Yora
2014-07-25, 02:34 PM
Having fights in empty square rooms is getting dull pretty quickly. That just isn't at all like the cool scenes in fantasy movies and even videogames manage to make battles much more fun by placing them in front of an evocative background.
I am not thinking of scripted events here, but of ways to create situations that make a fight cooler by giving it some more context. Something to make it more memorable and the players think that it was incredible. While probably still just hackingat each other and casting spells like they always do.
The idea is not to script a series of events and how the scenes unfold. Just setting up a start for a scene in a way that it will hopefully be great regardless of what the players do and how things turn out.
Let's share some ideas.
The PCs are assaulting a large mansion or warehouse (or even a cargo ship) to get to an enemy, still an important item, or rescue a prisoner. And at the worst possible moment someone sets the whole place on fire, causing chaos among any remaining guards and filling the place with smoke and flames.
The PCs have to escort a high value prisoner who is hoping to make a shady deal exchanging information for his life and possibly some other benefits. Unfortunately, he's the most despicable person and lots of good people think no information he can have will be good enough to let him get away with his deeds. And they might not even be stopped by having to raise weapons against the PCs.
A group of bandits has decided to claim an inn in a small village as their new headquarter and effectively made all the villagers their slaves, always keeping some around as servants in the inn who also serve as hostages so nobody gets any ideas. It ends up with the PCs to take care of the situation, but as they scout the place (maybe in disguised as bandits or villager) they recognize some of the hostage "villagers" among the bandits as experienced warriors from earlier adventurers. And as the hidden warriors see the PCs, their looks shows that they recognize them to...
The PCs are fighting against an immortal sorcerer, but at some points they gain knowledge of where he has hidden his heart that holds his soul. However, when they attack his hidden lair, he will become aware of it and teleport over there to destroy the intruders. So he needs to be distracted by keeping him very busy at the same time. Instead of splitting the party, the PCs and a group of allies will attack both the secret lair and the sorcerers current base at the same time. But without both groups having any way to communicate with each other. And the GM should keep rolling some dice to see how the other team is doing.
If the PCs attack the sorcerer, they have no way to tell how long his invincibility will last, or if they have to assume the other team has failed and retreat. If the PCs go for the lair and destroy the heart, they will have no idea what has happened to the sorcerer and their allies until they get there. And even when they reach the sorcerers stronghold, it may not immediately be obvious how it turned out. Lots of dead guards at the gate and inside the main corridor, with lots of confused guards still around would be expected in either case.
In a 2 hour movie, the audience has always to be up to date with things as time is limited. In an RPG, the results of the PCs actions don't have to be immediatly obvious.
I am not thinking of scripted events here, but of ways to create situations that make a fight cooler by giving it some more context. Something to make it more memorable and the players think that it was incredible. While probably still just hackingat each other and casting spells like they always do.
The idea is not to script a series of events and how the scenes unfold. Just setting up a start for a scene in a way that it will hopefully be great regardless of what the players do and how things turn out.
Let's share some ideas.
The PCs are assaulting a large mansion or warehouse (or even a cargo ship) to get to an enemy, still an important item, or rescue a prisoner. And at the worst possible moment someone sets the whole place on fire, causing chaos among any remaining guards and filling the place with smoke and flames.
The PCs have to escort a high value prisoner who is hoping to make a shady deal exchanging information for his life and possibly some other benefits. Unfortunately, he's the most despicable person and lots of good people think no information he can have will be good enough to let him get away with his deeds. And they might not even be stopped by having to raise weapons against the PCs.
A group of bandits has decided to claim an inn in a small village as their new headquarter and effectively made all the villagers their slaves, always keeping some around as servants in the inn who also serve as hostages so nobody gets any ideas. It ends up with the PCs to take care of the situation, but as they scout the place (maybe in disguised as bandits or villager) they recognize some of the hostage "villagers" among the bandits as experienced warriors from earlier adventurers. And as the hidden warriors see the PCs, their looks shows that they recognize them to...
The PCs are fighting against an immortal sorcerer, but at some points they gain knowledge of where he has hidden his heart that holds his soul. However, when they attack his hidden lair, he will become aware of it and teleport over there to destroy the intruders. So he needs to be distracted by keeping him very busy at the same time. Instead of splitting the party, the PCs and a group of allies will attack both the secret lair and the sorcerers current base at the same time. But without both groups having any way to communicate with each other. And the GM should keep rolling some dice to see how the other team is doing.
If the PCs attack the sorcerer, they have no way to tell how long his invincibility will last, or if they have to assume the other team has failed and retreat. If the PCs go for the lair and destroy the heart, they will have no idea what has happened to the sorcerer and their allies until they get there. And even when they reach the sorcerers stronghold, it may not immediately be obvious how it turned out. Lots of dead guards at the gate and inside the main corridor, with lots of confused guards still around would be expected in either case.
In a 2 hour movie, the audience has always to be up to date with things as time is limited. In an RPG, the results of the PCs actions don't have to be immediatly obvious.