Appendix N the Importance of Influence

 I often have discussions with other gamers, many of them close to my age (40), about the exact state of how Dungeons and Dragons is being handled by Hasbro and WotC.  While I have a lot of opinions about this, I understand that they are just opinions, and I do not feel that the foundation of the game is really being attacked or threatened by a "woke mob."  What I do think, is that there are four major generations of players who are all active in the hobby, and it ranges from people who got into the game at its advent in the 70s and 80s, people like myself who got into the game in the late 80s/early 90s, early 2000s, and more recently.  Of course, the game changes mechanically with each edition, and you could argue that there are 10 or so versions of the game around.  There is plenty of discussion about mechanical differences in the game, so I do not want to dive into that here, because I personally do not think it is that important.  I have long been in favor of house rules, and I believe that while important, rules are sometimes optional.  

Much of the criticism I hear from the game, is about the "direction" of the game.  You would be living under a rock to have missed some of statements WotC made about certain game topics--particularly race-- over the summer, and there are plenty of Facebook arguments, Twitter meltdowns, and toxic YouTube shit out there to catch you up, so I do not want to really dive too deep into that here either.  What I do want to talk about is the idea of Appendix N and it's influence on the game.

If you don't know, Appendix N was a list of fiction that essentially influenced the early game.  A good Game Master should milk as many ideas as possible, it is advice I almost always hear on panels at cons, and it is what I do when I think up a session.  I do not think that a good GM needs to reinvent the wheel, there is tons of stuff from fiction, movies, history, et al to weave into a session.   Of course, everyone does this, because everyone has some kind of expectation they bring to a game, and I would say that very nature of RPGs makes you use your imagination to picture things, which is almost always referenced by something.  

Many, many players who have come to the game in the last five years got to the game through Critical Role.  This is their Appendix N.  I want to be crystal clear that I do not have a problem with CR, I just don't really follow it because it is hard enough for me to find time to play my own games, much less four hours a week set aside to watch someone else's.  If anything, I like that now I have access to so many players, that most games have too many Player Characters, and most games have a waiting list (at least in my experience).  To say that this isn't because of the popularity of CR would be an outright lie.  Ten years ago or so, a lot of people were getting into the game through MMO games, so much so that we ended up with an edition that will almost always be remembered as the biggest flop of the game.  In a lot of ways, World of Warcraft was Appendix N for some players, I remember those days.

I just wanted to put this out to the universe, because I don't know if a week has gone by in the last three years that I have talked about the state of the game at least several times with someone.  As you can imagine, I hear mostly negative garbage, or wild assumptions, depending on who I am talking to.  It is somewhat exhausting.  I do not feel like the game is in itself inherently racist because of ideas of monstrous races, and I do hear what people are saying, I just disagree.  Mainly, because the early game was modeled on fiction written between the late 19th Century until the 1970s, and you would be a fool to think that offensive ideas would not have found their way into some of that literature.  I personally think that committing the Historian's Fallacy is equally as foolish.  

Saying all of that, I want to dig into my personal Appendix N.  I think being aware of it makes you a better player and GM, and outside of the folks at Goodman Games, Appendix N is seriously overlooked these days.  

I don't want to start with obvious influences for me, but a great one is the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin.  The series is sort of like the Beatles of grim dark, and it also has great descriptions of what is happening through the eyes of characters, often after the fact.  Seeing the aftermath of the war as certain characters travel, is something I use often in travel during RPGs, and the early books of the series do it well.  Sometimes it even feels like a campaign to me.  Also, political intrigue is something hard to pull off in games, and there are thousands of pages of it here.  It would be hard to find players who aren't familiar with the show or the series these days, so it is definitely a great place to look. 

Mark Lawrence's The Broken Empire series is another fairly recent series that is great for ideas.  I do not want spoil any of it here, but if you have read it, there is plenty of grim stuff, and great ideas for gonzo games.  Yes gonzo RPG stuff is something I am rather fond of, but that is a post for another day.

I would like to keep this as an on going thing here, hopefully others will contribute in the comments at some point.  If you have any ideas about music, fiction, comics, other games, whatever--I want to hear them.  Some of these posts have gotten more views that I was anticipating, so don't be shy.  

Finally, nothing I said here was official content for Dungeons and Dragons, and as always, none of this is for sale.  All typos were unintentional, and consider them gifts from me to you.  

New 5e Book is Ravenloft

 Ravenloft it is!.  Expanding outside of Bavoria, the new book for 5e seems to be more or less a campaign setting for Domains of Dread.  This is pretty exciting, because 5e has been slightly lackluster in producing classic settings.  The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide was somewhat disappointing to me as far as a sourcebook goes, and much of the Realms has been... Forgotten?  I couldn't resist, so excuse that.  

As I said in a previous post, I didn't really see Ravenloft coming, not as an expanded campaign setting, but this is exciting, because I feel like Wizards is really focusing on the multiverse aspect of the game, and traveling to other planes of existence.  What I really mean by that, is that Ravenloft can easily be thrown into any existing setting, or be one all on it's own.  Plus, it is a great way to really expand the cosmology of the game into something larger, like Sigil or the Outlands, and not overwhelm people new to the game through 5e.  

Things I want to see are solidified and tangible use of negative planes, the Shadowfell, and of course corruption to characters.  5e has been good at using what I call "swappable parts" for older editions, but also putting things from a setting like Eberron into the Forgotten Realms (Living Spells is a great example).  I have always sort of looked at the game like this, but 5e plainly does a really good job with it.  Also, this really adds to the accessibility of 5e.  I feel like in the 90s until the end of the 3.X era of the game, things that happened in fiction based in the game, and just lore in general really impeded the game.  The Forgotten Realms in particular suffered from this in my opinion, because so much detail of the world became almost crippling--at least in my opinion--the the creativity of the DM.  The ease of just slapping something into a 5e game has really helped with that.  Of course, that is something I want to expand on overtime with this blog, but in a nutshell, Ravenloft as the new book really expands the way I want to play the game.

New 5e Book to be Announced 2/23/21

 Of course, no one will probably have read this by the time the book is announced, but it is looking like a Ravenloft book.  I want to be honest, that takes me a little by surprise because I was expecting an announcement of a setting for either another Magic crossover (I suppose it still could be), or Dragonlance because of the new novels, and the fact that it is Dragonlace.

Newest Unearthed Arcana from Wizards is Gothic character stuff, so Ravenloft makes a ton of sense, but I feel like an expanded Ravenloft campaign setting would be sort of a twist right now for Wizards.  Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining if 5e puts out more Domains of Dread.  

Of course, we will all know this time tomorrow, so let's see how far I was off.  

Speaking of campaign settings, I always like to discuss older ones that should be brought back, especially since 5e has been pacing themselves with this edition.  Are there any you want to see, or you would be surprised to see?  My wish list is Dragonlance, Planescape, and Greyhawk.  I also want to see Spelljammer, which is sort of funny because I thought it was lame back during 2e.  Turns out, I was the one who was lame as an adolescent, and Spelljammer really took the game in an entirely new direction that I just didn't want to see way back when, but that is a post for another time.

Resting in 5e

Resting in 5e is a much bigger topic than I expected when I started to brainstorm about this post.  Things I often hear is that clerics or healing classes aren't really need anymore because of the short rest, and that can be true, but it's a huge misstatement of the game.  The obvious glaring example is that if a party attempts a long or short rest in a dungeon, they are going to have to depend on other skills and abilities to not be ambushed and disrupt the rest.  This is of course where the Evil DM comes in, because usually players need to rest once they have used spell slots and have taken a beating, usually in a combat area.  Taking that away from them can easily result in a deadly session.

I have found there is a real art to disrupting rests.  It should never be expected, and it should always fit into the narrative.  Are the monsters or threats capable of actively looking for the party?  Are there monsters or threats further down that would stumble upon the party?  Role playing the monsters is super important here, because monsters and threats should be believable as often as possible in game.  Also, heavy handed disruptions make the game a drag if you use them too often.  

I personally like the idea of the short rest, because a long rest in a heavy combat area is unlikely.  Sure there are spells and items that can assist, but just as a general statement, a party isn't usually going to be setting up a camp inside of a dungeon.  Short rests however, can be done, and more than once (they have to be spaced, obviously).  Also, if you are a newer DM for 5e, keep in mind that the RAW for replenishing hit dice is you get half back per long rest.  This really helps with the economy of the game, because it doesn't have players unlimited HP farming, and it makes clerics and healers very useful.  

Exactly how and when to disrupt a long or short rest is usually up to the DM, but what I tend to do behind the screen is take the highest perception of the most intelligent monster within an area (I estimate approximately 100 feet as the crow flies on the map), and make a check.  Adjust the DC as you see fit based on how many walls and doors are between the party and whatever is looking for it.  Also, think about the monster and how likely it would become a wandering monster.  During a long rest, I do the same thing, but do it every two hours depending on if the party is taking turns on a watch, and decrease the DC each watch (again, according to what you are working with).  If the players aren't setting watches in an area with active threats, I set the DC at a 5 or 10, depending on what I'm working with, or just roll % to see if an attack would happen.  I tend to make it more likely than not that the party will be attacked if there is no watch set, because c'mon.

Also take into account the donning and doffing of armor.  Sure, we have the 24 AC paladin, but if they are sleeping in their armor, they will take a level of exhaustion unless they have some mechanical reason to bypass that by an item, feat, or ability.  If the party gets ambushed, the paladin isn't putting on their full plate anytime soon, always use RAW for donning armor.  Much of this sounds like common sense, but I feel like I run into it a lot in games, and it is one of the details that can seem more tedious and easy to overlook when you are running a game.  

DM-ing games is a balancing act.  If it is too easy, the game gets boring, if it's too hard, players stop showing up.  The rest system in 5e for me, is a great way to let the dice decide the fate of the party, and add just enough randomness to make the players on edge.  Of course, don't always let the dice decide, if the party is due for it, they are due for it.  The same goes for TPK situations when they party is worn out and you could easily wipe them with that CR 5 creature they don't know about.  The real decision comes down to the DM, and I tend to give the party the benefit of the doubt in long campaigns, but that is just me.  

Random Item Table

 Mundane items help bring low level monsters to life.  I don't think I have ever ran a game where the party didn't loot the bodies, and I often make small charts before a session with a few random items that they will find that are totally useless, but may spark imagination of the players, or just make them think they have found something interesting.  More importantly, it also helps flesh out a monstrous race in the campaign by allowing players to see what kind of items a creature would have.

It also adds to story immersion, and is a simple way to personalize a goblin.  Seems obvious, but in planning, tiny details are sometimes overlooked, and I've found that if I have charts made up before hand, I don't fumble on the fly, and it seems like I know what I'm doing, and I usually get players returning to the table (which is sort of the point).  Fumbling as a Game Master is the easiest way to break immersion, and it happens, particularly in mundane details.  

A quick note about monsters: in most of my games, orcs and goblins, et al are monsters.  I am well aware of some of the controversy and commentary about the idea of an outright evil race, but I started playing in 1989.  To me, orcs are evil and eat the flesh of men.

This is an example of a chart I would make, this particular one is a 1d6 to find trinket items on a goblin.  It was used making the Homebrewery, which is an absolutely awesome resource.  Of course, this isn't official Dungeons and Dragons content, and is not approved by Wizards of the Coast for play, it's purely just something I created.  Feel free to use it an adapt it if you want.  All resources on this blog are free.

Zine Quest 3

I am hoping to participate next year in Zine Quest 4, so I wanted to promote it a little for this year.  If you aren't familiar, Zine Quest is an annual prompt for creators to make a TTRPG zine, pretty straight forward.  There is tons of cool stuff up, and you can check it out here.

Basic Encounter Design: Traps

I need to talk about traps.  You need to use traps.  Why am I seeing rare use of them in your adventures, and why aren't more DMs using them to waylay and destroy parties?

Traps are, easily one of the least utilized elements of the game.  I'm specifically talking about Dungeons and Dragons 5e when I make that statement.   It isn't really an issue with the system, there are plenty of rules and resources in official published material covering traps, I think that the issue is that people tend to just forget about them when they are planning out a dungeon or an encounter.  Realistically, nearly any creature with a decent intelligence would use traps, especially inside of a dungeon.  Particular creatures such as gnolls, goblins, orcs (yes, orcs are usually evil in my games), and especially kobolds would and should always use traps.  In my games, orcs often use traps to capture and maim creatures (especially PCs) that they later eat, torture, or both.  Goblins and kobolds use traps as a defense, and they are often more than just set backs.  Gnolls--in my games-- are a combination of both.  

Not only does it make sense for these creatures to use traps as far as role playing the monsters goes, but traps are an extremely easy way to bulk up encounters, and make sessions less of a grind by just having everything optimized by combat.  Also, players have no idea what to expect when a series of well designed traps are thrown at them.  In my experience, even seasoned players tend to overlook traps, and to be fair, parties that are basically Min/Maxed (most parties) get boring to DM for after awhile, and the campaign goes flat fast. Throw some traps in there, and magic users and specialists classes have a change to shine besides rolling to hit or supporting combat like your game is an analog MMO server.  

Traps are an easy way to add to encounters, and you are only limited by your imagination.  You can use them in any environment, they can be magical or mechanical, and they can range from extremely deadly to a minor set back.  They are also absent from many products and sessions  have played in, and it's really too bad.  Adding traps is a really simple idea, and outside of resources that already exist in the 5e rules, there isn't a lot to add to it.  Use them.  Capture, kill, and maim your players with them.  

While I'm not big on selling products, I will say that one of the best resources on this subject is Nord Games Treacherous Traps.  This book not only is stocked with traps for all levels and situations, but it's also a great blueprint for making your own, and ideas of where to put them.  I stand by traps being not as important in 5e because people forget about them, or are just intimidated by using them because of mechanics, and this is a great book to have for any DM.  I use it as often as I use the Monster Manual.