolls up his next squire and promotes a knight, and the cleric is busy ordaining his new acolytes.  But a modular addition can be a great way to introduce postludes.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148/http://community.wizards.com/wrecan/go/gallery/item/136951037" target="_blank"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20130531144148im_/http://images.community.wizards.com/community.wizards.com/user/wrecan/wrecan_blog/6541418d4ba78214324fa5666206e42e.jpg?v=74100" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Strongholds: Like organizations, AD&D gave benefits to characters who built a stronghold.  In 4e, there was an Unearthed Arcana article allowing parties to own and develop strongholds.  I prefer the latter format.  If strongholds can be owned by the party, nobody need be left out.  teh rogue can design traps, while the wizard places wards, and the fighter shores up the physical defenses.  The Justice League HQ is always preferable to one player having a batcave, another the Fortress of Solitude, all while Wally West lives in his parent's basement.Rules for strongholds can be another optional add-on, one that affords some benefits, but generally immerses the characters in their world, gives them something to defend and fight for, and people to protect.Well, that's it for 'ludes.  Stay tuned next week when I talk about the second Pilaster: 'sage.</blockquote>

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