Alexander Thomas

TV to Tabletop #1 Fellowship of the Session Zero

TV to Tabletop is a series in which I examine scenes in popular movies and TV shows and break them down into game mechanics. Essentially asking, “What if this wasn’t a scripted performance with big budget special effects, but a group of players sitting around a table rolling dice?” There are spoilers for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring below.

*****SPOILERS AHEAD*****

Picture a group of players sitting around the table, meeting for the first time to discuss the epic series they are about to embark on. Maybe it’s a new roleplaying game they’ve never tried before, maybe it’s an old favorite with a new Game Master. They have some idea of what sorts of characters they want to portray in the coming months. They’ve got their dice and scrap paper laid out before them.

The GM enters and sits behind the screen and says, “Strangers from distant lands, friends of old. You have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate–this one doom.” This paragraph summarizes the quest that the Fellowship of the Ring is going to embark on and serves as an introduction to the tone and idea behind the series the GM has in mind. This is called Session Zero.

Not every GM uses a session zero, but I personally think that they’re the best tool in a GM’s arsenal to ensure that everyone is on the same page. Session Zero is part character design, part sales pitch, and part team-building exercise. Basically it’s the first time the players and GM meet as a group to discuss their next campaign. The Game Master will arrive with an idea of the game they want to run: an epic fantasy journey to destroy a dangerous artifact featuring ambassadors from every Free race in Middle-Earth for example. They will usually arrive at this session with some surface level notes about the nature of the world they’ve designed, the tone of game they’re looking to run, and the kinds of challenges the group will be attempting to overcome.

In the Fellowship of the Ring example, the Game Master probably brought the history of the Ring (Forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in a bygone time, the Ring was thought lost, but now that it’s returned the Forces of Evil are on the rise again), information on the Free Races of Middle-Earth (Hobbits live in an idyllic countryside called the Shire, they value comfort and home, are lucky, and usually go unnoticed by the larger races, etc.), and a brief synopsis of the current situation in Middle-Earth (Gondor has a missing king, the Elves are leaving for the West, etc.)

The players would then decide if this sounds like a game they would be interested in. There’s a chance that someone will say, “Well, this sounds a lot darker than when we were all dwarves trying to get our home back. I don’t know if I like the sound of this.” and that’s more than okay. Session Zero gives the group the opportunity to discuss their mutual interests. Players who are given the chance to talk about the game at this beginning stage will start to feel a similar sense of authorship as the GM, or they will say that it isn’t for them and no one’s time would be wasted. This will only strengthen the story for everyone involved.

Session Zero also allows the players to make sure their characters fit in the universe of the game. I mean this both tonally and in relation to the setting. This will let the players know that this isn’t the kind of game that calls for a hobbit drunkard who speaks only in fart noises or an orc slaver who collects elf kidneys and wears them as a necklace in Rivendell. Right away the GM has introduced a rich history and a certain expectation of gravitas. The players in this instance, are able to come up with characters that tie into that history (The Hobbit who’s life was upended when the Ring came into his possession, the lost King of Gondor whose ancestor was the one who allowed the Ring to survive the death of Sauron) and allows the players to figure out what sort of relationships they have with one another (The representatives of the Elf and Dwarf parties who immediately distrust and dislike each other, The son of the Steward of Gondor who doesn’t want the King to return, the aforementioned Hobbit’s gardener and best friend.)

In closing, I always use a Session Zero for any series longer than a one-shot that I run. They make sure that everyone is on the same page, they give the players a sense of ownership in regards to the world and story, and they are just a great way to communicate. You’ll be amazed at the stronger characters, the stronger stories, and the better games you play once you take the time to set the stage.

Step 4c for Writing Super Hero Adventures: Challenge Encounters!

Hello heroes! Welcome back to my writing super hero adventure series. Today I am continuing step 4, which revolves all around encounter design. Last time we talked about roleplaying encounters, but today is all about challenges! I’m going to pretend I totally planned for 4c to line up with Challenge Encounters on purpose…

Anyway, challenge encounters cover a wide umbrella of scenes. These can be anything from death traps, to natural disasters, heists, and everything in between. They are characterized by the PCs using their skills and powers to overcome obstacles that aren’t necessarily trying to punch them in the face. That isn’t to say that there aren’t challenges with fighting, but the combat in a challenge scene is handled in a narrative sense, rather than breaking out into full initiative order.

Needless to say, these scenes cover a lot of ground, so my advice for designing them is going to be a little more general than what I usually provide. Here are some tips about building a solid foundation for memorable challenge encounters:

Generalization

I tend to find that challenge scenes are more exciting for players when you leave yourself a lot of room for their creativity. For example, say you want to create a skill challenge to simulate robbing a casino. I start by listing the various things that have to be accomplished in order to succeed in this task. The PCs have to case the joint, enter the casino, overcome the security, collect the money, and escape. Three groups of players given that list of tasks will come up with approximately 745, 290, 321, 092.5 ways of approaching the job. You could try to stat up all of those various options, but you’ll be a lot of work that will probably be circumvented by the heroes anyway. To avoid this overpreparation, I tend to keep things generalized and come up with blanket difficulties for the various stages of the task. Sometimes I’ll add one line about what I think this skill check can simulate if I need the guidance. I’ll show you what I mean below:

Casino Heist Challenge

• Casing the Joint/Gathering Information: Relevant Skills (Investigation, Perception, Deception, Intimidation, Expertise: Criminal, Technology) DC: 13 for expertise skills, DC: 15 for interaction skills, DC: 18 for observation, and DC: 20 for technological skills. Players who succeed on a DC 18 Stealth check will add a +2 circumstance bonus to one of their other skill checks in this phase.
• Entering the Casino: Certain Powers such as Teleport, Insubstantial, or Invisibility will give one Degree of Success to this challenge. Relevant Skills (Stealth, Deception, Technology) DC: 16 Stealth to sneak into one of the side entrances, DC: 18 Stealth to sneak through the front door, DC 16 for interaction skills, DC 18 Technology to pick electronic locks or forge fake security keycards.

Time Control/Montage

Another thing to consider when designing challenge encounters is how long the scene should take. Challenges are a tool in your GM toolbox that gives you the ability to control the passage of time within the game world. You can simulate the investigation, invention, or training montages that are so popular in superhero media. You can also create tense scenes that need to be accomplished in a short amount of time, like defusing a complicated bomb as the timer ticks down to zero. Always include a line in your challenge scene that tells the players how long each check in the challenge takes. Checks can take anywhere from one combat round (6 seconds in a lot of games) to one week or month, depending on the nature of the challenge you’ve built. Keep in mind that the heroes will be doing activities that overlap timewise. Basically each check happens at the same time, unless you specify that only one character can act on the challenge at a time. Don’t be afraid to let the heroes do other things not related to the skill challenge if a particular check takes a long time.

Spotlight!

More than most scenes, challenges can be a great time to shine a spotlight on specific characters’ abilities. Don’t be afraid to create portions of a challenge that are in the wheelhouse of a specific character. If one of your PCs is a hacker, create an opportunity for that character to hack into an important terminal or even seize control of the villain’s defense system. An avalanche challenge is an awesome way to give the ice-controller or fire bender on your team a moment to feel like they really saved the day. In this same vein, try to avoid coming up with obstacles that none of your players are able to solve. The idea is to make it challenging, not impossible. If there are things they can’t do, suggest that maybe they could hire someone who has the specialized skill they’re missing. That could lead to a fun roleplaying negotiation, or a whole other adventure to find the right person for the job.

Player Narration

Challenge scenes give you an amazing opportunity to turn the narrator hat over to the heroes. Since I keep the legs of the challenge general, I prefer to tell the player, “You have succeeded at this roll, what does this scene look like as your character deceives their way into the casino.” This gives the players a great chance to flex their storytelling and brings them fully into the story you’re telling as a group. I’ll even let them describe what a failure looks like once we’ve worked out the mechanics side of the failure. It really helps elevate these scenes from rolling dice to solve a problem to a cinematic experience.

That should be enough to get you started with Challenge Encounters. Keep them general, work out the time table, and give your players a chance to shine both mechanically and narratively and you’ll be well on your way to crafting memorable non-combat scenes. I’ve included a template I use for my challenge scenes below. We’re closing in on the end of this series. Thank you for reading so far and I’ll see you in the next one!

Example Challenge Encounter Template

Challenge Title:

Time per Check:

Phases of Challenge:
Phase 1:
Phase 2:
Phase 3:
Amount of Successes Needed
Effect of Successes: The effect of achieving the bare minimum amount of successes needed and any additional benefits the heroes can attain for overcoming that threshold.
Effect of Failures: A penalty incurred for failing in any phase. These can be phase specific or general. I prefer penalties to future checks or rolls to resist damage to simulate minor scuffles or death traps and the like.
Fail State:

Step 4b for Writing Super Hero Adventures: Roleplaying Encounters!

Hello heroes! Welcome back to my writing super hero adventure series. I hope your day is going well wherever you are logging in from. Today I am continuing Step 4, which revolves all around encounter design. Last time we talked about combat encounters, so today we’re going to pivot to something a little more peaceful. Roleplaying encounters are one of my personal favorite scenes to incorporate into an adventure. These can be quiet moments for the players to interact with one another, interrogations of NPCs, negotiations, fact-finding missions, and anything in between. Roleplaying is right in the name of the game genre, so it is important to make sure you account for it when outlining your adventure.

I start designing my roleplaying scenes by asking myself what the goal of the scene is. Am I trying to give the heroes a chance to react to a major plot reveal? Is this a mediation of a dispute between two parties? Is it just a chance to joke around and blow off some steam? I typically describe my roleplaying scenes with the following labels: Role-Play Shenanigans, Negotiation, and Interrogation. Role-Play Shenanigans is kind of a catch all category involving the characters getting the chance to ham it up or practice their acting skills. Negotiation is a discussion between parties for a specific good or service. Interrogation is any scene in which the PCs primary goal is to attain information, either from hearing out a kindly benefactor or intimidating a captured hench-person.

Role-Play Shenanigans

I don’t do a lot of planning for Role-Play Shenanigans, aside from setting the gametime needed. The players generally handle the ebb and flow of those scenes. I tend to take a backseat when they get into it—see my article about Listening as a GM for more on this idea—and I only weigh in if there is a NPC they drag into their shenanigans. It’s important to be present in these moments as GM because you don’t want the heroes to go on for too long, unless they’re having a great time. Keep an eye on the energy in the scene, or if the heroes are beginning to repeat their conversation beats so you can push them along as needed. Running a Role-Play Shenanigans scene is just about paying attention to everyone’s vibe and transitioning to the next scene when it’s appropriate.

Negotiations

Negotiations and Interrogations require a little more work on your part, but they are still fairly easy to prepare for. I start by listing the parties involved in the scene, for example: The PCs and their benefactor. Once I have the parties, I set aside the PCs because they are going to be responsible for themselves. If it’s a Negotiation, I take the NPC parties and I come up with three pieces of information: Goals, Offers, and Collateral. The Goal is what the character wants from the conversation. Some examples listed below:

• I want the heroes to do this task for me.
• I want the heroes to leave me in peace to do my nefarious plan.
• I want the heroes to surrender this prisoner over to my custody.
• I want the heroes to bring me a priceless bird statue.

The Offer is what they want to pay for the Goal. Think of it as the opening offer and the party’s best case scenario. Again, some examples below:

• 5 million galactic credits per hero.
• An upgrade to their secret base.
• A cool new vehicle that unlocks the ability for the heroes to travel into space.
• The location of a key clue in the heroes’ ongoing investigation.

The Collateral is how far the character is willing to go to achieve the Goal. This is the extreme version of the Offer and isn’t always as magnanimous. Some examples below:

• 10 million galactic credits per hero.
• I will attack the heroes to take what I want from them.
• I will abduct their loved ones to coerce them into cooperating.
• I am willing to accompany the heroes if that convinces them.

These three pieces are the foundation of any negotiation. I don’t ever write a script for the characters involved, but having these key sentences written down helps me guide them through the roleplaying segment. This is more important than coming up with a fun voice or body language for the character, and it’s something anyone can do to make their lives easier.

Interrogations

I approach Interrogations in a similar manner to Negotiations. I break down the parties involved, but instead of Goals, Offers, and Collateral, I come up with Topics, Intel, and Resilience. It’s important to note that Interrogations don’t necessarily have to be an aggressive activity. Someone offering the heroes a job or a victim they interview at a crime scene are still being interrogated when the heroes ask them questions.

Topics are subjects about which the character is knowledgeable. Some examples include:

• Navigating the Kettle Nebula.
• Eyewitness to the bank robbery.
• Expert on obscure ornithology.
• Magical item identification.

Intel is what specific information this NPC has access to. It’s a deeper dive into the Topic, but importantly Intel is information that the PCs can actually use to inform their decisions:

• The Kettle Nebula is known to disrupt ship electronics and nav-computers, but I’ve been scouting out a shortcut.
• The villain that tore open the vault had sand powers and went that way with the money.
• These birds are known for their beautiful plumage and supposedly their tears can cure wounds.
• This magic item gives its wielder the ability to shrink down to the size of a fly and speak to frogs.

Resilience is how difficult it is to get the information from a certain NPC. This can be a resistance to interrogation techniques, or an ulterior motive to keeping the information secret. Some examples below:

• I don’t want the heroes to publicize my shortcut before I’ve had the chance to.
• The villain is my sister and I don’t want her to get captured.
• The bird is endangered and these costumed crimefighters might put too much stress on its heart if they try to capture it.
• I don’t identify magic items for free.

You might notice as we’re building these scenes out that Interrogations often lead to Negotiations and vice versa. That’s a natural progression of events so don’t feel too locked into one type of scene or the other.

Other Things to Consider

I included the “mechanical” stuff I do to prepare for a roleplaying scene above, but there are some more esoteric things to consider when actually bringing the scene to life. Your job as Gamemaster is to portray a LOT of NPCs. Making them all stand out and feel unique is a challenge, even for gifted Gamemasters. I find that having the mechanics sorted out helps with this challenge, but I’m including a few tips below that I use to further flesh out the actual roleplaying part:

• Voices – I know it’s sort of a stereotype for the GM to use a million different accents and voices for their characters, but it is effective if it is something you can do. I think a lot of GMs get in their own way when it comes to voices. They get nervous or self-conscious and don’t commit to the bit. I promise your players will match your energy. I have personally found that if I can fake confidence usually the performance will follow behind. I don’t always get it right, but I do always commit. Voices don’t have to be funny accents either, they can just be lowering your tone, speaking faster or slower, mumbling or over emphasizing your diction. Think about certain phrases or words and only use them for that specific character. Your players will catch on and will appreciate the effort.
• Energy! – Like I said above and I’ve said in other pieces of GM Advice, be energetic, be excited, and set the tone you want your players to give you back. The players are looking to you to help them know what sort of scene they’re heading into.
• PC Focuses – One thing I find that helps me, especially with improvising, is writing down how a NPC feels about each individual PC. I try to make them favor one PC and dislike one PC in the group while being relatively neutral about the others. I write these down and play up those feelings of camaraderie or animosity any chance I get. It helps make the NPC feel more like an actual character in my experience and gets the PCs chatting about them, even when the NPC isn’t around.

I think that is plenty to get you started on your roleplaying scenes. These can be some of the most fun encounters you design and can lead to whole sessions where the heroes just get to act like their characters and possibly not even roll a single dice. I’ll be back soon with another post talking all about Challenge Sequences, but until then, thank you for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day!