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AntiTrust
2012-11-01, 12:03 AM
So I've been watching the HULU series The Booth at the End and thought about the implications of adding it to the game I run.

For those of you unaware of the show here are some cliffs


People ask a man at the booth at the end for something.


Man opens up book, thumbs through it and gives some strange task required in order to get what you want (for ex. guy wants flowers for his GF, man opens up book and says help six women cross the street)


Man requires person who comes to him to stop by periodically and tell him how they are progressing in the task, as well as go into detail about how they're feeling during the tasks.



Now there are two things I like about the show that first drew me to adding it to my game.

1. Anything was possible with the man, the tasks required were just more challenging the more the person wanted. IE the cliff notes guy wanting flowers was pretty easy, but later on a women wants enough money for her dad to be happy and she was required to find a shut-in and get him to leave his home.

2. The people in the show are very interesting when they stop by and tell the man how they feel during the process, what's running in their heads as they do this, hopes, fears, anxieties, etc.

I thought this would be a cool way to get inside the players heads and give them a chance to RP their characters motivations as they progress towards getting some reward and finding out how far they'd go to get what they want. I thought it would also be a cool way to introduce some outlandish side plots.

However this idea also has some big pitfalls which is why I'd like the board to weigh in on the idea. Problems like "I want the BBEG your campaign is based on to never be born" or "I want to be a god". If the players ask for big things I'll either have to make the task required repugnant to the person asking, suicidal, or take so long the task's completion corresponds with the campaigns conclusion. The second issue comes from not wanting the mysterious man to monopolize the group or overshadow the campaign (Age of Worms if anyone was curious).

Tell me straight GiTP community, am I potentially steering my game off a cliff by wanting to try and add this element to it or is it possible to reign it in and give the group some unique storyline experiences?

Lentrax
2012-11-01, 09:53 AM
I see it as this.

You ask the man for a Wish, he gives you a gaes.

The larger the Wish, the more difficult/complex the Gaes becomes.

Now, I would probably reserve this kind of thing for a lower magic campaign, so the players need to go to someone to recieve a Wish, instread of grinding up levels to be able to cast them.

Of course there is always, the use of him as a crutch. To solve that, I think the best way would be to, at one point, he tells them that what they ask for is already within their grasp.

Zahhak
2012-11-01, 12:57 PM
I thought this would be a cool way to get inside the players heads and give them a chance to RP their characters motivations as they progress towards getting some reward and finding out how far they'd go to get what they want. I thought it would also be a cool way to introduce some outlandish side plots.

This sounds absolutely wonderful, and next time I run a campaign I'll probably try to incorporate this same idea for this very reason. I think our murder-hobos should be something other then tornadoes of death and looting.


However this idea also has some big pitfalls which is why I'd like the board to weigh in on the idea. Problems like "I want the BBEG your campaign is based on to never be born" or "I want to be a god". If the players ask for big things I'll either have to make the task required repugnant to the person asking, suicidal, or take so long the task's completion corresponds with the campaigns conclusion.

I think you've pretty well solved it: For outlandishly hard things (becoming a god), the players have to do something outlandishly difficult (like negotiate a peace between devils and demons). Doing that borders on impossible. But for simpler things (I want a long sword of greater spider bane) it could be something much simpler, like escort a pilgrim across the woods. Essentially, have the difficulty curve of the task increasing faster then the reward so that it is a relatively quick way to get gear at the player's level, a reasonable way to get gear 1-3 levels above you, and not worth the effort for anything higher then that.


The second issue comes from not wanting the mysterious man to monopolize the group or overshadow the campaign (Age of Worms if anyone was curious).

You could make it so that there starts being ironic consequences if they become too dependent on the guy. Mechanically that could be a D% to determine if there will be some side effect and how severe, and have the percent chance of a side effect increasing with each use. In-game it could be that he's tired of dealing with the players. It provides a way for them to get what they need, but they are unlikely to become dependent on him.

Kornaki
2012-11-01, 01:21 PM
If they ask for help with a quest that he's already assigned them, he should just sneer at them and tell them they need to complete the same quest. For example

"I need flowers for my girlfriend"
"Then help six people cross the street"

Two minutes later

"I need six people to appear at the street corner"
" :smallannoyed: .... then help eight people cross the street"

They should get the hint pretty fast

KillianHawkeye
2012-11-01, 04:49 PM
If they ask for help with a quest that he's already assigned them, he should just sneer at them and tell them they need to complete the same quest. For example

"I need flowers for my girlfriend"
"Then help six people cross the street"

Two minutes later

"I need six people to appear at the street corner"
" :smallannoyed: .... then help eight people cross the street"

They should get the hint pretty fast

Obviously you should place a limit so they can't ask him for anything until they've finished the one they're on to avoid this situation.

AntiTrust
2012-11-01, 05:12 PM
If they ask for help with a quest that he's already assigned them, he should just sneer at them and tell them they need to complete the same quest. For example

"I need flowers for my girlfriend"
"Then help six people cross the street"

Two minutes later

"I need six people to appear at the street corner"
" :smallannoyed: .... then help eight people cross the street"

They should get the hint pretty fast

The rules for the show say a person can only have one task at a time so there's no problem with that, I'll just copy over that rule from the show

Slipperychicken
2012-11-01, 07:35 PM
I see this working best with a very low magic setting. Partly so the party doesn't weasel out of his tasks with magic ("I mindrape the shut-in so he's willing to leave his house"), partly so the man is truly unique in the world (many of services you describe can be easily accomplished by mid-level Wizard with time on his hands).


Be warned: Your players will try to munchkin every possible benefit from this man. They will quickly find the services with the optimal effort-to-reward ratio, and abuse them, especially of they yield money or items (don't give them too much free time with this man). It's like the age-old advice "Never give your players Wishes, and never give them a Deck of Many Things".

You can assign limits to the number of services they can get, after which the Man just leaves, citing some obligation or other. This can help keep abuses in check.

AntiTrust
2012-11-01, 08:18 PM
I see this working best with a very low magic setting. Partly so the party doesn't weasel out of his tasks with magic ("I mindrape the shut-in so he's willing to leave his house"), partly so the man is truly unique in the world (many of services you describe can be easily accomplished by mid-level Wizard with time on his hands).


Be warned: Your players will try to munchkin every possible benefit from this man. They will quickly find the services with the optimal effort-to-reward ratio, and abuse them, especially of they yield money or items (don't give them too much free time with this man). It's like the age-old advice "Never give your players Wishes, and never give them a Deck of Many Things".

You can assign limits to the number of services they can get, after which the Man just leaves, citing some obligation or other. This can help keep abuses in check.

Yeah, I think I always believed that, but you put it well. The game certainly isn't low magic so maybe its best if I just shelve the idea for a different game where magic isn't so prevalent.

Slipperychicken
2012-11-01, 11:55 PM
Yeah, I think I always believed that, but you put it well. The game certainly isn't low magic so maybe its best if I just shelve the idea for a different game where magic isn't so prevalent.

I could see such this guy fitting into many settings as a "mysterious stranger", as long as he can maintain a sense of mystery and wonder. And as long as he can offer the "regular" appeal of magic: getting something no-one else can, and no-one knows why or how he does it... but at a strange and terrible cost.


EDIT: What I really mean is that this guy's special power should be used, in the narrative sense, to generate conflict rather than resolve it. Any big solution it offers will create a potentially-larger problem, or simply require truly epic/unreasonable/insatiable demands, which still requires hard work and real sacrifice to sort out in the end. (Save the human race? You must personally cook and successfully deliver a week's worth of healthy and balanced meals to each and every starving person in Africa.)