tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post7359434400698719465..comments2024-03-02T10:16:48.839-05:00Comments on Trilemma Adventures: Non-Mechanical Difficulty Levels for Monstrous ThreatsMichael Prescotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04704966067758312492noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-9864108086840469232023-11-05T12:19:09.163-05:002023-11-05T12:19:09.163-05:00That's a great point, yes! I suppose you could...That's a great point, yes! I suppose you could still bring in Proactive, Regional, Militaristic allies, but at that point they'd be quest givers rather than folks running in to do the dirty work for you. Chris Chinn has a really fantastic article called Seven Types of Antagonists, which has a few fun ways for allies to cause trouble for the party, archetypes like the Hater, the Crazy Friend, and the Idealist. Those might be useful inspiration here as well.<br />https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/7-antagonists/Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04704966067758312492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-4191391371939763982023-11-05T10:38:44.046-05:002023-11-05T10:38:44.046-05:00The other side of having allies that are Hidden, S...The other side of having allies that are Hidden, Sealed or otherwise Unorganised, is that they won't overshadow the player characters as much.Spwackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312570075256194767noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-56662607691786560562023-01-28T22:36:40.379-05:002023-01-28T22:36:40.379-05:00This is a great post, Michael. Lots of valuable &q...This is a great post, Michael. Lots of valuable "advice" here in this rubric! Really lovely.Paul T.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-47584429610250547222021-12-23T14:55:34.462-05:002021-12-23T14:55:34.462-05:00Well, I for one will be happy to read if you decid...Well, I for one will be happy to read if you decide to get those thoughts back together and down onto the digital paper...evileeyorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08296632217198088455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-48612692611621979092021-12-23T12:18:41.692-05:002021-12-23T12:18:41.692-05:00> Did you ever discuss this in more detail?
I ...> Did you ever discuss this in more detail?<br /><br />I don't believe I ever did! Life has a way of interrupting plans.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04704966067758312492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-70731619959266010802021-12-19T01:03:11.607-05:002021-12-19T01:03:11.607-05:00I know it's been years but you missed a type o...I know it's been years but you missed a type of Range: Nomadic. Yes, you could describe a group solely by by it's reach, but some groups may simply move about, and their reach may change in the moving. In regards to Range I like* to split Stationary from the pack, for me it goes "Site Bound-Local-Territory-Regional", and then "Stationary or Nomadic", with Nomadic receiving further descriptors of Migrational†or Random†and also a brief descriptor of the where's and whys.<br /><br />So a pair of creature societies from the campaign I'm working up:<br /><br />Ghobri Centaurs: Fast; Factional; Numerous, hunters 10-15, tribes 50-100; Nomadic/Migrational; Well-Known; other traits are Seasonal traits.<br /><br />So the Centaurs of the Ghobri plains are always Fast, Factional, and Migrational; their other traits are Seasonal in nature. In the Summer they are a Regional threat, with hunting/foraging bands ranging across the whole of the Ghobri plains, hunters are Alert and Defensive until ired, where upon they become Proactive and Vigilant for the season. In the Spring and Autumn, whole tribes are on the move, while they are Vigilant, hunting packs will Defensively lead groups away from the tribe and rely on speed to disengage once the tribe is safe. While Wintering in the valley Territory of the Apple Latchkey Mtns they become Inattentive (rare to encounter foes in the depths of winter) but Vengeful if roused.<br /><br /><br />River Kingdom Nerieds: Slow; Gestalt; Vengeful; Oblivious; Site Bound; Numerous but Small Groups 1-3; Semi-Obscure; Nomadic/Random.<br /><br />The Nereids of the River Kingdoms are Slow out of the water, but beyond Fast within it. They will /rarely/ chase a foe beyond their immediate Site (the water, be it river, lake, pond, stream, or really deep puddle). Dealing with one, is dealing with them all, so if you anger one, watch your step around any water deep enough to drown in. Most have a specific site they will bind themselves to, becoming the 'protector' of that waterway, sometimes acting like a spirit or 'god' of the water and weather locally, but most flit and play in any water they chose as the whim moves them.<br /><br />For the Centaurs, Nomadic represents they have three areas they can be found in depending on the season; while the Nereids can be Randomly encountered (low chance except for specific locations) at any body of water that's basically hip deep or deeper (less deep if the Nereids are angered over something and out for revenge).<br /><br /><br />.* I say this as though I've been using your system for longer than the last 15 minutes... I have, my system, which is not at all as well organized, I'd jot down descriptive traits, 5-10... but I'm totes stealing your system, it's very well designed indeed.<br /><br /><br />"I'll talk a lot more about this in another blog post."<br /><br />Did you ever discuss this in more detail? I've been through all your posts back to this point and I don't remember seeing it... or was that the "Making Knowledge Valuable" and the "PC Knowledge and Bandwidth Porblems" posts in Oct 2015?evileeyorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08296632217198088455noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-68815915436047224182020-02-06T15:12:15.762-05:002020-02-06T15:12:15.762-05:00I made a different mistake in our second WM campai...I made a different mistake in our second WM campaign, when I changed two of the non-mechanical difficulty vectors without giving the players enough signalling and processing time to adjust their expectations. It ended up feeling really unfair and some players quit the campaign, even though - from behind the screen - it all made sense.Ben Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541920895586558809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-12418407260021242612020-02-06T14:29:33.736-05:002020-02-06T14:29:33.736-05:00That's really great advice, Ben. I agree; unle...That's really great advice, Ben. I agree; unless the players are really invested and already quite powerful, this thing will just roll over them if it happens quickly.Michael Prescotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04704966067758312492noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-145649986851420179.post-8187098521114101602020-02-06T13:40:42.305-05:002020-02-06T13:40:42.305-05:00The first West Marches campaign I co-ran, we ended...The first West Marches campaign I co-ran, we ended up creating a perfect storm in the form of a hobgoblin warlord. While he didn't have the mirror of like Tirru-Stryggal, he had hobgoblin spies and war mages by the dozen. The players spent months just trying to find and push back the Imperial threat and eventually worked out a peace deal. We were careful to avoid another "Zrog Situation" when we started the next campaign. (over at reddit.com/r/west_marches)<br /><br />I'm preparing to run The Raid Mirror, and one thing I learned was to slow the sequence of events way, way down - past what's "realistic" - because players just can't/won't respond fast enough.Ben Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13541920895586558809noreply@blogger.com