Today's Game Mastery tip is about improving the narrative flow for your combat encounters. I mean, ou can have everything just take place in a 10-foot by 10-foot room with a single Orc guarding a chest, but it gets dull really quickly. So how can you make your combat locations more interesting, easily?
War gamers may be familiar with the concept of "line of sight blockers", which do pretty much what they say on the tin. They're big objects, often ones that go all the way to the roof (or at least high enough that it doesn't matter), and force people to move around them to get line of sight, which is important for most ranged weapons and spells, and gives people opportunities to hide and sneak. It also means that abilities that don't rely on line of sight, or affect people who are in cover, really shine. You can shake things up by making some things block line of sight, but only for Medium-size creatures (Giants might be able to see over shoulder-height rocks, for example). Another option is to add features that block line of sight, but NOT movement- smoke clouds, fog, or even curtains. These require movement through to the engagement area, but can restrict spellcasters or ranged attackers. You can also have areas that are impassable but don't block line of sight- pits or pools, for example. Access to these areas might be by climbing a rope or a set of stairs further away, meaning that you need to change your options instead of just charging towards the opponent. This benefits creatures that have interesting mobility (like being able to fly over), and creatures with ranged abilities. Stationing a bunch of archers across a pit on a balcony means that they're pretty safe from the fighter on the ground with a halberd, but the ranger can get a clear shot at them without worrying about hitting the fighter - for now. You can even include vertical elements- starting a fight while the PCs are on a high balcony, and enemies are trying to come up a narrow staircase at them can make for a challenging battle. If you add extra enemies who start swinging down through windows or rappelling through a skylight, it changes the standard "fighter at the front, wizard at the back" dynamic totally! And how can you use these easily? Depending on where the fight happens (dungeon, open field, rocky mountain), some fit better than others. If you're really stuck, pick up 3-5 d6s before anything is laid out on the mat, and just go ahead and roll them onto the map, and check each die. If it's a 1-2, put a tall line-of-sight blocking object there (wall, tall rock, cave-in, etc.) If it's a 3-4, put an object that blocks line of sight, but not movement (tall grass, curtain, fog, etc.) If it's a 5-6, put a movement blocker that doesn't block line of sight (pit, water, etc.) Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 20 March 2021. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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