Since time immemorial, since people had sticks and mud probably, we have designed stuff. And a big part of that is thinking about where we want to spend our time, and how to lay that out better, or more efficiently, or with a bigger gaming room.
Today's post is about player strongholds. If it hasn't already been obvious, I'm a big believer in player agency and player investment (or buy-in, if you prefer that term)- letting players tell you, the Game Master, what is it they want to do, how they want to do it, and then you 'refereeing' the results. You might throw them a few curveballs, but letting them have agency in what their characters do in the made-up little world you're designing means they care about the world you're designing together, and about their characters' positions within that world. Whether they want to draw up a map of their party's favourite bar, and mark out which booth they always have booked, or their shared spaceship, or have a map of the town they live in so that they know where they can go to defend it when Orcs attack, or if they go to the trouble of sketching out a full-blown castle or bunker with defenses, they're doing stuff that means they're interested in what you're doing together. So encourage them! When they design a stronghold, threaten it! Let the defences they design get used, let the enemies they trusted betray them, let the secret chambers be useful when they're attacked. Enemies that just sweep past everything they're doing takes them out of the game, and tells them that it's not worth being invested, because you can just ignore the rules. How you can use player strongholds in your game: - When the players meet in their bar, ask them where it is. Ask them what it's like and what's on the menu, and what kind of terrible minstrel is playing in the corner. Get them to invest early in the game world, and make sure to keep it up! If you can, get someone to sketch a quick map (maybe while you look up stats for whatever they're about to get in a fist-fight with). - Encourage them to nest! When they want to renovate that old wizard's tower ruin, cool! You've got a base that stuff can happen to, instead of keeping them roaming across the countryside like cursed wanderers from Kung Fu. It'll mean a lot more when Old Mayor Perkins asks them to help with the Manticore in the mountains because it's been carrying off Farmer Joe's sheep, if they know Farmer Joe owes them some cash and he won't be able to deliver, or someone is chatting up his son. When Bugbears start raiding your town, that's a lot different to just "some random town 1d6+2 days away". - You're training your players to design maps and stock them with traps and guards. When you need a holiday from GMing, they're already halfway there! Also posted on Game Masters Stash on 22 March 2019. Comments are closed.
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AuthorI'm Luke. He/him pronouns. Archives
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