Hello students. Professor Crunch here. Welcome to the discussion of Wrought Iron episode 12. Compared to other articles, this will be fairly simple as the episode was completely devoted to the large combat encounter that started last time.
I am on record here at the Academy as being the one that enjoys big encounters using maps and minis. That’s how I learned to play D&D. I love breaking out my minis and hosting a fun, tactical combat. But for Wrought Iron, we play online. This makes tactical, mapped combat a challenge. Even with some of the great digital resources currently available that provide electronic maps and minis, we have decided to avoid such tools. Primarily because doing so takes away some of the performance elements of this audio podcast. It’s really easy to fall into the habit of saying things like “I move here and attack this monster” when using online map tools. That is great for a home game, but it just doesn’t work for this podcast. Our Actual Play episodes are focused on narrative detail.
So when this combat kicked off, I made the choice to let it flow based on our narration. I’m sure you noticed that we did not roll initiative and, in fact, rolled very little during this fight. I did this for two reasons. First and foremost, it was way easier for me to handle as a GM. A combat encounter with a party and a few enemies is standard. It’s easy to manage the initiative of a group like this, even in an online game. But for this fight, I basically threw an army at the island and opposed it with a smaller but more deadly force. Tracking the actions, hit points, and various other resources that impact combat of this extended encounter would have been a massive undertaking. So I skipped it.
There are plenty of ways to make large scale combat easy to manage. There are various rules supplements for D&D that support this type of encounter. And there are other mechanical systems out there that focus on this situation. But for this specific encounter, I didn’t want to take any attention away from the story. I’ve said several times in this series of articles that I approach this game knowing it will be a podcast. That requires me to make decisions that I might not make in my home games. I want to keep the content exciting and engaging for listeners. I felt that interrupting the narrative flow that we have established so far in this game was the wrong choice.
This leads directly into the second reason that I let this combat have a more narrative and less rules-focused structure. It allowed for a better story to happen. For example, look at one of the first big moments of this episode. Deign dove into the water to attach the giant creature from below. I didn’t plan for this or prepare anything close to stats or rules for this massive thing that I invented. But he described it with such excitement that I wanted it to happen. I felt that asking for a few ability checks could negatively impact the fun we were having in the moment. Yes, they could’ve added something interesting or unexpected to the game. But I wanted to reward Scott for coming up with a creative action and adding that to the story. Furthermore, it simply made sense to me that within the game world, this character would be skilled and competent enough to perform these actions without risk of failure.
At some point on a Faculty Meeting episode, we’ve talked about when to call for skill checks and how to not abuse them. We might not have said it exactly like this, but in general, I think it’s best to roll the dice when the chance of failure is equally as exciting as the chance of success. Basically, roll the dice when it’s most entertaining to not know what might happen. Specifically in this example with Deign, I was very entertained by what Scott described so I didn’t feel that the risk of something else happening was worth it. You should always do what you feel is best in your games. But this is the strategy I am following for Wrought Iron, and I think, so far at least, that it’s successful.
I really enjoyed the fact that the party remained separate during this combat. It let everyone have some great moments in the spotlight and add their unique style to the narration. This brings up what I think is the most important part of this episode. We used the combat to further develop the story of the characters. Scott had an opportunity to give Deign a big heroic moment that also reinforced the fact that he is acting to protect his home and loved ones. Michael got to explore Arahamie’s developing powers and her new role in life. Matthew got to solidify Cassander’s place as a learned observer and experiment with some leadership. Using combat to do more than kill monsters and earn XP is one of the most exciting things to do in a game session.
Since these articles are a peek behind the curtain of the game and my GM process, I want to share a few things. The monsters? While I used a very classic creature from the Monster Manual as a template, I made them up completely for this home brew environment. I also have yet to fully define them. They just show up as needed and do what’s necessary. That’ll probably change soon. The massive attack on the island? I knew something big would happen at this point in the story, but I came up with these details as the game was happening. The ending abduction? I came up with that in the heat of the moment. I thought it would be the most entertaining thing to happen after the island was attacked by these terrible creatures. Having the party end up back at that creepy cave? Ok, that I planned out. I wanted to get them back there at some point. The fact that the Captain seems to know a lot about what’s happening and the Sphinx wasn’t damaged? Nope. That means nothing. Forget it. Stop asking.
To conclude, I really enjoyed this episode. Combat encounters are always fun, and using them as an opportunity to further develop the story is exciting. This episode also ramped up the danger and intrigue of the Reforged Isles. There’s a lot happening that the party has yet to learn about, and this fight is proving to be a great catalyst. And frankly, a big fight was necessary at this point in the story. There’s been a lot of role play and character development so far. I feel like a lot of tension has been created. Including the fight now felt right in the pacing of the story. It served to break that tension wide open as things that are out of the party’s control start happening.
Stay tuned for a classic dungeon delve that will put the party in even more danger and build towards an event that was a complete shock to everyone, including me.
