Ambush Planning
It would seem that the Heroes are well and truly Wanted. This presents all manner of possibilities for a conniving GM, including that most beloved of all underhanded tactics: the ambush.
You can keep your hastes and your form of the dragons. For my money, the single strongest buff in the game is the surprise round. Going first in a game of rocket tag is a big deal, and players seem to know this intuitively. Witness their love for tricking gullible monsters into an untimely demise: Reynard! Do your owlbear mating call! Lure it into the pit! That’s because 1) it’s effective as hell and 2) you get to feel like a tactical genius if it works. And while these are good things for players, they can be disastrous on the other side of the GM screen.
When it comes to ambushing players, GMs have to walk a razor’s edge. Make your surprise too effective (More explosions! More spring-loaded platforms! More falling damage!) and you’re one step away from an unfair rocks fall situation. And even if you do keep things mechanically equitable, you’ve still got to remember that all the information that passes to the players passes through you. Act too closefisted with the details and the PCs have no foreshadowing to draw upon, and therefore no chance to foresee and avoid peril. So yeah, a well-planned ambush can help your inner evil GM to feel like a tactical genius, but it has the inverse effect on players: you make them feel like dummies. Checking egos is a good thing every once in a while, but real peril is a bit like dealing with a Sicilian: Never go in when death is on the line. Players have a tendency to rebel when they catch a whiff of unfairness, especially when they have to roll up a new guy as a result.
That’s why I think kobolds are the go-to trap makers and ambush monkeys. They’re evil little bastards, and falling into one of their traps can be extremely hazardous to your health (e.g. Tucker’s kobolds). However, all that cleverness comes with a flimsy body, and it’s usually possible to fight your way out of a kobold trap. On the other hand, if a trio of deadly assassins / bounty hunters / mercs are your enemy, then you may be very screwed indeed.
So how about it, kids? Have you ever encountered an ambush that crossed the line into unfair territory? And on an unrelated note, do I hear any guesses on the race / class combos for the Heroes’ latest antagonists?
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evil wizard makes a twisted, hyper-intelligent owlbear subspecies. You killed its father. Prepare to die.
Truly, this clever trap was a long con.
Stop linking TVTropes…I mean, don’t stop, it’s informative, but try to do it in such a way that I haven’t wasted 2 hours eventually realizing that I know all types of “Mary Sue” but haven’t cleaned the catbox or made any food.
That’s -dangerous.-
Unrelated, puzzles are hard for DMs to balance simply because it’s hard as hell to find or make one that everybody doesn’t already know that’s barely easy enough to figure out. Either the players are rolling their eyes at the simplicity, or rolling them at the DM for expecting the group to ‘get it’. When the traps revolve around the too-obscure hints that the DM halfway drops but doesn’t really, it does truly get annoying.
I shall endeavor to include warning tags in the future.
As for traps, I like the idea of survivable traps that would have killed lesser men. Sure the PCs might find it and manage to disable it, but the fun is living through the danger. That’s part of the reason I’m in the “haunts are good” camp. There’s a slim chance the PCs will notice it, realize it’s a haunt, and do enough positive energy damage to silence the thing before it goes off. But I think these things are the most fun when the do go off–provided of course that the result is more interesting than “lol take a face full of damage.”
So far, the only Haunt I have encountered killed my monk because he is awful at saves somehow… we walked into a room with 2 skeletons who had apparently killed each other (some sort of twisted Romeo and Juliette I guess) attempted to force the party to do the same (who had conveniently lined up 2 by 2 male and female) so my MONK failed the Will save along with the fighter next to him. Then spectral daggers appeared in our hands and we were forced to attack each other with it… the Fighter hit of course while I missed. Then I had to make a Fort save to not die… which I of course failed (who ever said monks were good at saving throws?) so I died. Luckily I got revived by the cleric immediately afterwards.
Just moments before I had barely survived a cave in (that I caused by punting a Huge Hydra into a cave wall) thanks to the GM’s leniency and the Fighter’s willingness to risk their life (yep the same one who “killed” me). and shortly after this Haunt we fought a kyton who apparently had more natural attacks than my monk had flurry attacks (and didnt take kindly to getting hit by my flurry of blows) which killed me again with a single full attack… thankfully the cleric had prepared a second Breath of Life that day
Breath of life is so freaking key at high level….
I think there’s a difference between save-or-die at low level and high level. Shelling out for 1,000 gp worth of sacred oil to reincarnate a 2nd level dude hurts. A 12th level dude digs around in his sock drawer for the 5,000 gp raise dead costs.
Still, I maintain that traps (and haunts are just weird traps) can be fun game elements. I mention the mini-game of “description & foreshadowing” in another comment. Same deal here.
Also, does that cleric pal of yours ever hire out? I know a certain band of adventurers in imminent need of a breath of life or two.
I believe I am THE MOST inept puzzle presenter/solver among those with whom I game. I simply do not think in terms of Jungian archetypes that inform the collective subconscious of gaming storytellers, so it doesn’t matter how cleverly hidden or blatantly obvious a trope may be; I will misread the information/the situation/the actions/ and not follow through on the implications of the aforementioned. In my case most of the gm’s work will simply be wasted unless his/her objective was just to push my Pavlovian response button in order to laugh at my drooling. Ambush? Hah! Take your best shot gm. I can screw up all of your best intentions through my social and dice-rolling ineptitude.
But then…I mean…how…? I write a comic that engages with tropes. They seem to be hardwired into my brain. I’m sitting here trying to imagine taking D&D at face value–sans genre savvy and trope-play–and I find myself coming up empty. Tell me you’re playing a rogue and my brain immediately goes to Robin Hood or the Gray Mouser. Give me a quest hook and I immediately move to the hero’s journey. How can you avoid these things?
And thus the effort to “play” a character is immediately pigeon-holed into predetermined set of behavioral expectations which tend to make the role play generic, which must be then countered systemically by reaching further afield for different/defining character traits/backgrounds/backstories which are themselves expressions of those same themes.
This suggests that most campaigns are more of a “theme and variation” piece of collective art rather than an original composition. We often think of our art forms in this regard. (e.g. Tolkien’s LOTR is original, but subsequent trilogies/series such as the Belgariad or Shannara, etc. are merely derivative). My thought is that such ideas might also factor into the ideas you’ve discussed in previous panels about players fitting or not fitting into the group activity.
In Lord of the Rings, I think that variation on theme exists within the text itself. Frodo / Bilbo / Gollum / Sam can be read as a single character study because of their different reactions to the same temptation. Same deal with Boromir / Faramir. These aren’t deep or original characters in the literary tradition, but they don’t have to be. That concept of “theme and variation” is precisely how you derive depth of character in the romantic tradition.
Returning to Dormninja’s original discussion point as an example…If your players are unfamiliar with (or uninterested in) these tropes’ function as the “reality” platform upon which their play hinges, I would say a gm is essentially in a lose/lose situation regardless of how (s)he sets up such situations. On the one hand, players will meta-game the hell out of an ambush based on player knowledge of non-game world antecedents and thus “solve” a problem out of character, or they will feel cheated by a gm who is too stingy with supplying requisite information in-game that the characters likely are seeking and need to inform their activities.
So if I’m hearing your right, the lose / lose of GM surprises is metagaming players vs. GMs who don’t supply enough clues? Shit son… That sounds like a GM who needs to hand out a few more clues, plain and simple. If there’s a fair chance of solving a problem in-character then there’s no need for players to try and solve it out of character.
Still, as Dormninja said, that’s a difficult tightrope to walk. I think the “three clue rule” helps here. After all, what is a GM surprise but a mystery for players to solve?
http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule
I’ll limit myself to 5e for my guesses, since A) that’s what I know best and B) If the options are everything in 3.5 or Pathfinder my chances are only better than winning the lottery in theory.
Mercenary might be a Minotaur Fighter (Battlemaster). (Leftmost hands.)
Assassin would be a Rogue (Assassin) of the Deep Gnome race I’m thinking. (Bottom hands.) (In this case hand color is deceptively not gray because they’re using Disguise Self as they have the racial feat or monster stats that allow this.)
Bounty Hunter should be a Wood Elf (Revised) Ranger (Deep Stalker). (Rightmost hands.) (Race options were limited by hand color.)
All of these race/class (and archetype) choices would make them ideal (especially as a team) for the task of setting up traps and ambushes for unsuspecting protagonists.
Further hints:
1) Pathfinder races and classes this time around. (This is a cross-system comic, so I’ll make it a point to use 5e next time we introduce a band of shady misfits.)
2) There’s only one character of each class in Handbook World.
3) Assassin, Bounty Hunter, and Mercenary are job descriptions. Any class could fit under those general terms.
Hmm… if it’s pathfinder classes… probably ranger (in the hood), alchemist (with the gloves) since there are bombs in their plan, and… Brawler with the arm wraps? (the only reason i leave out Slayer as a possibility is it seems less iconic than ranger/alchemist in a D&D setting)
as for races… I think the “Brawler” is an Aasimar, the “ranger” is a human, and the “alchemist” is … a sentient pair of gloves? or maybe a dhampir because why not
Funny story. After a buddy of mine came up with the idea for the trap, I zipped Laurel a quick note.
“Hey, there are bombs in this plan. Do you think you could change one of these guys to an alchemist?”
“No,” she replied. “I’ve already sketched Alchemist. His design is awesome, and I’m not replacing him.”
“But then… Where did the bombs come from?”
“They bought them somewhere. Probably from an alchemist.”
And thus the point was settled.
Oh Pelor, that’s so fun to give as a GM and not so fun to recieve as a player.
Probably the worst experience I’ve had of an ambush as a player was when we were raiding an illithid stronghold. 5e game, party level was 12-13. We were walking down a hallway when everyone was told to make four intelligence saving throws. I’m a wizard so I’m the only one who passes all. Everyone else is stunned and takes massive psychic damage as four illithids who had been levitating and invisible (so they were making no sound and couldn’t be detected with perception) unlease a quad mindblast on us. Came very, very close to a tpk in two rounds.
I was a bit irritated to say the least. Imho the party should get some warning of either sneaky people have it in for them so they know to watch out for that stuff or be able to roll to detect, avoid etc. In the latter case you can at least lay some blame on the dice, who everyone knows wants to kill you.
I think that the mini-game of “description & foreshadowing” are the key to fun ambushes, traps, and other unpleasant surprises. As a player, I derive most of my fun from those kinds of encounters by either succeeding in picking up on the clue or else shouting, “How did I miss that!?” You can’t do either if the encounter is simply “wandering damage.” In your example, something as simple as footprints that simply stop in the middle of the corridor could have worked.
Bleh. Sad times for your party. Glad you guys survived though.
It’s something I’ve been considering for my campaign. More specifically it’s on a single player character.
He was a spy for a nation and he grew uncomfortable with what they were asking of him (Killing innocent citizens ((Dragonborn)) to test a poison for a dragon emperor of another nation.). He didn’t do the mission and then got framed on his next one, he killed a spy and threatened another of his now old spy group. He kept one of the poison’s and is now on the run in the dragon emperor’s territory. So even if he doesn’t intend to switch sides he’s way too much of a risk and knows too much to be let live for the other nation’s health.
Think I’m going to have him roll Wis saves against Scrying and not tell him what for. And when he gets close enough to the border between the nations or goes over to the one he’s on the run from I’m going to have a large ambush waiting for him and the group. To help him out there’s a player Warlock in the group who has Witch Sight who could be able to see the invisible orb following the other character.
Careful with scrying. I used that device recently, and my players were a bit peeved when they noticed the sensor “eventually.” They didn’t know how long it had been spying on them or what it might have overheard. The subsequent “the bad guys are waiting for you” thing kind of blew up in my face.
My advice is to give your warlock a chance to stealthily reverse-scry. Maybe allow him to detect the thing, look back through it, and so get the chance to learn some valuable intel. If your players can ambush the ambushers they’ll feel like geniuses. If they simply never notice the sensor they’ll feel manipulated. Trust me. I know from experience.
Whichever way you go, good luck with the encounter and happy gaming.
There’s no more space to reply to that big ol’ thread, or I’d post this there…that three clue rule thing was an excellent read. I feel like it would alleviate a lot of the strife players have when they try to smoke out ‘how to advance the plot.’
As such, I’m linking it to everyone I know who plays D&D.
The Alexandrian is a great read. I put it right up there with Chris Perkins’s old “The Dungeon Master Experience” series for good GMing advice:
http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/12/28/is-chris-perkins-the-dungeon-master-experience-archive-gone/
The ambush that made me ultimately drop my 5e game was when the DM ahead me face a dracolich. I had a Cloak of Elvenkind, which hid me from the mass of undead patrolling the streets. I ducked into a house & out the back door, intending to meet up with the party. Somehow, through TWO LAYERS of brick & stone, that dracolich was able to see me & ambush me to death. I cried bullshit on that, but the DM said I made too much noise (I know for a fact that was crap, because my Stealth check was over 20). I ended up leaving the game.
I was about to ask if it was City of Golden Death, but then I noticed the 5e tag.
I don’t have any kind of official stats in front, but if this DM of yours was using homebrew…
http://www.enworld.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=72916&d=1452256960
Much like a second hand jet engine, you should always check the power levels on your home brew.
It wasn’t homebrew. He deliberately screwed the stats on that dracolich & gave it Truesight, to get back at me. He was butt hurt that I screwed his railroad plans over when I took out his mini-BBEG.
Oh. Well then. I hope you told him all of Usidor’s names.
I unloaded a few choice words on him, then left the game.
Omg YES. Granted this was a module I was running and even as a pretty large advocate of the Tomb of Horrors style of play, felt it was truly unfair. The set-up: The party is in a war torn village on constant verge of Orc Seige. They are sent to investigate the suicide of a beloved watch captain for signs of foul play. On like day 2 of the investigation, while resting in the inn, and while asleep, and the book tells you to give them a -10 to perception and having the npcs take 10 for stealth and then attempt to coup de grace the sleeping players, it sends assassins with alchemical weapons filled with poisons. Assassins… in the middle of the night…. in the inn where the players are supposed to feel safe. Of course I altered this a bit, changing them from Coup De Grace attacks to normal attacks, and having them roll stealth for that chance of a nat 1, and only gave a -5 to some of the players who were from the town on the grounds that they were used to sleeping light to listen for attack.
Heh. I know that adventure. I actually wrote my thesis on it. The version I’m looking at doesn’t mention the standard “-10 to Perception” rules. Instead it says simply:
I think that’s intended to be a replacement rule for standard practice Perception modifiers. Still, I think the way you ran it is a great example of a GM making a judgement call that involves ignoring the hard and fast rules for the good of the game. Well done that man!
Your Tucker’s Kobolds link is no longer valid, luckily Google can manage to find a pdf about them.
re-linking!
Traps aren’t fun. Traps are a cheap way for the GM to deplete the resources of the group without giving them much of a choice or solution to respond to that sort of situation.
And, most of all: players do not even get to use traps half as much as NPCs do. That is really unfair and totally not fun.
The same can be said for ambushes: which is why, whenever I play a wizard, I take Alarm and Leomund’s tiny hut, as well as Mordekainen’s Magnificent Mansion if we get to that level.