At a recent Pathfinder session, a friend introduced me to a mechanic to aid players in making difficult or complex plans. If your players run across a situation that requires them to chose one among a handful of options and there is differing opinion as to which is the best, you may find this "decision matrix" works well for you.
Advantages include being impartial and democratic, revealing the group's general consensus out of individual responses to simple questions, uninfluenced by input from others. In groups of more than four players, this decision matrix can be especially helpful in streamlining decision making.
The main disadvantage is speed. The decision matrix does take a bit of time to get through, and the more players, the slower it works.
Step 1: Determine the choices at hand. The players know what their goals are, and the dispute should be over the route to achieve those goals. This step takes two parts: identify important factors and identify main choices. Important factors are things like party safety vs. party speed, factors that have to be juggled. Main choices are things like which route to take toward an objective or which approach to use when striking down an unknown foe just over the next hill.
Step 2: List both factors and choices. Write them down on a piece of paper such that they form a grid, which factors down one side and choices along the top.
Step 3: Interview the players. Go around the circle of players and ask each to individually answer. Forbid other players from interfering. Ask each player for their vote on the best course of action for each given factor, and on the second best.
Step 4: Tally the results. The majority decision should be visible. If there is a tie, repeat the process with only those choices that were tied, and ask only for the top choice from each player.
Example:
The players are investigating a mysterious island. They know from earlier reconnissance that there is a supposedly abandoned town on the island's far side that is now active with people, and that the woods between their current location and the town are filled with hostile creatures. They do not know if the people in the town are friends or foes, but they do know that there is a large and dangerous disturbance in a crater southeast of the town. The players cannot reach a group decision after several minutes of decision, so the GM decides to try using the decision matrix method.
She talks with the players and determines that they all agree that all of the following factors are important:
1. The safety of the group.
2. The speed with which they can reach the town in order to warn potentially innocent people of their danger.
There are three possible routes to take to the town:
1. Using the road that leads over the island to the town.
2. Using the most direct overland route through the woods.
3. Sailing the characters' ship around the island to a reef-free bay within sight of the town.
She begins asking each player the following questions:
"Which of the three routes do you think is the safest? Which is the next safest?"
"Which of the three routes do you think is the fastest? Which is the next fastest?"
She begins to tally the answers, asking each player in turn. In the end, she adds up the tallies and determines that the group's general consensus lies with taking the ship around the island. This will sacrifice a good deal of speed, but is much safer than the danger of the woods or the lack of cover on the road.
I hope this helps you to resolve disputes about the next course of action the next time you have a game with a lot of players.
Showing posts with label overcoming challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overcoming challenges. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Ways Low Powered Characters Can Defeat Higher Powered Enemies
In order to illustrate what I mean, I am going to use examples from my own recent games. Most of these happened to be Dungeons and Dragons, but the principles involved can be used in any scenario where you're faced with an enemy who is singly more powerful than any one party member on his or her own.
Band Together
A lone wolf has no chance of killing a moose. But a coordinated wolf pack does. Likewise, a coordinated series of strikes by multiple low powered characters against a single target has a better chance of defeating that target than a situation where the characters are scattered and unable to support each other. This involves setting aside some of the personal glory for the sake of the mission, but it can mean the difference between victory and defeat, and often between life and death of a character. In addition, by focusing the attacks of a range of different types of characters on a single target, it's more likely that the variety of threats will prove too much.
For example, our party of 2nd and 3rd level heroes were all attacking a single 10th level cleric. The party consisted of a cleric, a rogue, and a paladin. By ignoring lower-level enemies and focusing all our attention on the evil cleric, we forced him to retreat. After that it was a simple matter of cleaning up the other monsters.
Plan Ahead
Taking on a threat of significantly higher power almost always requires careful planning. Crucial to such planning is knowledge of the enemy. The more you know about your target's capabilities, the better you can tailor your approach. This cannot be stressed enough. Patience and cooperation are the lower powered characters' greatest allies.
For example, our party of 1st level adventurers was faced with eliminating an ogre. Rather than just charging into the ogre's lair and taking it on, we interviewed the NPCs in the town it was marauding to learn its habits and then planned out a trap based on that information.
Use the Environment to Your Advantage
An often overlooked method of leveling the playing field is creative use of what is available. I mean both in a character's inventory of supplies and the surrounding setting. All too often, I believe players are conditioned by video games to limit their options. Being anal about what exactly is in a specific room can provide you with the tools you need to come up with some really creative solutions.
Examples:
As a rogue taking on a higher-powered cleric, I used a concealed lit torch as a weapon and snuck close enough to set the cleric's robes alight.
As a bound and gagged sorcerer trapped in a cage and facing a minotaur zombie, I deliberately tipped my cage over and then took advantage of it's cylindrical shape to trip the zombie.
As a Promethean facing probable execution, I used the metal springs in the mattress of my prison cell's bed as a garrotte to strangle the prison guard.
Enlist Allies
If the number of characters available to take on a threat is too few, enlist the help of NPC allies. Even if they are lower power than you, the sheer force of numbers can tip the balance in your favor. Allies can serve as a delay tactic while you prepare a more powerful strike that might take time to ready. They can provide support in the form of lodging, food, medical aid, logistics, information, transport, and supplies. And they can help to bring down a single powerful foe through a "death by a thousand stings" approach if they attack as a mob.
Example: In the case of my hero party vs. the ogre, we decided to enlist the help of the townsfolk in building a pit trap for the ogre, with some local ale as a lure. We knew the ogre was fond of the town's ale, thanks to interviewing the townsfolk about the ogre's habits, and we knew both the time and place where the ogre was most likely to show up.
Exploit Weaknesses
Sound advice for characters of any level, of course. But doubly so for lower powered characters who cannot afford to make as many errors. Once you have confirmed that your target is vulnerable in some way, I recommend hitting with as much force as you can as fast as you can with an attack designed to exploit that vulnerability.
Example: In a game in which all the characters were kobolds - tiny reptilian humanoids with very power of any kind even at their most dangerous - we managed to destroy an entire fortified human town by exploiting the following weaknesses: flammable buildings, unguarded livestock capable of sewing confusion and chaos when they stampeded, and a poorly guarded water supply that was easily poisoned.
Avoid Combat
Being low powered is not the time to fight honorably or even bravely. It is the time to be devious, dirty, stealthy, and to rely on the wiles of your socially focused character. How do you think the United States won the Revolutionary War? How do you think an army of tribal desert warriors in Afghanistan has been able to keep the most powerful trained army in the world busy for over a decade? As unglamorous as it sounds, sometimes the best way to fight an enemy is not to fight them at all, but to harry, harass, trick, and frustrate them into defeat.
Example: The party were faced with two air elemental guardians, blocking their path toward a magical sarcophagus. My sorcerer used magic to disguise his appearance and posed as their superior, ordering them to let the party pass. It worked, and we were able to obtain our goal that much faster, easier, and without loss of hit points.
Band Together
A lone wolf has no chance of killing a moose. But a coordinated wolf pack does. Likewise, a coordinated series of strikes by multiple low powered characters against a single target has a better chance of defeating that target than a situation where the characters are scattered and unable to support each other. This involves setting aside some of the personal glory for the sake of the mission, but it can mean the difference between victory and defeat, and often between life and death of a character. In addition, by focusing the attacks of a range of different types of characters on a single target, it's more likely that the variety of threats will prove too much.
For example, our party of 2nd and 3rd level heroes were all attacking a single 10th level cleric. The party consisted of a cleric, a rogue, and a paladin. By ignoring lower-level enemies and focusing all our attention on the evil cleric, we forced him to retreat. After that it was a simple matter of cleaning up the other monsters.
Plan Ahead
Taking on a threat of significantly higher power almost always requires careful planning. Crucial to such planning is knowledge of the enemy. The more you know about your target's capabilities, the better you can tailor your approach. This cannot be stressed enough. Patience and cooperation are the lower powered characters' greatest allies.
For example, our party of 1st level adventurers was faced with eliminating an ogre. Rather than just charging into the ogre's lair and taking it on, we interviewed the NPCs in the town it was marauding to learn its habits and then planned out a trap based on that information.
Use the Environment to Your Advantage
An often overlooked method of leveling the playing field is creative use of what is available. I mean both in a character's inventory of supplies and the surrounding setting. All too often, I believe players are conditioned by video games to limit their options. Being anal about what exactly is in a specific room can provide you with the tools you need to come up with some really creative solutions.
Examples:
As a rogue taking on a higher-powered cleric, I used a concealed lit torch as a weapon and snuck close enough to set the cleric's robes alight.
As a bound and gagged sorcerer trapped in a cage and facing a minotaur zombie, I deliberately tipped my cage over and then took advantage of it's cylindrical shape to trip the zombie.
As a Promethean facing probable execution, I used the metal springs in the mattress of my prison cell's bed as a garrotte to strangle the prison guard.
Enlist Allies
If the number of characters available to take on a threat is too few, enlist the help of NPC allies. Even if they are lower power than you, the sheer force of numbers can tip the balance in your favor. Allies can serve as a delay tactic while you prepare a more powerful strike that might take time to ready. They can provide support in the form of lodging, food, medical aid, logistics, information, transport, and supplies. And they can help to bring down a single powerful foe through a "death by a thousand stings" approach if they attack as a mob.
Example: In the case of my hero party vs. the ogre, we decided to enlist the help of the townsfolk in building a pit trap for the ogre, with some local ale as a lure. We knew the ogre was fond of the town's ale, thanks to interviewing the townsfolk about the ogre's habits, and we knew both the time and place where the ogre was most likely to show up.
Exploit Weaknesses
Sound advice for characters of any level, of course. But doubly so for lower powered characters who cannot afford to make as many errors. Once you have confirmed that your target is vulnerable in some way, I recommend hitting with as much force as you can as fast as you can with an attack designed to exploit that vulnerability.
Example: In a game in which all the characters were kobolds - tiny reptilian humanoids with very power of any kind even at their most dangerous - we managed to destroy an entire fortified human town by exploiting the following weaknesses: flammable buildings, unguarded livestock capable of sewing confusion and chaos when they stampeded, and a poorly guarded water supply that was easily poisoned.
Avoid Combat
Being low powered is not the time to fight honorably or even bravely. It is the time to be devious, dirty, stealthy, and to rely on the wiles of your socially focused character. How do you think the United States won the Revolutionary War? How do you think an army of tribal desert warriors in Afghanistan has been able to keep the most powerful trained army in the world busy for over a decade? As unglamorous as it sounds, sometimes the best way to fight an enemy is not to fight them at all, but to harry, harass, trick, and frustrate them into defeat.
Example: The party were faced with two air elemental guardians, blocking their path toward a magical sarcophagus. My sorcerer used magic to disguise his appearance and posed as their superior, ordering them to let the party pass. It worked, and we were able to obtain our goal that much faster, easier, and without loss of hit points.
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