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A member registered Jan 10, 2021

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The simple version:

  • The scene needs a certain number of successes for the goblins to accomplish their goal, say 5. 
  • There's no fail option built in because the game does a great job of creating success with consequences. The higher the number of successes they need, the more rolls they'll need to make and the more bad things they'll need to deal with.
  • If there are multiple success options, I'll tell the players ahead of time. Something like: To herd the Froghemoth into the humans, you'll need to get 5 successes but the humans are moving forward and will see you in 4 turns. Again, there's no fail state, but there are two different kinds of success.

More detailed version:

  • Treat the scene as a monster but instead of moves, you track its scenes. 
  • The more task-like the scene is, the more likely I am to tell the players how many successes they'll need. Combine this with a timer and you'll get a surprising amount of strategic choices out of the players as they decide if it's worth it to stay longer.
  • Here's an example; 
    • Raid the Fort: Enter the Fort, Guard on the Wall, Hidden Treasure Chest, Guard Inside the Fort, Locked Shrine 💀 Magical Guardian Awakens
      • Each one of the scene's moves are mini scenes and let the GM track the scene the same way they track a monster's  moves. They succeed on an action to climb the stone wall? Mark off Enter the Fort.
      • Additionally the scenes can be zoomed in on if needed. The Danger on the action to avoid the Guard might be Caught! meaning that the goblins don't sneak by the guard and encounter them like they would any monster. The action then zooms in on the goblins dealing with the guard.
      • Someone has a Good Idea or another way of circumventing an obstacle? Just mark it off and describe them being extra cool.
      • The scene's finishing move might never come up and that's okay, but make sure it's something that can show up in any of the other scenes.
      • Also note that the first action roll often sets up the entire scene so use it to set their position in addition to anything else that happens.


C&C welcome!

Wow! I love your style and the cramped aesthetic of the town square

I love the magic potions you came up with. I think I might steal some of those!

@g4mrnub: How did your goal/belief houserule do in your next session? Making gaining a title based on fulfilling a goal makes the goals really important so I'm curious if your players change their goal-setting based on the change.

Goal Houserules: 

I can see where you'd be cautious about doing anything to change the condition system. One positive thing that's come from my group's Goal houserule is that players will do riskier things if they're close to accomplishing a goal. For example, in the last session one player set their goal as "getting everyone on a warg" so the party could escape from a force of human hoplites they had no hope of defeating. They player had their goblin take a larger risk to get the last goblin on a warg, betting that they would accomplish their goal and remove a condition afterward. It's getting them to make choices rather than being a passive reward, and that fits well with this group's playstyle.

I like Let it Ride from Burning Wheel, and definitely try to use that instead of DnD minutia. If it's a large goal, I've started asking for a total number of successes rather than relying on one roll and that seems to be working well. I'll post that later, when I can get my thoughts together.


Vault House Rule:

I like how you've codified a stash, and I think it's something that characters want right away. My players started storing bits and bobs in their huts right away, but never anything useful, just knickknacks from adventures. Once they made a bunch of scratch and started keeping more gear, then it became a possibility for theft. I didn't add it to the list of crisis because I wanted the adventure facing outward more, but I love that idea. Make it just like some of the other locations in that it can have a keystone for extra protection. Building the vault gives them a place to store stuff that's fairly secure, but if you roll Theft on the crisis table then the vault is found and raided. If you have a vault keystone then it's immune to that roll.

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Cheers! Last week was our 22nd game, playing weekly. Only one PC death so far and it was surprisingly poignant even with the goblin funeral-looting.

I've been running a Goblinville game for 20 sessions now and thought I'd share my house rules and thoughts behind them.

• New Titles and Traits are assigned when returning to town, not at the end of each session. - We found we were taking 4 -5 sessions to go out and then get back to Goblinville and wanted to slow down XP progression.

• Fragile is a trait on an item. Fragile items break first when a twist causes an inventory item to break. - I'd mentioned this for a few loot items they found and it just became a thing.

• Magical Attributes are added to character sheets and can be used as either a Title or a Trait but can only be used once and then are erased. (ex. Chosen of Din after completing a magical ritual) 

• Traits and Titles bestowed by items may be used while injured or sick conditions are active. - This is just  a way to make items with traits feel more special.

• Session goals, when completed, allow the goblin to remove either Exhausted or Panicked from their active conditions.  - Suggested by the players to give additional weight to session goals. We're still testing it out.

• Needing to roll a new marching order while in combat doesn't mean a camp action is immediately required. However, needing to camp immediately after said combat is a possibility. - Sometimes we would go through a couple turns while fighting a boss and I felt everyone gaining a condition while in the combat was too dangerous.

• If you try to attack an enemy who is at range and you do not have a ranged weapon you are at poor position. - This could represent charging at them with a melee weapon, or even harsh language.