Role Playing Tips - By Johnn Four
TOP 5 WAYS TO MORE COMPELLING ENCOUNTERS
I believe encounters (some roleplayers also call them
"scenes") are the workhorses of roleplaying. Campaigns are
simply the sum total of all the individual encounters that
you plan for and play out. So, the theory is, if you make
every encounter an exciting, memorable event, you will have
a stellar campaign.
Here are several ways to tweak encounters for maximum
tension and enjoyment. Feel free to print this list out and
keep it with your gaming notes for inspiration during
sessions.
1. Choose a compelling location. Encounters become boring if
they all take place on wide city streets, in the middle of a
plain or in 10 foot wide corridors. For example, place the
scene on the edge of a cliff, in a beautiful garden, on a
rickety bridge, beside a raging river...
2. Mix-up the weather a bit. Is it always bright and sunny?
Change the weather every so often to: very cold, extremely
hot, windy, foggy, hailing, or a fine scotch mist. How does
the weather assist or impede the characters' actions? Also
under the weather category can be placed such things as
rainbows, northern lights and ball lightning!
3. Alter the lighting: dusk, dark, too bright, glowing red,
strobing colors. While different lighting can affect game
mechanics and character actions, it can also be used subtly
to just make the encounter memorable for your players.
4. Change the footing. Just like lighting, you can change
the ground so that it helps or hinders the party, and you
can use it to help make the encounter stick in your players'
minds for a long time to come: loose gravel, muddy, sandy,
puddles, deep moss, pot holes, slime...
5. Put the reward on the end of a stick. It's fun hiding
treasure to make it tough and exciting for the characters to
find it. But try putting the reward or treasure in plain
site on occasion to provide extra and immediate character
motivation. For example, hang the treasure from the ceiling
well out of arm's reach, put it at the bottom of a clear
pool, have the foe wear it or use it, put writing on the
wall for all to see "Here Be Treasure". Then put something
in between the characters and their displayed reward and
watch the fur fly.
Bonus Tip:
6. Put more than one challenge, foe or conflict into the
encounter and hit the party from all sides. Panic is a
result of feeling overwhelmed. Allowing the players to focus
on just one challenge at a time will not overwhelm them, so
add additional simultaneous challenges to help create panic:
* multiple foes (i.e. another foe drawn in by the
sounds of battle)
* impending doom (i.e. the ceiling's slowly dropping)
* impending calamity (i.e. she's tied to a log that's
headed straight for the screaming saw blade)
* cut-off the party's escape
* add a time limit (i.e. return before sundown or...)
* add bad weather, bad footing and bad lighting!
Have more fun at every game!
Johnn Four
