Legendary Kingdoms – Part 1

Legendary Kingdoms – Part 2

More Parts to Come

What Is Legendary Kingdoms

Legendary Kingdoms is a solo, though you could do it cooperatively, RPG system. In this system you are using a choose your own adventure type of game play with skill checks. And there are multiple books in the Legendary Kingdoms. The choices you make progress the story in different ways. And while sometimes you are limited, you also hit very open world points. But that’s the basics of the system.

How To Play

Legendary Kingdoms is a game where there isn’t really a “winner” so to speak. It is an open world story driven solo or multiplayer choose your own adventure RPG, in case you skipped the section above.

Characters

To start off you start with a group of four characters in your party. I am not sure if it is possible to add more characters as you go. But it is possible to have your characters die if you are reckless in battles.

Characters use several different stats. There is fighting, stealth, lore, survival and charisma as well as hit points. These stats generally range from 1 to 5 when you start the game. It is possible during the game that they might increase. But it is not a common thing and it is driven by story. It is not an RPG system where you gain experience and level up.

Checks

The main crux of the game play is split into two parts. Story, which I’ll talk about next, and checks. When you do anything in the game you complete checks. This is even the case when you are in combat, though combat checks do behave slightly differently at times.

The basics of a check are fairly simple. They are either group checks, so a check for everyone, or an individual check. A group check you will use the stats of two of the four characters versus just one for the individual. The game often doesn’t tell you what a check might be before you make it, so you need to pick your character(s) somewhat blindly based on context.

Then you roll dice. You roll dice equal to the stat being checked against. In combat you check to see how many succeed and you get that many hits and damage dealt to an enemy which is determined by the enemy’s defense. In a skill check there is a set target number you want to match or beat like in combat. But in a skill check you want to get a certain number of success to pass.

There is a bit more for combat, but I won’t go into it here.

Story

The other large element is the story in the game. Like I said, this is a choose your own adventure style of game. By that I mean, you start with a passage, read that, make a decision and go to another passage to read from. It is interrupted by combats or skill checks, but generally it is reading one part of the story or another.

What I Don’t Like

So what is it about the game that might not work for me? I think the biggest thing I note in the game is the luck factor. Yes, the better a skill is the more dice you roll. That is a nice thing int he game, it is less swinging than maybe rolling a D20 and adding a modifier. Especially because it is the value on every individual die that matters. But it is still a luck game. In Legendary Kingdoms there is not much if any die mitigation so it is just a roll.

What I Like

Firstly, I like how simple the system is to play. When I want to get the game out, I grab some dice and start playing. Yes, you need a game sheet to use, but it is not overly complex to track that. And the checks are simple to follow as well.

Speaking of checks, I like how combat is just a bit more complex, but not too complex. If combat were as simple as it is for a skill check, it might feel way to lucky. But I like how you have armor and that armor might block attacks. And I like that as characters you get to go first and then the enemies go. There is no initiative system it is just nice and simple that way.

Another thing that stands out to me is that the writing is solid or slightly better than that. With a choose your own adventure it is very possible that it could be too generic because you don’t know how someone is getting to a situation. This one is just enough on rails that they can create a bigger story. Now it is at the point where I am in an open world point, so I want to know how the story is going to go. But I like the story a lot thus far, and I think there is some good interesting writing and plot happening.

Who Is Legendary Kingdoms For?

This is tough one to say. I think people who like a good RPG might enjoy this game. In particular maybe a video game RPG player who is looking for a way to spend less screen time. It is going to give you that RPG itch but not be too much. And it is something for an RPG fan who maybe wants to play more but can’t work it into their schedule. This is a game that is easily playable in an evening for thirty minutes and then putting it down and picking it up again.

Thoughts and Grades on Legendary Kingdoms

This game is a blast to play. Is it perfect, no, I wish there was maybe a way to add a bonus to a roll from time to time, just for those really important ones. And maybe it is the case where there might be a spell that’ll do that eventually. So there is a bunch of luck when it comes to rolling. And combat, like most RPG’s, is always a bit more time than the story. But those both are minor negatives to me.

The positives far outweigh both of those parts to me. I think that the game play is fast and fun. And I love the story elements to it. The decision of do you go further into the water or out, it is interesting. Do you spend more time pushing for treasures but potentially risking something? That is what you want from a good choose your own adventure style of game. And unlike the choose your own adventure books you might have read growing up, this one is logical. You can guess what might come next.

My Grade: A
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: A
Strategy (out of 10): 5
Luck (out of 10): 7

Oh, and if you made it down here, leave a comment as to what direction I should go in the story.

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Recap the Arc and Plot

This is the hook that we are going with.

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

And the arc that we’re in now.

• The inciting incident
• Town in panic
• Investigation
• The Annals
• We Need To Find Heroes

Session 1 Plan

So the plan was to tackle the first two parts of this Realization arc in the first session. I figure that the players are likely to get through that inciting incident in half of it and then the other part in the the other half of the session. So I split what I wanted from the campaign up.

The Inciting Incident

Imps attack outside of the town near Maggie Ferns farm. It’s close enough for Beau to hear. There are a group of kids, the ones who stumbled across the imps in the first place who warn the others in town. Three townsfolk show up as well for the fight.

The combat is 2 imps and 4 lemure outside a town with Maggie Fern, Chad Ironvale, Jannis and Father Corbin from the town joining the combat.

Town in Panic

After the fight, that evening there is a townhall with Mayor Wilfriend Brumble leading it. The room is packed and noisy because nothing like this has ever happened before and everyone wants to know if there are going to be more imps, where they came from, and what the Mayor and other leaders are going to do to protect them.

The major holds the meeting and all the town is there. The above mentioned Mayor leads it and additionally in the crowd are the owners of the shop as well as other farmers and towns folk.

Session 1 Recap

The Characters

I realize that you need to know the characters. We have Ug an orc monk. The next character is “Jack” – real name unknown – who is a Warlock, though that is also unknown to most. Alf Alfson is an ancient elf cleric. And finally, rounding out the party we have Beauregard “Beau” Vine a human druid farmer.

The Session

The Combat

Firstly, let’s talk about how imps pack a punch. I wanted to go with more, but I realized before the session that it would be too much for them. So two imps, who joined the fight late and then four lemure who were mainly there as fodder.

But to how the session went, I want to start letting the players lead what is going on. This is a town and place they are all familiar with. Ug, Alf, and “Jack” all live in the town, so it made sense to start with them. It also is a chance to start with some role playing for what their characters normal life looks like. The same is true for Beau in the country, but to add to his time, that is when the fight kicks off.

Beau and his dog Tater hear Maggie Fern, the nearest farmer, yell to some kids to run back to town. And then the sound of combat. Beau goes to join in, which takes a few minutes to get there. While that is happening, the kids make it to town and warn everyone else.

The big takeaway is how hard Imps can hit. They got Beau knocked out and almost took down Ug the Orc, but the Orc has Orcish Resilience (I believe it is) where once per long rest they can drop to 0 and bounce back up to 1. Combat was fairly standard combat, beat the monsters

The Town Meeting

Part two of the session is where more happened. That is a chance for the group to form, and it kind of did. Right now Alf Alfson and Ug are kind of the leaders. Ug because he wants to live a more respectable life after being kicked off of his tribe. And Alf is ready for something else. Beau is coming along because he knows where the trail is and it impacts his farm.

“Jack” is the most hesitant to join the group who are looking into the problem. So much so that he didn’t even volunteer. Instead, his contact with some shady dealings, whom he sent Ug to so Ug could sell some weapons, wants him to go and is going to pay him for information about anything that might be valuable.

Takeaways from My D&D Campaign Session 1

New Characters

The first thing is that there is a learning curve, I think, when starting up a new campaign. Especially when three of the players, they all were in my last campaign. So Alf, Ug, and Beau were Bokken, Kip, and Barrai before. And I think looking to create new characters and settle into their role playing of those characters is going to be a work in progress. This is not a bad thing, but I think for newer DM’s who maybe have one campaign under their belt, expect that transition time.

Buy-in

Next is buy in, I think it is fair that “Jack” is hesitant for this. “Jack” does odd jobs around the town, and this one does come with a reward, but it is a bit more dangerous. So I think it is about how players interact with the hook in different ways. Some players make a reason why they would join in. So that is what I gave “Jack” that reason to buy into the hook. This is something that ties back into the first point too. A new player at the table, what is their play style, more generative, passive, or maybe progressing from one to another.

Creating Space

This is something that I’m going to kick off new session with as well. I know that the characters are going to be heading out on this adventure soon. So it is going to be, give them space around town. They head out at 9 in the morning, and it is coming up on that. So what is it that they want to do before they head out? Is there anything important or anyone they want to talk to? Some of that has already happened, but create space for role playing like I did this time.

What’s Next in my D&D Campaign

So this next part of the realization arc is going to probably be the longest part. Checkout some of the reason for the creation of the world and arcs here. But this is going to be them exploring and trying to figure out what is going on, or Investigation as I put it on the arc list.

Why is this going to be the longest, because, firstly, they are heading out into the wilderness. While this area is generally forest, some clearings, it’s remote. So it is very much an unknown situation for the players. And some of the exploring is going to be trying to figure out where the Lemure and Imps came from. But also just figuring out where they are, how to find their way back, and dealing with the nature that is going to be around them.

So my play for my D&D Campaign is to make this last several sessions. There might even be a bit of a dungeon that they come across when they get to where the creatures came from. But it is also to set the tone, this is expansive when it comes to the world. And there is a lot of nature that is going to need to be dealt with to get from place to place.

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How Much World Building Will I Do?

The answer to that is way less than you might think. With world building the question is always, how much do you need for that first session. And in this case there are a few more things to consider as well. It is how much world building do you need for that first session but also how much world building do I need to do for character creation?

Reminders

This is the hook that we are going with.

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

And our first arc is going to be what I dubbed The Realization Arc which is going to be focused on understanding that things breaking down. That is it, and for the first session it is all about the inciting incident. What is going to draw the players to even investigate or understand that something might be happening?

What The Players Need To Know

Let’s start out with this to understand what the players are going to need to know. A lot of it is going to be pretty general, and some of it is going to overlap with what I need to know, as the Dungeon Master for my first session.

Let’s start with the big picture items, the starting location in general terms. And any particular details about the world, magic level for example, that players might need to know.

The Starting Location – Tennoch

Tennoch is a small agrarian town. It hasn’t grown that much because it’s not on any major trade routes but it is one of the larger towns in the area, maybe a thousand people. You are in this town or from this town because of connections to it.

General World Knowledge

This is a world where magic is a thing but not common place. Most people know of magic as something that happens in large cities or something that the gods bestow upon the people. For a small town, a wizard, sorcerer, or warlock would be unique. But a druid, cleric, or paladin might be more common.

It’s also a world where technology is fairly limited. Things like explosives might exist but are known in whispers and are rare and considered extremely dangerous.

Finally, while Tennoch is technically part of the kingdom of Meldros, Tennoch doesn’t have much to do with Meldros. Maybe every couple of years an official accompanied by a knight will show up and ask for some taxes, but there is no set schedule it just seems to be whenever the Queen needs more funds. At least you assume it’s still the Queen.

Why These Details for the Players?

So first it is a little bit about the starting location. It let’s the players know what type of setting there are in and what sort of background they could be picking. It’s a small but larger town for there area. But at only a thousand people at most, it isn’t going to be that much. The outlying villages near them probably come there for trading when a merchant shows up twice a year to restock some goods.

As for the more general knowledge. By naming the land, it lets the players know a little bit more in case they wanted to have moved in. It also sets what sort of rule it is and sets how little characters might know about the lands.

The other two give the players an idea of the sort of world it is in general. Low technology and medium magic. Magic is something that exists and people know about in a town. In fact, they probably have a temple to some god or gods in this town. So there is a cleric, possibly, but it would be a low level cleric at best with probably works more off of knowledge of medicine to heal than magic.

Session One World Building

So as I create for myself I am going to go with a more standardized way of doing it. That is going to be using name, defining feature, brief description which I lay out in my Dungeon Master Tools World Building article.

The Town – Tennoch

Defining Feature: Agrarian town, largest in probably 100-150 miles
Brief Description: While the town seems bustling compared to others in the area, it is very small. Most of the trade in the town comes from neighboring villages and farmers who dot across the land. They hold a market once a week. And twice a year a traveling merchant comes through whom they know by name.

The Mayor – Wilfred Brumble

Defining Feature: Stout man with a large belly who came from out of town
Brief Description: He’s from out of town but he has been in Tennoch for years at this point. But his house stands out as being a slightly different style. But he fits into the town now and has married someone from the town, Madeline.

Shopkeeper – Denny and Olive Ansen

Defining Feature: Gnomes who love to gossip
Brief Description: They are very busy folks running their shop. While most people do their shopping at the market, Denny and Olive are the ones who have a shop that is always open. So when you need something you come to them. And the shop, Thimble Trades and Goods, is always open because they live in the back, so a loud knock will get them scurrying up front to help you no matter the hour.

The Shop – Thimble Trades and Goods

Defining Feature: Jam packed with odds and ends.
Brief Description: How Denny and Olive know where everything is is a great question. There are boxes and shelves crammed full of everything. Often times their shoppers will wait outside and the gnomes will scurry around finding things. That’s because it’s hard to get through spots for the dwarves and humans who live in the area. Thimble Trades and Goods is the only spot to get merchant goods when the merchant isn’t around because the owners send orders with the merchant every time to keep necessities stocked. And they prefer to trade than get coin at the shop.

Notable Farmer – Maggie Fern

Defining Feature: Strong halfling who loves to cook and drink
Brief Description: She’s short, strong, and won’t let anything stop her. But while she is bullheaded when it comes to getting work done and dealing with problems she is also caring. When someone is sick and they need help on their farm, she is the first to bring food and help. She also always will tell you to stop and have a drink if you happen to come by her farm. While you won’t gossip with her, it’ll be a good relaxing time.

Why Only These Things?

Firstly, I could fill out the town more. But if we go back to that first arc article I talked about how one of the things I want is for my players to help with the world building. In particular with this first town, I want them to have connections. So while I could certainly talk more about maybe who has an inn which would be small with a couple of sleeping rooms, a stable, and a larger room for eating, for example, I think that might be something that is defined by the players.

So I want to keep it simple at this point. And I have plans in particular for the mayor and farmer in the first session or two so I want them defined. And a shop and shopkeepers are also good to have defined. You may not need them defined for your first session. I suspect that my players might want to shop because I know my players.

Final Thoughts on My World Building

You can see how simple I kept it. There is only a little bit of detail for the players and only a little bit for me. But now I know what I want my players to know going into character creation. And I know where I’m going to start my story and who I can work with as characters. Is there going to be more that I flesh out, yes. But some of that is going to be as I flesh out my session one. And I plan on doing that some next week so you can see how I lay out that session for the players.

Do you think that I need more world building done before I start the campaign? Or is this going to be enough to keep me going?

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Dungeons and Dragons Campaign Hook and Big Bad

What Was the Hook?

So let’s quickly refresh, what was the hook for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. The players went with (and I helped decide on) plot hook #4. You can see all of them here.

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

The Big Bad

Demons, this is going to be one where there are demons in it. Though, since it is something of legends, and with how long elves live, this happened ages ago. That means that what is known as demons doesn’t have to be demons, that is just what the legends call them.

The First Story Arc

I think the first arc is pretty simple, it is really the hook of the story. But I want to set it up in an interesting way. And you can read up on how I want to use story arcs and recommend people use them in their campaigns here.

The first big arc is going to be what I call The Realization Arc. This arc is going to be about figuring out what is happening. I’m not actually going to tell the players which story they are playing. I am just going to set-up some for the world, I’ve gotten my buy-in, but when we do character creation I’m going to give them a few parameters and that’ll be it. So what is this arc going to look like?

The Realization Arc

The first session is going to be a jump straight into action. But let’s break it down a little bit more.

• The inciting incident
• Town in panic
• Investigation
• The Annals
• We Need To Find Heroes

So what is the inciting incident going to be? Well, it’s going to be an attack of some sort, not on the town but around the town. An example of what I mean is think of the start of the Wheel of Time series. There is an attack on the town but it starts with attacks on the farms and the town and strange things happening near the farms. So the characters are going to learn about it and have to help with it.

Now, I want to dive into this further right now and talk about it, but let’s then talk about that second arc that we’ll be setting up as well. Because the next article is going to be working on world building first and the following one on that session one.

Dungeons and Dragons Full Campaign Arcs

So, I said I wanted to talk about the next one. But there is more than that, I want to deal with arcs that are going to show up in the campaign. Now as I write out all of these, this is not the whole campaign. I expect more arcs to occur, but these are some of the pillar arcs that I think need to happen for the story.

• The Realization Arc
• A Fond Farewell
• Traveling to the City
• We’re Here, Now What?
• Gaining Trust
• ??? I expect more arcs in here
• How Do You Seal a Demon?
• ??? More arcs
• It’s Now Or Never

The Groundwork For A Fond Farewell

So, when I look at this, I want to start laying the groundwork for that next arc. And that next arc is going to be a short arc. A Fond Farewell should be a session or maybe two. It is a chance for the characters to build up more relationships and define who they are as characters. So I want to start creating NPC’s that the characters will interact with. One thing, though, that I want to do is give the players each a note card or two with my NPC template on it. And during session zero, each player is going to make an NPC that they are closely connected to.

What does that look like? You can see that here in my Dungeon Master Tools – World Building Article. But simply put name, defining feature, brief description. And I think I want to add in one in this case. What is the connection to the players. For a small village, everyone is going to be connected. So I want to see the players create meaningful NPC’s who are connected deeply with their character. It is not going to be a lot of work, I just want one or two per player.

How I’ll Use Them

So, when I get those NPC’s how do I want to use them? Firstly, those are going to be the main points of contact for the characters in the town. At least one of them is going to be part of the inciting incident. An important rule of Dungeons and Dragons is put every meaningful character in harms way at some point in time. And if I start with it, that is great. Not all of them will be, but if some make sense, that I want to put them in harms way.

I want to create tension too for the upcoming farewell. The town mayor or village elders, whomever is in charge, is going to send out the player characters. Why, because they are the saviors of the village and the ones who maybe can survive the journey to a town or city. I hope that someone creates a NPC who is a single parent, or maybe even a child who is going to be left behind. I want it to feel. And if they don’t, I might create one for them.

Final Thoughts on A Story Arc in Dungeons and Dragons

I like where this Dungeons and Dragons campaign is going. When I world build coming up here soon in a new article, I want to create the frameworks that this first arc will work in. That means I want to create that the land is like. Is it going to be a hunter gatherer type of setting or more agrarian in nature? That is the fun of world building. And I think my arc works well in any of those.

But as I do that, I want to keep it focused on this first arc. If I plan out too much, such as the nations and city they are going to go to, that is a lot. It is important to only know the large rules for the world. For example, is it high or low magic. And that is not going to affect this first arc too much, just character creation. For this first arc, I want to give the players a description of the town, surrounding area, and not much more. As always, I want to remember, keep it simple, stupid. And in this case, I am stupid.

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Campaign Ideas

We are currently in the Campaign Ideas phase. You can see how I simplify that here. But right now I wan to come up with a few campaigns that could set-up for the next story. And in particular, I want to create the elevator pitches for them.

Now, when I think about coming up with an idea, there is an intimidation element to it. What is going to make a great epic story for a longer campaign? But I think it’s fair for people to borrow ideas from everywhere. So whether that’s a movie, an anime, a book, folklore, whatever it might be, borrow it to help generate ideas. There is a difference between weaving elements into a bigger narrative that show-up elsewhere.

So let’s get down to some ideas.

The End is Known

For ten years there has been war with the demons. No one knows how it started, but demons and devils poured forth from the hells working together. And now only a small band of heroes remains having battled and felt loss over the years. They face off against one last devil, Asmodeus stands before them, and they quake. Asmodeus speaks and it’s all over.

You awake with a new vague memory in your head. A voice that wasn’t there before. It says, something bad is going to be happening. It’s coming, the monsters are coming. But you look outside your window and it’s normal. It’s just another day in your life and nothing seems worse, except for this voice and this vague memory of a devil speaking some incantation. This one is inspired by a LitRPG book I listened to, couldn’t find the title of it, and A Returners Magic Should Be Special.

Notes: This is both the end and the elevator pitch all wrapped into one. The characters kind of know what the end is. But how will these characters now become heroes who can deal with what is coming. And what do they believe, do they believe that is coming or not?

The Puppetmaster

It’s a world of legends and stories. But new stories keep on popping up and they are similar to old stories that you’ve heard before. A magic lamp, three bears living in a house, and wolves, oh so many wolves. The stories are just that, though, right? They are just stories, it can’t be something real.

Notes: Short and sweet pitch here. Not much to set-up, the world matters less for this one, and I wouldn’t even use the title because it’s going to give away some of what the end might be. But this is a question of what if the fairytale world came to life and it wasn’t the happy stories that we know, but the bears, wolves, and everything is now out to kill you?

The Monster Within

The wrought iron gates clanged as a strong wind howled down from the north. It shook the window panes with an unsettling rattle. But neither the clanging of the gate or the rattle of the window were what drew your attention. On the wind there was a song of melancholy and despair. The words couldn’t be made out, but you knew that they came from the castle up on the mountain. There was a narrow cart path leading up there, and that is where you needed to go, because, there was a monster up there who needed to be dealt with.

Notes: This one is going to be a bit different. Clearly I’m going for a gothic horror vibe for it. But I want to go more monster of the week with it. I enjoy the monster of a week trope and it’s going to lean into that with beasts like werewolves, vampires, and other creations that are well fitting for a Curse of Strahd type setting. What does the end game on this one look like? Honestly, it could look like Strahd or some vampire lord, or even work up to a Lich lord who is controlling things.

Time of Legends

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

Notes: The obvious thing here is that the seal is weakening on the dungeons. The second obvious thing is that these are the heroes who are needed. But while the players will know that I know that and you know that, the characters wouldn’t. Why think that they are heroes when they just lead normal lives? And the in the big town, that is there real heroes live and fight in wars for kings and defend against assassins and cast amazing spells. This one steals form a lot of anime. I’m not going full Last Dungeon Town (etc etc) where they are super powerful, but they might find that city heroes aren’t what they think.

What’s the Next Step for this Dungeons and Dragons Campaign?

The next step is pitching the idea to the players. We spun up a Discord Server to share links and notes from the last session. So I plan to drop all of the options in there today with any tweaks that I want. And then the players will get to decide what campaign sounds the most interesting to them. If I ran a game for you, which one would you want to pick?

As the Dungeon Master, I like the idea of them all obviously. But I think that if I were a player, I like the sound of the first and the last the best. The other two feel more monster of the week whereas the first and last feel like they are going to lead to a more epic end. But let me know your pick on the Facebook post or down in the comment section below.

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What Is Failing Forward?

Failing forward comes from players having to do skill checks. A skill check is something that you use as a Dungeon Master when you want to see if the players notice or know something or can complete an action that they are trying to do. An example of this would be the rogue doing a stealth check or something like that.

The idea of failing forward is that the players roll their skill check and they fail it. But instead of them not getting the information or completing they action, they still do that. However, it is going to add in some sort of complication for them. So they succeed but there is a cost instead of them getting it without that cost.

Why Use It?

So why use something like this? The big reason as a Dungeon Master that you want to use failing forward is some things need to happen. Let’s say the players don’t remember a bit of information about the Big Bad Evil Guy/Gal (BBEG). And it is something that their characters need to know to be able to eventually find the BBEG. So you have the players roll history checks for their characters, what happens if they fail? Now they are soft locked out of knowing that information.

So let me define what I mean by soft locked. They aren’t completely locked out of that knowledge, but you need to feed it to them another way. But the idea of failing forward is that they get that information, they pull it up in from their memory, you don’t need to create a new role playing situation or create a reason why they would learn it again. They just know it. But, as I said, there should be a cost to it. And I wills how you what I mean by that when I give some examples later on.

When Not To Use It

So there are times not to use it as well. I think that failing forward is a very useful tool for a Dungeon Master, but sometimes it doesn’t make that much sense to do it. If they fail to disarm a trap, okay, don’t fail them forward. Let them be creative to figure out another way to avoid the trap, or to set it off and just make a run for it.

But the other big time is when it doesn’t matter that much. If the player wants to search a room for gold and they role a one, who cares. They toss the place and the three gold they might have found they don’t find. Or the barbarian wants to throw something a long ways, they roll a strength and roll low, that’s fine as long as it’s not part of the plot that they need to do it.

So, just to recap, use failing forward when you need them to succeed to progress the story. Don’t use it when it is for flavor, the players doing something that doesn’t matter, or there are other ways around the problem.

Examples of Failing Forward

So let’s talk examples, and I want to do a couple of different ones here. But just to demonstrate how you can use it well. And this is something that I’d plan on in the moment. Don’t try and pre-plan for your session checks that your player characters will have to do as the Dungeon Master, it just adds work that might not happen.

Example 1: The Deity’s Hidden Past

The characters are coming to realize that there is something off about this deity who has reached out to them for help. They know some general knowledge on the deity but how much do they actually know. If they roll well they are going to know that the deity was actually killed years ago and now someone has taken it’s place and that matters because they would then know not to trust them.

So all the players roll religion checks, and because this is ancient history it’s a harder check. The best role is an 8 and now they players really didn’t succeed on this check.

What is failing forward going to look like here?

You give the characters the knowledge but you give them more knowledge than is actually right. You explain it to them in the way of a long forgotten myth that is passed down still in some tribes, but was passed down verbally for years. The general details of the deity’s death are there, but specifics are wrong, and who killed the deity is wrong and you give them a lot to sort through that is right or not.

Example 2: The Chase

The other example I want to give is of something a bit more physical. The players were supposed to have snuck up on a criminal and knocked them out. Instead they talk to them. And they tell them exactly what is going on. So the criminal is running through the market now throwing things down behind them.

The players need that item to progress the storyline. So you give them some challenges to complete with athletics and acrobatics. They roll really poorly on their checks while on the chase.

How do you keep the guy from getting away? Well, you already know the answer, you fail forwards.

In this case, that is going to look like issues with the market in the future. The barbarian is in pursuit and runs through a cabbage cart instead of pushing it of their way. The rogue leaps over a stall with an acrobatics but instead just jumps onto it and runs through all the tomatoes. Now the people in the town won’t like them. Yes, they get their criminal in the end, but there is a consequence to their action.

Final Thoughts on Failing Forward

This is an important tool for the dungeon master. And in the examples I gave, I want to just say one thing. The issue that can arise can be something the players know or the players don’t. In the second example the people working in the market are going to be raising a big stink and shouting after the characters so they will know. In the first example, the players might suspect but they won’t know for sure and they won’t know what is right and what isn’t.

And then use it as a tool for the future as well. There are examples I could give where the character is undercover and fails a check to blend in. Now the boss knows that they aren’t who they say they are, but instead of acting on it, the crime boss just holds onto that for later. The players might know that they failed and be surprised, but now it’s something that they are worried about coming back to bite them later.

How do you use failing forward? Is it something that is part of your campaign, or do you not even make the players do a check when they need to know the information?

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Traps

The first area to cover is traps. Traps are generally not too complex a thing in Dungeons and Dragons or in your RPG. In a fantasy setting you have physical and magical traps that players can go into, and since I write these from the point of Dungeons and Dragons, we’ll work with that system.

When using a trap there are a few steps for creating something interesting. Though not every trap needs to be that interesting. It, instead, is able to be used to set expectations if you want. I create a trap in a room at the start of the dungeon, every player is going to check every room for traps. And I think there are good uses for that. But let’s talk about those steps.

• Type of Trap
• Finding Trap
• Disarming Trap
• Setting Off Trap

Type of Trap

Each of these is simple in it’s own right. But you need each of them to be there. Firstly, what type of trap is it goin to be. Physical, magical, and if it’s physical, pit trap, spike trap, poison trap. Or if it is magical, fire, water, changes room, teleport? There are a lot of fun things that you can do. But pick that and that is going to determine some other things as you go down.

Finding Trap

Next is how can the players find the trap. Even if it is arrows being shot off of a floor trigger when they step in a spot, there are signs. Or a magical trap, there might be a glyph that is triggered. But I think there are two worthwhile numbers coming up with. First, what is the difficulty for just passively perceiving the trap? If someone is very good with their passive perception can they just spot it? Or what is the perception check to see it. And then, what is an investigation if they are looking for a specific type of trap.

The second one shows up more if it’s a known trap. If in room one there is a pit trap, in room two they might look for a pit trap again. That is investigating to find something specific. So use both.

Disarming Trap

Next up is disarming a trap. Know kind of how this is going to work. Let players maybe brute force it, if you don’t have a rogue in the party. The Barbarian rips up the pressure plate on the floor, sure. But generally, rogue with thieves tools. Or if it’s a magical trap, do they need to dispel magic?

But this is again about creating that difficulty for the check. It might be a 12 for a rogue with thieves tools and slight of hand to be able to disarm it. It isn’t that complex a trap. But if you don’t have the rogue that day, or the barbarian gets there first, it might be a 18 strength/athletics check to rip it out of the ground. So know what numbers you want. But more so, know the ballpark. If you think they may come up with an alternative way know if you want that to be as easy as a normal way or harder.

Setting Off Trap

Finally, they might just set off the trap. Now, traps can be their own mini little puzzle in a game. What is going to happen if the whole party falls into a pit traps. Now they need to get out. Or maybe it is going to be timed event now for them to get through clouds of poison while taking damage?

Sometimes it is as simple as, a volley of arrows shoot and that is it. Or the player literally gets their foot stuck in a trap (or hand if they were disarming it). But think about how you want to use the trap and the trap affect to advance story or create interesting interactions if you want.

Bonus Dungeon Master Tool – Traps and Expecations

I talked about this a little but I knew I wanted to come back to it. What is the expectation when you create a trap in the first room of a dungeon? Well, the simple answer is, there are going to be more traps. In fact, there are going to be lots of traps. The player is going to check every room for traps.

Change Them Up

Now that the players are checking for traps there are a few things that you can do. Firstly, change up the traps. Not every room should have a trap, but when you set the expectation that there can be traps don’t waste your and the players time by only having one in the first room. But change up the traps, magical and non-magical in nature.

Only One

Or, do only have a single one. But make it so difficult and terrifying that most groups would immediately run in fear. Since a good adventuring party doesn’t have enough fear or brains to know to be afraid, they will just keep checking for traps. If you do that, though, make the rest of the dungeon a cake walk. All the energy was on the start of it, the rest is just empty hallways because no one ever gets through.

Develop History

Another thing, and last one I’ll talk about, is you can develop history. The history of the dungeon could be new traps are being created so it means that someone is still down there taking care of it. Or you might find adventurers who were killed before and the players gather pieces of history from them. Nothing like the first room and the adventurers see someone dead in a sprung trap. Now you immediately plant concern and can give them some history with the adventurers journal as to what they knew of this dungeon.

Puzzles

That is more on traps than I had expected. But I think that doing a great job with traps can make for an interesting campaign. And it is going to give the rogue something to do besides trying to steal everything that isn’t bolted to the ground.

But now we are onto puzzles. And puzzles, I think, offer three different routes to go. Though, the routes can overlap in some ways. But I want to firstly talk about who the puzzle is for, that is two of the routes. And then finally, what if there isn’t an answer.

Determining Who the Puzzle is For

This might sound odd. But there are two groups that the puzzle could be for. When you create a puzzle it is either for the characters in the game. Or it is for the players out of the game. Neither is a wrong way to create a puzzle and doing both can offer a lot of fun in the game for the players. But this is the first thing you want to determine when you create a puzzle, who it is for. Because that is going to change what you do.

Puzzles for the Characters

Puzzles for characters are going to be less of the cryptograms, jumbles, patterns, things like that. Instead, for the characters, a brain teaser or pieces of history and knowledge needed are the type of puzzle that you are going to create.

You go to the temple of the god of death, for example. Well, what is it that your characters know about the god of death? You create a puzzle where they need to know something about it. The players outside of the game don’t know this god of death unless you gave them a document with it all in there (don’t do this it’s a waste of your time). But the characters in the game sure do because it’s the god of death, they’d have heard of it at least.

So think about the checks that you want them to make. It might be an investigation to see if they can tell how someone beat the puzzle before. Or it might be a religion check to determine what they remember about the god of death. Again, it’s the god of death, the characters know of it for sure, but do they know the right detail.

So a puzzle for the characters is all about the checks that they do. And you decide how hard or easy you want it to be. But if you make it too hard, also have a way around it.

Example – The God of Death

So let’s run with this god of death example. There is a dungeon where they need to get down to the lowest level. They know that there is a secret passage called the River Styx that they can use to get down to the bottom. But they get there and it’s locked away behind a riddle.

“Bestow they worship upon me, pay the tolls once, twice, and three. Coins of death marked for their fate. Hours gone don’t tarry late.”

Solution

So, what is the answer to that riddle? The players need to provide the total value of the cost to cross the River Styx either three times or six times. Once, Twice, and Three could be 1+1+1 paying it three times. Or it could be 1+2+3, paying the set each time. I think I’d set this as an intelligence check of 10, pretty simple if they want both options.

But it is also a specific coin. What is a coin marked for death. Well that might be a soul coin from the hells. A soul given up to a devil would be interesting payment to get across the River Styx. This one is more of a religion check, and I think while people know of the god of death, it is taboo to worship them, so it’s less common. Make it a difficulty check of 15 for religion, so tougher.

What If They Fail

So what if in this case they all fail their religion rolls. They don’t know about the soul coins. But after feeding in a bunch of coins and nothing happening are they locked out of the dungeon? No, there is a longer path that is more dangerous for them. But if you need a roll to succeed to progress the story, always gives a different, harder way for them to go forward. If it is just a case of finding some treasure that would be nice. Sure, it is possible that they never figure it out. But if it is for anything related to story, give them that other option.

Puzzles for the Players

Next up, a puzzle can be for the players. This one I think is a bit simpler. Yes, you still might incorporate checks that the characters can do to give the players hints. But it is all about the players for this one. A cryptogram is a great example of this. You give them a little bit of a key and then let them get going on breaking the whole thing. It is something that all the players can take part in, but it isn’t part of the game and it isn’t meant for them to roleplay it out.

I am going to skip an example on this, but it can be a lot of different things. I made a room with gouts of flames that were being shot out. As I describe what the players watch, I kind of expect the players to take notes and solve the path. It isn’t something you do by trial and error but in that case, I also make it simple. And if the players aren’t solving it, I give them an intelligence roll and give some more details that make the puzzle simpler.

Puzzles with no Answer

The final thing is something that I think more Dungeon Masters should do. This is going to be the best Dungeon Master tip overall for traps and puzzles. It is simply, don’t create a solution. This is something that you can do with puzzles but also just with issues that arise. Throw the players a problem and see what happens.

Why wouldn’t you have a solution, though? The simple answer is, the players can come up with one. And this is something that can be done in character as well. You just wait until they try something that you think makes enough sense or is cool enough to work. When they suggest it or they try it, it can work as simple as that. And let’s face it, there is one of you and probably two to eight players, so more brains, more creative solutions.

This also can let you set a time for it. If you think, I want them to sweat a bit on this trap, give them ten minutes to discuss it and try different things, or maybe even longer if it’s supposed to be key and important. Or if it is supposed to be pretty trivial, make it that way, let the first cool or fun idea work.

Example from My Game

This came to be because I actually created one of these, kind of, last night in my game. The players were on a labyrinthian type floor of a tower, the main dungeon in the campaign. Every room was the same except for a few had plaques on the wall. The big thing is that they needed to get to the stairs for the next level. To do that they needed to go into rooms and figure out where to go.

In the rooms, and only a few of them, did I leave clues for the players. But the clues were fairly general. In the first room it said the following.

First Puzzle

“Beware – Zombies
Go this way.”

That was next to one of the four doors in the square room (one per wall). The players had to decide what that meant. But little did they know, and they messed this up in an interesting way, was that every room a character went into had more and stronger zombies. So if they fought, each time the zombies would get tougher and tougher and more and more.

Second Puzzle

So the player went the right direction, eventually, after one had done a loop to see how it would work and ramping up their difficulty. Eventually they got to another room with another plaque and a dead adventurer.

“Two Far
[down arrow]”

This meant head back two rooms and go south. Now going back is going to cause more zombies and harder zombies to appear. At this point, by the way, the zombies had +23 to hit and were dealing 1D6+21 damage.

The Real Puzzle

So the new puzzle was simpler but harder. How do we get through rooms without getting hit by the zombies. They had already spent a fair number of resources on a battle or two with the zombies. And I didn’t give them a solution. If they had gone the ideal route, it wouldn’t have been a major deal. But because they went further and created more zombies, it was way harder for them.

So two flight spells later and the Warforged character being disguised as a zombie the players got to the right room. But they needed to do it in a way where they weren’t taking 3-4 attacks of opportunity each, Because say it was three, all likely hit with a +23 to hit, and that’s a minimum of 66 damage, a lot for even a level 16 bard.

Final Dungeon Master Tools for Traps and Puzzles

This is the reminder that I give at the end of all of these Dungeon Master tools. Or if not at the end, sometime in there. But the point of everything is to create a great experience at the table. And that means progressing characters and stories as you go along. When you create a trap and a puzzle that should be in your mind as well. Because when you do that the most fu n is going to be had at the table for both you and your players.

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The Basis of a Character Arc

Let’s start out with the first one you already have built into your character. If you followed what I suggested for character creation, you have an overall character arc already planned out. Read up on that here. But this is just a starting point.

Example – Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

So, I want to give an example from an anime/light novel series that I love. Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki features a protagonist who doesn’t think that he can “win” at the game of life. In fact, he believes that because of his stats (the body he was born into) there’s no way to get ahead and therefore life is a garbage game. But then he meets the #2 player of a video game in real life, he’s number one, and it turns out that it’s someone he knows. She convinces him to try playing the game of life.

So, how does she do that? Every day is a new small goal to lead towards the big end goal. In the case of Tomozaki, it is get a girlfriend for the big goal. But the smaller goals are improve his looks, get better at talking and engaging with people. And even those often get broken into smaller tasks. And I think that is how you create a character arc for your character.

The Big Arc

The first thing is the big arc. This one is already part of your character creation, like I said. But let’s recap it here because it is important. When you create your character you create two things. The first thing is pretty simple, why am I an adventurer. That is your starting point.

The second one is the thing that gives you a big character arc to go through. What is my end goal. Aka, what keeps me adventuring and when I complete it, I’ll likely be done. It makes sense, this is about the largest thing that your character can do. And that is likely going to tie in with complete the campaign as well, but it might not for all characters.

Breaking It Down

So now you know what you big character arc is going to be. But you want to get there, and you can’t just work towards a single massive goal. Your character is going to stagnate along the way if that happens because you don’t have a goal to get to in between

Your goals should affect your character as you plan them out. There are two types of character arcs that you can create for these smaller goals. The first are ones that you can do. Does your character have a specific goal, like in the example of the monk from character creation, they want to make their monastery financially stable, so they want to fund raise when they go to town, so it might be make connections with people. Or it might be something where you need the Dungeon Masters help. So you talk with them to help make it happen.

So let’s break it down even further here.

• Keep it actionable
• Work on it during downtime or in alignment with moving the story forward
• Know your end condition
• Know the end result or change

Example – The Monk

So quick recap. Our monk is adventuring because he needs to help raise money for the monastery that brought him in and raised him. Once he feels like the monastery is in a viable spot financially, he is likely going to retire and go back to train and mentor urchins like he was and give them the opportunity he had.

So let’s create a small goal with that in mind.

Find a potential benefactor and talk with them.

This is actionable as you can go around town and ask people. And it is something that is easy to do in the downtime. The end condition is also set, it is done when you talk to a potential benefactor. Not when you convince them or anything.

So the big question is what is the end result or change for the monk? Well, in this case, I suspect our urchin who lived on the streets and then went into a monastery isn’t that great at talking to people and has a low charisma stat. So the end goal is to get better at talking to people.

This is something that can even play out in your characters stats. This could be a goal until you hit level four, or level eight, or whenever you get your stat bumps. And when you do, if you’ve successfully worked at this, you increase your charisma stat so that it’s less of a negative. But that is optional to tie it in so much.

Final Thoughts on a Good Character Arc

I think that these are important for your character. I talked about it some with bonds, flaws, ideals, and personality traits last week. But it is about the character growth. And using your bonds, flaws, ideals and personality traits, it can be a great way to create more interesting story arcs for your character. You find a flaw and you want to over come it, that is a character arc. Or maybe you have a personality trait that you want to add or a bond you want to add, that is a character arc as well.

But with that said, we’re down to our last topic. And that is going to be role playing your character. Everything that we’ve done thus far leads up to that moment. Whether it be the character creation, backstory creation, or figuring out a character arc, it is all going to show up at the table and how you interact with the other players and the Dungeon Master. So join me for that next time.

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Bonds

Let’s start with bonds. This one is pretty simple, but it’s a very handy one to have, and for the Dungeon Master to know about. This is what you are connected to. Often times, this is going to be a character, such as a family member, but it can also be an organization. If you play a monk, it might be the monetary that you studied at. If you’re a half-orc barbarian, it might be the tribe that grew up with. Or maybe you play a druid who has a wild old bear friend.

The important element, here is, that you don’t tie them too tightly into anything. While they are your bond, keep it a bit nebulas as to how. Why you want to do that, is so the Dungeon Master can play with the character more. If you create someone who is extremely specific in location and backstory, it is going to be trickier to integrate.

Flaws

Next up is the flaw. I think this one is very important as well because it is going to be important for your role playing. This is something that you character doesn’t like. I think the name flaw makes that fairly obvious, but let’s lay it out clearly. And this is something that you can role play when you play Dungeons and Dragons.

Now, I think most players pick a flaw that isn’t too big a complication. But a bigger complication can create more interesting role playing moments. For example, a character in my game dislikes leprechauns. Another one is afraid of water. These make for interesting moments in the game because water is a thing, rain is a thing. And turns out the fey are very important to the story so leprechauns show up.

And while I think a lot of players will gravitate towards, I dislike something, or I’m afraid of something. I think there is a physical element that you can add to. What does it look like if your rogue is missing an arm? How is that going to complicate life for them, because as an adventurer, and in particular a rogue who maybe does second story work, that is going to make the life way more challenging.

Ideals

Another way to say an ideal would be, what is your characters north star. And I want to use that term, because I think ideals are less role played out than some. But there is a very important reason to have them in your game and for your character.

Now, the reason I think it is less role played than other things, in Dungeons and Dragons, is that it’s a positive. I think a good ideal can be role played though. So how do you do that?

I think that you make it specific and general enough. Now that sounds weird, but if it’s too general, it can’t be acted upon. If it is too specific, like a bond, it is a fixed element of the story. There is less room for the story to grow.

The other thing the ideal is good for is the north star. This is for those moments when you get stuck asking yourself, what would your character do? As a north star, this is going to give you a quick decision check that you can think about. But there are risks to this, but we’ll talk about that later.

Personality Traits

These are going to be role playing prompts as well. But these don’t always serve that extra purpose for the Dungeon Master to use. Sure, they might be, but the others often more tie to a specific thing. But often times they are lesser things.

You might be very brash after you’ve had a couple of drinks. That is a personality trait, and something you can lean into. It is something, also, that a Dungeon Master can use. Or maybe when someone breaks your trust it is forever gone. That is something else that a Dungeon Master can use.

But a lot of the time, since you do two of these, it is going to be more important to how your character interacts with the party, the NPC’s and the world in general. So as a player, think about them, so you think about how you use them to get into and get out of trouble. Because a good personality trait should be a bit of both.

Using Them As Framework Not The Law

Let’s talk about something important that I hinted at with the ideals. The ideal, personality traits, flaw, and bond are all great things to help shape your character. But they are not all of who your character is. There is one thing as a player that you want to avoid.

And this goes to what I consider a golden rule for Dungeons and Dragons, gaming of any sort really. Is everyone at the table, yourself included, having fun. Ideally that answer should be yes. And it might be some fun with the game and a lot of fun with the company, or a lot of fun with the game.

Why talk about that now? Well, I think it is pretty easy to fall into the trap of “that is what my player would do.”, and that’s negative behavior at the table.

Example

What do I mean by that? Imagine you have a flaw where you have sticky fingers, common for a rogue in Dungeons and Dragons. What happens if you go into the castle and you see some jewels sitting out in the throne room? Do you steal them or not? Now your flaw might say yes. But the room is full of guards, nobles, and the king. If you get caught, what is the king going to do? You won’t be able to talk your way out of it.

If you play by the letter of the law with your character, you would steal them. Likely by stealing the jewels you get caught and you get your whole party in trouble. Now everyone in the party, and probably the people at the table, are annoyed with you.

So, let your character be smart. Don’t let them just be driven by their ideals, bonds, flaws, and personality traits. It is going to go against that fun for everyone at the table. Sure, you might find some fun with it, but is it going to be worth the long term ramifications?

They Can (And Should) Change

The final thing I want to talk about is changing them. This is an element of character creation that is often over looked. Mainly because, I think most players, myself included, think of it as part of character creation. But as you play your Dungeons and Dragons campaign, you will change. So at the start you might be brash, or you might have sticky fingers. But will you continue to have that?

I want to go back to the flaw of being afraid of rain. After a rainman killed the character and he was reincarnated, the player character became afraid of rain. That is going to knock out the previous flaw. Or it is going to be added to the previous flaw as an additional one.

Or, another example, very early on my players decided to befriend and get the help from a fellow student at their school. So now that is a bond that the characters have. They want what is good for that NPC because they befriended them. Sure, they pick other bonds before, but now it is one to add to their character.

Those are two easy examples. But the main point is that your character is a living character. In the world, they go on missions, fight monsters, and interact with people. Every thing they do is going to change them as time goes by. So update your bonds, flaws, ideals, and personality traits as needed.

Final Thoughts for Dungeon and Dragons Traits

There is a good amount in there. I always want to point back to the golden rule for Dungeons and Dragons and all RPGs. And thanks to The RPG Academy for being the ones who made it. But don’t let these things get in the way of fun at the table for everyone. The great thing is that your bonds, flaws, ideals, and personality traits are all tools to enhance the fun at the table.

Which is the hardest to get that proper balance for?

Two more topics to go for players. Let me know if there is an additional Dungeons and Dragons player topic(s) you want to see covered. I want to make this as comprehensive as possible.

• Roleplaying your character
• Character Arcs

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Dungeons and Dragons Player Tools – Character Creation

One of the first things that you do when you start out as a player is come up with an idea for your character. I want to give you some help when coming up for a character because I think players often struggle with coming up with a character in two major ways. Plus then there are just practical things to think about as well. But let’s talk about the two big things to think about as you come up with your character idea.

The Struggle of a Character Idea

So, there is a struggle in two areas that I think players consistently run across. Both are around when you come up with the concept for the character. A player generally ends up on either of two extremes. They come up with a good starting character idea but don’t know where to build their character towards. Or they come up with a level twenty backstory and the character is level one.

So how do you combat that as a player? I think there are two things to think about. Because both starting at the right point and having an idea where you want to build to, that level twenty powerful character, are important. And it’s more than just what class do you want to take.

Coming Up With A Character Idea

So let’s come up with that character idea. And yes, you are starting the campaign at level one. But that means the world is your oyster. You get to come up with the answer to the question, why did I get into adventuring?

Let’s start there. This is a simple question that is meant to prompt the thought process of character creation. It is meant to also limit the scope of your character. It’s not a question of, what amazing things have I done? Or what great skills do I have? It’s a simple question of, why did I become an adventurer. And the reason for keeping it that simple is that the skills come from your class and background. And you will do amazing things in the campaign. But right now you are starting out. So what is the characters motivation.

Then I also want you to think about, where is the character going? And by this I mean, why do you keep being an adventurer in some ways. What is the end goal that would make you character feel satisfied as an adventurer? Because this is going to be the big thing that you roleplay towards. Again it’s not the skills or levels of a certain class, but what motivates your character to be an adventurer and go as far as they want.

Example – Character Idea

Let’s say I sit down and I want to create my character. I have some ideas for it especially around class and background. I know that I want to be a Monk who was an Urchin and then was brought into a monastery to learn martial arts and have a place to live. So I got that bit of a backstory, now I need to answer my two questions.

Why am I an adventurer? I head off adventuring because the monastery needs more money. There used to be a bunch of people who donated money but after the charismatic head monk passed away, people have slowly drifted away. But this is the place that saved me, so I want to venture out to find fortune or make money in any way that I can to keep the monastery going so it can help more kids like I was.

What is my end goal? It’s two part really. The first step is that I want to get the monastery back to the point where it is financially stable. And then eventually, once it is there and I feel like it won’t fall into a bad spot again, I want to return to the monastery and take over running it and bringing in more kids.

What About Race, Class, and Background?

So how do you plan those in as well? Well, you easily see that I tossed them into my backstory idea. I think that most people generally can come up with some idea of what they want to play in those areas. But I do want to toss out especially with background, think about how it ties into your character idea, and the same can be said for class. It wouldn’t make sense for me to have my backstory with the monastery and be a well trained Wizard.

While they are important to making a mechanically solid character, I don’t think that it’s the end of the world to focus more on what makes thematic sense. That is going to provide a more interesting gaming experience. And this is also where it’s great to collaborate in a session 0 with your Dungeon Master and the other players to create a balanced party, if you want, but to iron out any wrinkles between characters and players and their character builds.

Stats

Finally, let’s talk about stats. And I went over in the Character Creation article for Dungeon Masters some different options for rolling up stats. And there are more options as well that can be done. But the first step when getting stats is ask the Dungeon Master how they want you to get stats. Every Dungeon Master is going to have a preferred way. And even if they don’t, they are going to want it consistent across everyone. You get characters with unbalanced stats if someone does points buy and another player rolls.

But there is more to stats then just how you get stats, there is how you allocate them. And there are two things I want to talk about here. What is your best stat and what is your worst stat?

Best Stat

So the reason why you think about this is that your best stat is going to affect your best skills. And that is probably going to be what you are leaning into. If I character my monk, I might go with high dexterity as my top stat. The reason that I do that is two-fold. Firstly it helps with the character build and making it functional. But also, it stems from my background and idea for my character. I want to be light on my feet from being an urchin who stole some and didn’t want to get caught and then being trained in martial arts.

In fact, that’ll also influence how I solve problems too, I might just try and fadeaway in the shadows. So that’d again make sense for dexterity to be my best stat because it means that my stealth will be solid.

Dump Stat

So the worst stat is also called the dump stat. And every character should have a dump stat of some sort. That means a stat that is below 10 so you get a negative to your rolls on it. Because as much as your good stat helps determine how you roleplay, your dump stat is going to be as well.

Let’s look at my monk urchin. They came the monastery when they were a little bit older, probably a teenager, so they don’t have the formal schooling that you’d expect. The monks did what they could, but while the character is street smart from living on the streets, they aren’t book smart. So intelligence would make a great dump stat.

Especially because thinking about the backstory, how poor intelligence could work in. The character is focused on doing well themselves. They learned as a kid how to rely only on themselves. And while they love their monastery, they think it’s only on them to save it. So even though they maybe know they aren’t the brightest, they aren’t going to consult others for it. They are going to try and do those things themself.

Don’t Be Batman

Final thing about stats is don’t be Batman. What do I mean about that? Batman is generally good at everything in DC. He can take on almost any villain and with enough time and his tons of resources, he’ll beat them. But when you play you don’t want to be Batman. Batman isn’t fun for everyone at the table.

So let’s talk about it a bit more. First off, give yourself a dump stat. Even if everything rolled high, give yourself an 7 or 8 in some area and roleplay into it. Also don’t pick all the good skills. If you are a rogue who is proficient or have expertise with stealth, persuasion, deception, intimidation, perception, and insight, you are just going to do everything. Don’t be good at everything, and this part of character creation to make sure that every player at the table has some area where they will shine.

Final Thoughts

We’re going to have a few more articles in this series for players in Dungeons and Dragons, or really any RPG system. So as a player what topics do you want covered? I am going to toss out a few, but let me know if there are more you want to learn about?

• Flaws, Bonds, Ideals, and Personality Traits
• Roleplaying your character
• Character Arcs

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