Behind the Screen: Investigation Campaigns...

As requested by our good buddy Phil, The Chatty DM today I will be examining the most grand puzzle of them all: the investigation campaign. To me, the investigation campaign is probably the most difficult to pull off successfully and requires patience, finesse, and a whole lot of contingency planning on the part of the DM.

To me, an investigation campaign is one that focuses on the party unraveling some sort of intrigue, cracking some mysterious code, or gathering clues to thwart their enemies. Or all of the above.

Patience

One of the most important elements of a good investigation campaign is patience. As a DM, you know the full picture. You know the fact that the players missed a clue that was lodged in that tree stump over there, they didn't ask an important question of the NPC they just encountered, and it DRIVES YOU CRAZY.

It is paramount that as a DM you do not get mad at your players for not taking the appropriate steps. I have only experienced an investigation campaign as a player, so I have some unique perspective here: it is very easy to run down false leads, not see or understand an important clue, or generally just not pick up on the right things.

Finesse and Planning

As the DM, it takes a certain level of finesse to find the right mix of overt clues, leads, and events that take the characters down the right path. It also takes A LOT of contingency planning to ensure you can handle - in an interesting way - the different (mostly false) paths that your players will travel down.

A general rule of thumb to go by is assume that you will have to really set your clue off. I mean, to the point it is so obvious that you perceive NO WAY that it can be missed. Then, your players may have a chance at actually picking up on it. Often, I have found that DMs that really think they are smart guys will spread out latent clues in the setting, background, in reference materials sprinkled throughout the campaign. In reality, most players that I have been around usually don't remember intricate details, or don't think to "connect the dots" between the obtuse pieces of data. Often, it needs to restort to tactics that will seem heavy handed to you as DM, however remember... you already KNOW why the things you are putting forth are significant. They do not.

When the players start to pick up on the correct line of information, you might be able to scale back the "obvious factor" and let them fish for details a little more, but be careful not to let them linger in a state of confusion too long. If left to confusion, your players may elect to just throw up their hands and walk away, usually becoming resistant to returning to a "failed" line of information.

The Inspector Gadget Factor

To give a unique spin on the notion of investigation campaigns, I would like to invoke the name of my favorite detective of all time: Inspector Gadget. We can look to the common storyline of the Inspector Gadget cartoons to find an interesting approach on a investigation scenario: Dr. Claw (or one of his cronies) does something evil. Gadget goes to investigate and find some clues. He either completely misses the clue or takes a false clue and continues to examine it as if it was the proper lead, which places him in danger. It usually takes some heavy handed actions by his niece, Penny, to bring Gadget to the appropriate conclusion.

If you remove the comedic elements to this story, you find a microcosm of what a investigation campaign can look like. The moral to the story is simple: players see things differently and will often need help to find the appropriate answer.

Also, I can't stand M.A.D Cat, even 20 years later.

Random Thinkingness

As with everything during the holidays, time for blogging has been in short supply. So I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I don't have a brilliant thought to share with you today. Instead, I'm going to share a little bit of randomness with you.

Hey, I Know That Place!

We tend to be a Forgotten Realms setting group. Since I've been reading R.A. Salvatore's Drizzt novels, I've found that besides being able to enjoy the story (which is awesome), I love reading about Drizzt's adventures, especially when they occur in the same general places where my characters have adventured. There's something exciting about my characters sharing a geographic connection with the well-known Drow Ranger.

Here, Take My Ring of Invisibility

Dante found the Intimagik booth at Gencon this past year, and he purchased a DM/GM ring. Every once in awhile, I think I should have gotten my own ring because they are pretty neat. Of course, I have to wonder which ring I would get (a dilemma that plagued me at Gencon and lead to me not buying any of then). And this leads me to wonder how cool it would be if we could actually have Rings of Intelligence +4 or Rings of Regeneration. This usually leads to me making a list of all the magical stuff I personally wish I could have. Around this time of year, I would love to have a bag of holding; shopping would be a LOT easier!

So, there's my little bit of randomness for today. Not that I really had anything important to share, but it's nice to know that some of you out there can sympathize with my random thoughts. :)

Behind the Screen: More on puzzles...

On Monday, I discussed an exceedingly good puzzle experience but I feel it is important to examine how most puzzle scenarios go horribly wrong.

Lack of context

If you are like me, either you don't have time or impetus to spend hours coming up with a good puzzle to put your players through. In the cases where I want a puzzle, I usually turn to a set of riddle books, or online puzzle resources.

The trouble with riddles from books or ones gleaned from other sources is that they often have a different context. For example, if your setting is a dungeon-crawl, you will have outdoor puzzles or riddles at your disposal. This causes you to either hack the puzzle to change the context, or use something that really doesn't fit in your scenario... neither option I would recommend.

This thing's too hard...I'm taking my longsword and going home.

I hate being presented with a puzzle that is too hard, or one that has obtuse literary references that I won't understand. That leads to about 10 minutes of interaction, engagement, and roleplay followed by 50 minutes of frustration while someone smarter than me figures it out.

For that matter, if you are constructing a puzzle that has a certain context, riddle, or reference that might not be generally known you should arrange for clues or hints to nudge your players onto the right path, or give them a hint so they can progress. Some DMs tend to make some sort of a penalty, be it the denial of a reward or a reduction in the experience for the puzzle, for taking the hint but I tend to use my discretion. There's no need to rub salt in the wounds of your players just because you selected a puzzle that was too hard for them.

I'm just a nice guy that way.

Make a way out

To augment that last point, unless you want to have a severely annoyed party you should give them a way out. You can handle this in a variety of ways, I quite enjoy the way they handle this type of thing at True Dungeon. If you can't get the puzzle in a certain amount of time, you take damage or have to fight your way out in order to progress. By having an out, you can guarantee your players will not spend any more time being annoyed than they choose to.

If you can work to select puzzles that fit with the context of your campaign, have attainable solutions, and ways out should they prove too difficult you have a good chance of having a satisfactory experience.

If you have any further tips on how to select and apply puzzles to your campaign please leave a comment, its good to have fresh ideas!

A Little Bit Fluffy, A Little Bit Crunch-and-Roll

I have realized, over the past month or so, that I'm a little bit fluffy and a little bit crunchy. I think it all depends on my mood on any given day.

Fluff-O-Meter

I enjoy the fluff of the game... without the fluff, I get bored. And when I get bored, I go a little crazy. I crave a storyline that really draws me and my character into the action. I love to create back stories and expand on them throughout the campaign. Any story that inspires me to create my character as a literary figure in my own mind is a good story in my book, pun definitely intended. I need to feel as if my character has a positive impact on the world around her, that who she is and what she's doing is important.

Mmmm... Crunchy...

I love the rules! Game mechanics are always fun for me, especially when they get me out of trouble. I plan out my character development several levels in advance, so I always know what feats and spells I'm taking. I love a good crunchy dungeon every once in awhile, to prove that my character development has been successful in providing the skills necessary to defeat the evils. And, of course, rolling dice is always fun!

So, I'm not too fluffy or too crunchy. I like to think I'm the prefect blend of fluffy-to-crunch. And I've noticed I tend to have the most fun when a session provides me with both crunchy and fluffy fodder.

On a related note, Yax posted the Top 10 Signs Your DM is Fluffy and Crunchy. Besides identifying your DM's modis operandi, it's also great for helping you identify your level of Fluff-to-Crunch as a player... just pick the list that includes the elements you prefer in your game session.

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P.S. Thanks to Yax for the #7 spot on his Top 50 RPG sites! It's definitely an honor to be included among those many great sites! :)

Behind the Screen: On Puzzle Handling...

While doing some Christmas shopping today, I was playing around with some ideas for puzzles for our next few campaign sessions. This led me to start thinking about the more satisfying puzzle scenarios that I have beheld and what it was that made them great, and I arrived at one very great example to share with you all today courtesy of a campaign built by my buddy, Sir Geekelot.

Relevance

One of the most frustrating puzzles is one that feels arbitrarily dropped in front of the adventuring group. In the case of Sir Geekelot's campaign, he structured something that essentially equated to a puzzle arc: three puzzles that could be worked in parrallel for the party to proceed. This puzzle arc was tied in directly to the plot, using some key touchpoints that he had established early and often enough to make them immediately recognizable to the group.

The puzzles themselves were pattern or logic puzzles that required some trial and error. They were challenging and the extra plot tie-ins made them even more engaging but not too difficult as to lead to frustration.

Focus

Another great element of this puzzle arc was the way it was structured: teams of two paired up and were presented with the task at hand and only they could work that particular puzzle. The neat thing about this setup was that each person had someone to talk the problem out with, but there were enough puzzles at hand for everyone to focus. This led to a real beehive of activity around the table and no one was left out sitting on their hands. If I walked in cold on the session at that point, it would be enough to tell that however this particular puzzle scenario was done it was done correctly. My teammate and I had a pretty easy time with our puzzle, others took a little longer, but in the end everyone walked out successful.

Fun

This is one of those untenable attributes that is very hard to describe, but the encounter was generally fun. The presence of danger (but not explicit death), the fact that because of the clamor of activity around the table you never really knew how the rest of the group was doing, and the ability to share your success directly with the person that you were partnered with really made the experience satisfying.

I think that structuring puzzles in this intimate and relevant way was really the best. I hope the next time I bring puzzles into the mix I'm half as successful as this particular instance, Sir Geekelot really knew how to do this up right.