DMs' Corner - AKA Evil Villainy's Afoot!

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-11-26 06:46am

Right.

THis thread's function is for people to discuss ways to DM campaigns, swap notes about enemies and the challenges they will pose to their players.

I'll start the ball rolling with a short piece about villains.

There are many types of villains, the thug henchman villain, the evil master villain, the cunning backstabbing villain, among others. Primarily they fall into two categories : Bosses, Independents and Henchmen.

Henchmen have limited autonomy and work on directions from higher-ups. Their major functions are as cannon fodder. While huge swarms of these may get the job done, they tend to die too fast to accumulate much knowledge.

Sample henchmen: street thug, dretch tanar'ri.

Independents are more powerful than henchmen, are generally smarter and harder to deal with than thugs. They tend to operate independently (duh) and specialize in sneak attacks. On certain occasions several independents may get together to form a "band of brothers". Such a band features a few independents of similar power level and possibly the capacity to work in unison with each other.

Sample independents: assassin, battle-wizard

Bosses can range in power from abject weakling to godly. In general bosses command others (hence the name). Their methods of control, however, may vary from person to person. Bosses can either control by skill (High Int), by force of will (High Cha) or by main force of arms (High Str). Dependign on their individual personality and abilities, bosses attract different kinds of followers to their service. For example, a warlord would have berserkers under his command which he keeps in line by routinely dueling their best and winning. A mastermind wizard might have all kinds of pawns in his grand scheme. The leader of a thieves' guild would obviously have skilled rogues and street thugs under his command.
The strength of the organization usually rests near the top, which is why commando ops are very effective against organizations.

Sample bosses: Street thug Fagin, master wizard, a dragon.

And that's my 2 cents. Feel free to expand on it.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2002-11-26 09:04am

A fourth type: Summoned minion.

These are a stp below even henchmenn, they are monsters summoned by the various sumoning spells, charged with doing the masters bidding. They are directly under the master control and have no real free will.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-11-26 09:22am

Alyrium Denryle wrote:A fourth type: Summoned minion.

These are a stp below even henchmenn, they are monsters summoned by the various sumoning spells, charged with doing the masters bidding. They are directly under the master control and have no real free will.

Hmmm... those come under thugs, IMO. I'd call them Brutes, because most summoned monsters are pretty beefy and strong. But the point is, we're supposed to share our knowledge of DMing so we can make games better for our players. The evil aspect is merely icing on the cake.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2002-11-26 02:27pm

I have not DMed a D&D campaign in a long time, nor have I had extensive experience in doing so. By far, I've had more experience GMing Sci-Fi style campaigns, but I've had enough experience with D&D to offer some ideas.

It's been my experience that you do not need to overpower your PCs to give them a rough time in a combat situation. As someone noted in the other thread, kobolds with time and perparation can be the bane of even a mid-level group. Giving all your NPCs some sort of goals or motivations (as well as a sense of self-preservation) will go far in making campaigns tougher on your players. Well, perhaps tougher isn't the right term. More interesting, more involving, and more of a challenge. This is a little harder to do in D&D (I have several gripes about the D20 system, but that's for another thread entirely), but not impossible. The key thing to remember is that intelligence is key here. If a monster has an INT of 10 or better, then they are on average just as smart as or smarter than your average human (including PCs, of course). Use that to your advantage by having them coordinate themselves in groups like the PCs do, have plans of attack and contingencies should things go wrong. Any dirty trick that your players could use on you is fair game (and vice versa, but that's only fair, after all).

Take, for example, your standard low to mid-level party (This is for D&D specifically, but it can work for other systems). You've got the fighter, the mage, the priest, and the rogue. Generally speaking, you can bet that the fighter and the cleric are wearing medium or heavy armor, the rogue is wearing light armor, and the mage is wearing a loose-fitting robe. You've got a group of level one weenies who have been sent to harass the party, and kill them should they get the chance. Obviously, these weenies want to escape in one piece. After all, what good's a reward if you're not alive to spend it?

Combat starts. What do the weenies do? Toss lit flasks of oil/alchemist's fire and a thunderstone at the party, specifically aiming the flammable stuff at the fighter and the cleric. Why? Simple. Grenades are a ranged touch attack, which means that you ignore armor bonuses (no natural armor, no plate mail, just dex). If you've got PCs wearing full plate, they'll probably get hit and set on fire. The thunderstone will deafen the party so that they can't figure out a battleplan at the spur of the moment, as well as really screw up any spells with verbal components that the mage and the cleric try to pull off. Plus, if you tagged the mage and the cleric with the burning stuff, they'll be hard pressed to cast anything for two rounds, as they'll be taking damage. The Fighter can continually be hit with more and more flasks of alchemist's fire, and is probably going to be the easiest target to hit of the four. If you can give the weenies a tanglefoot bag, you can also keep the fighter from charging right off, at the very least slowing him down enough to continue getting pelted by flaming hot spreadable pain. All the while the weenies will bug out at the slightest sign that things are about to hit the fan.

Also, one of the best ways to instill fear into a party in D&D is for a rogue to walk into a store and buy a heavy pick, and manage to aquire a potion of bull's strength. This combination is absolutely lethal. Here's why:

Take your average rogue. Let's assume, for the moment, that he is level 5 (+3D6 sneak attack), and has a strength of 11 (not unheard of for a rogue, to be certain). Drinking the potion of bull's strength, he gets a boost to strength of 1D4+1. Let's assume he rolls a 2 or a 3, giving him a 14 or a 15 (+2 STR bonus). Let's also assume that our rogue has put the maximum allowed points into his stealthy skills, so that he can reliably sneak up on someone who is sleeping. The rogue then takes the pick in both hands (for a half again bonus to strength, +3 now) and delivers a coup-de-grace to an unsuspecting target. Automatic hit, automatic critical hit, and because he's a rogue, he gets to throw in his sneak attack damage too. The heavy pick is a 1D8 damage with a x4 critical damage modifier. This means that the damage equation looks like this: ((1D8+3)*4)+3D6) = 19-62 (average damage being 39-42)

This, my friends, is the great equalizer. This makes twentieth-level paladins wet their beds, because it means, much more often than not, total, instant death. Not from raw damage dealt, mind you, but thanks to the second leathal part of the coup-de-grace rules. You see, should the target not die immediately from the attack, they must make a fortitude save vs. 10+damage dealt or die.

Using the above example, the lowest possible DC for that save is 29. Impossible for low-level characters, and difficult even for higher-level characters. On average, however, the normal DC for that save is 50, and the highest possible DC is 72.

Now, get a higher level rogue, with perhaps a higher strength bonus, or a multi-classed fighter-rogue with power attack, a magical heavy pick (enchanted or just temporarily boosted), and imagine the looks on your PC's faces when they figure out what just happened.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-11-26 04:08pm

I see we've been thinking on fun ways to kill the PC's. This, of course, is fine and well. They have to know whose the boss.

But here's some notes I'd like to share, on friendly NPC's. You know, the ones they aren't supposed to kill.

Mentors: Chances are, someone taught the PC's. Talking to them about this can help make a Mentor as an NPC, probably in their hometown. Why have a Mentor? Well, for one thing, you can have them return to the Mentor to raise levels to a point(I tend to have them do so until around level 10). They can also offer advice when the party is stumped.

Adventure Hooks With Mentors:

1) Returning to level up, the party finds one or more of the Mentors kidnapped by powerful creatures. To save their friends and tutors, they'll need to use their brains, not their brawns.
2) The Mentor has gone off on an adventure. Given that the average Mentor is lv 20 or higher, finding them can be difficult, but almost always involves following a trail of bodies(And the critters that come to feast on the dead).

I'm sure you can think of more fun to involve these powerful, friendly NPC's in. They can even save the PC's if they get in over their head.

Fans: As your PC's level up and complete various quests, they'll earn fans. The type and number depend on many things. Have they saved a little village from attack? Rescued the young women and children? Slain a dragon that was ruling a region with iron claws? People don't ignore these acts. Fans can quickly become useful(Offering the heros items, gold, young women/men, land, etc), and a nuisance(You can't quietly go through a region that has you as a celebraty, and every time there's a problem, you'll be called on).

Fans are, by themselves, adventure hooks, as they beg the PC's to save their hides yet again.

Rivals: Not necessarily, rivals are parties of adventurers about equal to the PC's who get bumped into from time to time. Their attitudes towards the PC's vary, of course, but it's often interesting to set up a friendly rivalry between the two, and see how you can spin it out. Rivals can be useful in existing adventures, especially when you overdo it, and your ambush is about to wipe out the PC's completely.

Adventure hooks involving rivals:

1) Assuming they're friendly, they may ask the heros to help them with more difficult quests, or in gaining/securing land.
2) If they're not friendly, they can try the tried-and-true methods of getting the PC's attention(Stealing spellbooks, etc).

More to come in future.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2002-11-26 04:23pm

SirNitram wrote:I see we've been thinking on fun ways to kill the PC's. This, of course, is fine and well. They have to know whose the boss.[/b]

Actually, those are nasty tricks I pulled on my DM when I was a PC. Turned a potentially party-busting, unbalanced battle with a young shadow dragon into a two-round flambe victory for our side.

Don't worry, I've got plenty more where that came from, both good and evil.

Post by **Alyrium Denryle** » 2002-11-26 06:55pm

Gnome with a pick and a war hammer. He runs up, drives the pick into your knee(severing the quadracep tendon, and driving the pick underneath you patella, and between your femur, and tibia) he then brings the hammer down on the pick, popping off your leg. He then does the same thing to the other leg. He then dances around wioth two light flails screaming "raund and round they go, where they stop nobody knows" he then brings them crashing down on your head.

This happened to me in a gladatorial campaign that I wasnt DMing. TYhat is why i had 4 more characters standing by.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-11-26 08:05pm

Wow, guys, great feedback. And don't forget there are many uses for non-offensive spells. For example, if the fighter drops his sword, get the already invisible wizard to go cast invisibility on it and leave it somewhere else on the battlefield. He won't be rearming in a while, and also he is almost useless without a weapon (1d10 + Str mod + various enchantments becomes 1d3 + Str mod SUBDUAL).

Or if you want, burn the inn down around them while they sleep! Just leave a pile of timbers in the door's way, or cast arcane lock on the door while having a bunch of rogues wait underneath their window... They can't get out through the door, so they jump down... And land prone. While they're doing that... backstab backstab backstab...

Make full use of the combat options like trips, disarms, etc. If there's a fencer type coming in at you, take the first hit in your arm and then disarm him. Literally. Most people lose the will to fight after they ehar their character has lost an arm. Don't be afraid to totally mutilate the guy before finishing him off - you want to win, not be a humanitarian. Dislimbing anyone makes them back off straight away.

I think you know this already, but not all rewards need to be immediately tangible. The goodwill of certain people (esp. sage diviners) can be very helpful. Even peasants can help (at the very least they can tend wounds for you and provide a place to rest, both of which will be weaknesses high-powered adversaries will strike at). And it also helps to give them in-game awards, like receiving the title of the Phoenix Lord, or something.

Just my 2 cents.

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-11-26 08:15pm

I'm about to start GMing a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Anyone have recommendations for that?

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-11-26 08:49pm

weemadando wrote:I'm about to start GMing a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Anyone have recommendations for that?

CoC is a VERY hostile gaming world. Make sure your characters know that. Every campaign should be a struggle to survive. I like to think of it as the PCs having to wriggle their way out of the confines of a lazily clasped hand of an Elder God, over and over again, and everytime they escape the Elder God just reaches out again and sens them back to hell again.

The fun comes from winning personal victories, conquering fears in oneself, I would imagine.

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-11-26 09:10pm

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:
weemadando wrote:I'm about to start GMing a Call of Cthulhu campaign. Anyone have recommendations for that?
CoC is a VERY hostile gaming world. Make sure your characters know that. Every campaign should be a struggle to survive. I like to think of it as the PCs having to wriggle their way out of the confines of a lazily clasped hand of an Elder God, over and over again, and everytime they escape the Elder God just reaches out again and sens them back to hell again.

The fun comes from winning personal victories, conquering fears in oneself, I would imagine.

I know that Cthulhu is a damn hard system... I've played in a campaign before. This time I'm running it.

I'm looking at 1920's starting in New York or London.

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2002-11-26 09:23pm

weemadando wrote: I know that Cthulhu is a damn hard system... I've played in a campaign before. This time I'm running it.

I'm looking at 1920's starting in New York or London.

Focus on the terror on the night streets. The constant steam clouds, providing easy concealment for villains. Nobody's at ease, everyone questions their safety.

And then you have your heroes. Driven by some inexplicable force, they hurl themselves into this maelstrom of corruption, fear, dread and terror.

Why do they do this?
Give their struggle meaning.

How should they do this?
Give them the means, but don't make life too easy for this.

Where do they do this?
In the sewers? In the shrouded streets od Stockholm? Or is this just a waking nightmare?

CoC is a horror campaign. Scare them. Use creepy music (always helps). Darken the room. Use dramatic narrating.

I recommend Vamp's Dance and Fortune Revisited from the MGS2 soundtrack.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2002-11-27 12:14am

Ahhhh... CoC. Good game. Sadly, the only session of it I was ever in was infected by silliness, as everyone fondled their guns for half the thing. Oh well.

Anyway. Soundtracks and such bring me to another lesson I've learned, and will share.

If you can, at all, have a computer handy. Laptops are best, since you can face the screen to yourself and such. Desktops are okay. Why?

1) Scanned sourcebooks put on CD's are lightweight.
2) Simple programs for generating random critters are plentiful.
3) Easy to take notes.

There's more, though. It's easy to manage a set of songs this way, setting the mood. For example, every big battle I have has Hellmarch2 from Red Alert 2 playing. Because it's wicked.

Now, notes..

Taking notes is good. Did one get away? Is it angry? To what lengths will it go to get it's revenge? Does it serve some master? Valid questions when the party slaughters a group. Interactions with rivals are equally important. It's this sort of continuity that improves the game. Remember, if you think continuity isn't important, watch Voyager.

Just a quick one now from me. I'll probably return later to share my thoughts on those games in fantasy eras(Or, I suppose, in sci-fi eras) when the PC's want to build up their own territories to rule.