Hello students. Crunch here yet again to discuss what happened behind the GM screen during Wrought Iron episode 14. This episode continues the dungeon crawl that the party started last time.
To be blunt, I wish I had designed this dungeon better. As opposed to other times when I’ve run my players through dungeons, I mapped this one out. I was trying to bring a confusing setting to the game. The mis-matched rooms served a very specific goal. Primarily, they were to create a sense of confusion and mystery. This dungeon was supposed to be unsettling and problematic for the characters. It also factors into the larger story that has yet to be fully understood. However, I don’t think the description that I delivered lived up to my ultimate goals.
When I visualized this game session in my mind, I saw a tense exploration of a mysterious environment that was interrupted with dangerous attacks from terrifying creatures. I think that the tone was there, but it was a backdrop to the fear driving Deign and Arahamie to find their families. I owe this all to the excellent role playing of the players. When I established this situation, I honestly didn’t expect so much emotion to factor into the events that played out. I should’ve known better. I’m playing a game with very skilled players.
Also, this demonstrates our different motivations when playing the game. I lean towards big exciting events. Michael, Scott, and Matthew are focusing on what makes their characters dynamic and real. This mix of different play styles is making the game interesting.
In case you didn’t notice, I made a big mistake in this game. I didn’t account for Matt’s shape change ability, but I also didn’t provide a path to success without it. Luckily, Scott was playing Deign perfectly and used his desperate urgency to keep the story moving forward. I should’ve planned better. And I should’ve reacted better when I realized that I hadn’t outlined the dungeon well enough.
Some things in this dungeon weren’t fully defined. For example, the second set of stairs in the throne room. I had them on my map, but I didn’t think about what was at the bottom. I thought that I could come up with something in the moment. Sadly, I didn’t. So I decided to let it be a dead end to push the story in the right direction. However, I don’t think that this was a bad thing. With the tension and panic developing in Deign, having him run into a stone wall was brutal and fitting. On the other hand, there were other elements in the dungeon that weren’t fully explored. For example, there was the other exit from the theatre and there was more in the library with a boat through it. LIke I said earlier, I expected more tense exploration.
And if you caught it, I screwed up the fight in the theatre. One too many enemies. Oops. In my original vision, I imagined the entire dungeon crawl peppered with quick nasty encounters. As we got into it though, it felt like the wrong thing to keep interrupting the game with combat. The players were playing into that sense of desperate urgency so well and I made a judgement call. Yes, combat would’ve heightened the stress. But it also would’ve been distracting with the initiative checks and rolls and it would’ve been a huge resource drain. I decided that it made a better story to focus on the drama over the danger.
When the PCs exited the crazy rooms and got back into the cave, things got interesting. This is where I wanted the chase to ramp up. I let them see their opponent, and immediately let him escape. I also took away the scent that was being followed. These decisions were a little on the cheap side. However, they did keep things interesting. I think that if I had designed the dungeon encounter better, I wouldn’t have had to resort to tactics like this.
What I did like about the session was the method I used to handle the chase scene. This was a secret from the players. I kept 2 running totals, one for the PCs and one for the monster. The PCs started at 0 and the monster started at 10, demonstrating its head start. I decided to base the chase on skill checks. For every check the PCs made, the monster got to make one. I had a chart of values ranging from -3 to +3 that the results of the skill checks corresponded to. For example, a crit fail was -3 while a crit success was +3.
If the PCs’ result caught up to the monster’s, they would’ve caught up in the game. However, if the monster ever beat the PCs’ score by 20, it would’ve achieved its end goal. I made the hard decision to stick to this fact and let the consequences fall where they may. We’ve talked on the podcast previously about the importance of consequences in a game. I think I made the right call with this plan. We’ll see if you agree next episode when we get to the conclusion of the dungeon adventure.
Another aspect of the dungeon that I hoped would work better was the sinkhole section of the cave. I saw this as a timing puzzle. Remember Galaxy Quest? Or every other classic movie where the hero had to figure out the pattern in an environmental challenge? That’s what I wanted. But it didn’t really happen that way. Part of this problem was on my shoulders. I had the image in my head but didn’t figure out the mechanics.
I also blame the d20 mechanics. They don’t really fit the need for an observation-based puzzle like this. They also don’t really handle intense exploration and mystery in the way that I wanted in this session. If you’ve noticed, I’ve thrown out a lot of rules in this game. I find excessive skill checks boring. And since we’re playing this game for you the listener, I want it to be exciting. Asking the players to roll skill check after skill check is not exciting. I also don’t think that a simple skill check is an adequate solution for figuring out the timing of a dangerous puzzle. But as the GM, I should’ve just planned a different way to handle this and get to the results that I wanted.
Ultimately, this was still a great session. But I owe it all to the players. They made the game great. My goal in writing these articles is to share my process as a GM. Sometimes, reflecting on what I did means talking about what I didn’t do well enough. But every game session is a learning opportunity. I’ve clearly identified areas where I can improve my skills. However, my lack of expertise did not ruin the game. As a group, we worked together to tell a great story.
Stay tuned next week for the conclusion of the dungeon crawl. I promise that you are not ready for what’s going to happen.
