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I have been gaming for quite some time now. I began when I was 12, and I have spent the vast majority of gaming career as a DM or GM. As a result, I've spent quite a bit of time forming groups and having a major role in running them.

I've been thinking about topics for a blog posts for a while now. My group is currently looking for new members and yesterday I spent some time on that effort, mostly by sending a long e-mail to a prospective group member. I thought group formation, specifically selecting individuals for long-term group success, might be a good blog topic.

If you're interested, below is a specific example of my recruiting efforts.

First and foremost, I want to share my "Golden Rules" of recruiting. There are three and they're pretty simple and self-explanatory. I put a great, great deal of stock in them. Here they are, in order of importance.

1. The recruit must be sociable and be able to get along with others at the table.
2. The recruit must want to play the games we want to play, in the manner we want to play them.
3. The recruit must be able to play when we play.

As I said, my group is looking for new members. My group has a certain culture, plays games in a certain way. One of the things I’m looking for when I recruit is someone who is willing to be assimilated into that culture.

I have a recruit in mind. I’m not completely convinced he’ll enjoy playing games our way, so I started by talking to him about what he wants out of gaming. This is, to my mind, huge. The first step, in my opinion, to having a successful group is to know what the individual players want out of the experience. I wrote the recruit a long e-mail.

That e-mail is all about number two above. I’ve known him for years, so I know he’s sociable and can get along with people. Now I want to focus on number two and satisfy myself he is a good fit.

Here is that e-mail:

***

I've been reading lately and it has caused me to be dissatisfied. I've been reading both RPG products and fiction. While reading them - and they include the new Dresden novel, an RPG called Burning Empires, an RPG called Terra Primate, and a D&D module that's supposed to be a mix of Call of Cthulhu and D&D - I've realized that I want those sorts of things in my gaming life and that, given my current main group and trajectory, I'm never going to get them. [NOTE: Both I and the recruit were both members of a failing group when I wrote this…]

For example, I have and like the Dresden Files RPG. It's nifty. Building your own Dresden-esque city and then seeing what happens to it sounds awesome. But I can't imagine trying something like that with A---- and B----. B---- is too passive, too invested in builds and penis measuring, and A---- gets bored too easily and then seeks to knock over all the blocks to entertain himself. I just can't imagine doing something medium-term and constructive with those two on board.

Which means a change group. I know we've danced around the idea a bit and I think given it's current course, the group has a limited life span anyway. But after last night's cancellation, all these neat things I'm reading, the pile of games I have, et al., I'm ready to be more proactive.

But before we go too far, I wanted to feel you out about what type of games and gaming you're interested in. I like 4e. I like the basically Delve format we've been playing. But not all the time. I do have another group that plays a game more my style, but we only meet once every few months. The constant show up and fight fights that are meaningless to your character type of gaming - let's call it Lair Assault - has wearied me a bit.

More about my preferences and gaming history.

I started in 1982 with my brothers. I was in sixth grade then. It was the Moldvay red box Basic D&D set, if that means anything to you. The cool kids - the Gifted and Talented children - played D&D on playground and I desperately wanted to join. While they wouldn't let me play with them, one gave me his old red box and I started playing with my siblings. Then I got the Moldvay blue Expert set. Then I got AD&D first edition.

It wasn't long before I started buying and running other games, namely Indiana Jones, Gamma World, and Star Frontiers. And it wasn't too long before I started playing with friends from school. My experiences started to broaden.

Then my worldview exploded - as far as games were concerned. I started getting real money and really started buying games. Ars Magica, Chill, and Paranoia were early favorites. I kept on buying games. As you know, I still buy a crap ton of stuff today. At last count, I had something like 350 different game systems. (Not different books. I have boxes and boxes of D&D products - those all count as just a couple of systems, one per edition.) As I read and played these games, they changed my ideas about how gaming ought to be played. Like many folks, I started with the not quite adversarial ideas about DMing, for example, but they changed because Ars Magica shares GMing duties, uses a pool of PC characters, and says to build something together.

My last group - the one before I started playing with Jason - also had a great impact on me. Not to be immodest, but I basically built it from the ground up and spent eight years "training" the players to work together to build something fun and creative. That group had a charter and it literally mandated that we play a variety of different systems and gaming styles, trying them out and then coming back to the ones we like. We did many, many of interesting, innovative, and awesome things.

My favorite games are D&D, Amber, Everway, Castle Falkenstein, Nobilis, and Dragon Storm. Most of them are rules light. All of them are, of course, awesome. Many of them also allow for a large degree to imagination on the player's part... (Amber is based on the books by Zelazny - if you don't know what they are, get thee to a nunnery. Or bookstore, in this case. Everway is a kind of...myth-centric fantasy game that uses a deck of cards as a randomizer. The characters are Spherewalkers, or planar travellers. Castle Falkenstein is basically Jules Verne plus magic and faeries. Nobilis is about...er. You play godlings of sorts working for a greater god to prevent the universe from being destroyed. And Dragon Storm is a fantasy game about shapeshifters - dragons, unicorns, werewolves, gargoyles - and you use cards to build your character.)

Some random beliefs of mine about roleplaying games and gaming:

1. The GM isn't in charge of the group, all powerful, etc.. He or she guides the group, not crushes it in a velvet covered iron fist. This isn't to say that sometimes authority isn't necessary, but I expect everyone at the table to be adults. In the paradigm I prefer, the group discusses goals, likes and dislikes, etc. and a game is selected. Then everyone, GM and players, work to make the game work and fun. For example, if the group decides to play a noir game, the players come up with characters appropriate to a noir game, run their characters in a way that's appropriate to a noir game, the GM works to deliver on what was agreed upon, and so on.

2. The GM doesn't necessarily have to play by the rules - building NPCs the same way PCs are built, using only spells and magic items in the book, etc. - but he or she should play fair. That is, he or she shouldn't use his or her authority to trump the players, somehow "beat" the players, or negate or de-value their input into the game, both in terms of characters and, well, other forms of input.

3. In general, people shouldn't be dicks.

4. A character isn't just numbers or kool powerz. A character is the outlook, personality, choices, quirks, etc., of the imaginary person as well. If you ran the same module with the same group of players, but the characters were different, the game should be different.

5. Roleplaying isn't just funny accents. It's also playing a role - being a cleric or a sniper or whatever - and making the kinds of choices the character would likely make. It means sharing the character's outlook - even if that isn't always advantageous. It also means making genre appropriate choices. If you're playing a character in a noir game, make choices that are appropriate for a noir game.

6. Some people believe a character is cool or awesome because of mechanics. Those people are, in my opinion, full of ****. Characters are cool because of their backgrounds and personalities, because of how they're played, and because of the non-combat things they do in a game. I play John characters - that is, they tend to be a bit wacky, especially mechanically. But people remember them, tell stories about them, etc., because of the non-mechanical, non-combat things they do.

7. Investigating the in-game situation, manipulating it, using your character to alter it, etc., is every bit as fun as combat. Roleplaying, being creative, and being imaginative is fun! The fun of roleplaying games comes from responding creatively to challenges.

8. There's a lot to learn from other games, even if you prefer just D&D.

Here's what I want right now from gaming: to feel that wild, electric current of unbridled imagination. To have my presence at the table matter, not just as one more body in a fight, but as a component in a multi-person mechanism that it creating something wild and inventive and awesome. To be in loving with gaming again and not see it as a chore or commitment or just another way to pass the time.

How I'm going to get to that, I don't know. I think it starts with playing something other than D&D or playing D&D in a way that doesn't involve a weekly Delve.

What do you think? What are you looking for out of gaming?

***

The recruit thought about and shared his thoughts on gaming. His answers – along with past experience with his play style – gave me hope that we might be simpatico. Or at least share enough in common that we could sit down at the same table, play long-term, and both be basically satisfied with the results.

Next I explained in an e-mail our groups culture as best as I could articulate it, along with some of our recruiting practices. We like to meet candidates outside of gaming – a movie, pool, or, as we’re setting up now, a board game night – and get to know them, to talk about our gaming experiences and see what comments and stories cause them to light up like a little kid on Christmas. This stage, too, is all about criterion number two.

Here is that e-mail:

***

I have a group who meets once a month, usually on Thursday or Saturday evenings. We are currently playing the second part of a five part D&D campaign using a slightly modified version of 4e.

People have moved and stopped showing up, necessitating the addition of new people. We have three players and a DM right now and we're looking to add one or two more people. We need enough people that if one person can't make it - especially the host - the game doesn't collapse. We haven't played since November (and may not get to play until March) because of last minute scheduling problems. It's killing the campaign.

Three of us have been playing together since 1997 or so. Our group has its own culture. Here are some of my perceptions about that culture.

Character is everything. I don't mean numbers or Powers or Feats or Prestige Classes. Our culture is such that, without exception, characters have names, backgrounds, and motivations. How much a character's elements interact with the campaign's elements just depends. When we played Vampire, for example, what happened in the game revolved quite a bit around the characters. In our current game, one of the characters has amnesia and has been seeing bit of his background - family portraits, for example, pop up - only to discover he has at least one doppleganger. However, this character comes from a nation that's far away from the play area and that element hasn't been a factor at all. However much these elements interact or don't interact, most people tend to send in pages and pages of background information. If not, they at least have a solid backstory in mind when we begin play and build on that.

Also, our culture is such that the players make choices for the character based on the character. I have literally seen players voluntarily take on mechanical penalties, get themselves into disadvantageous situations, etc., all because of how they felt their characters would respond or react. People actually put some thought into this and it occasionally becomes a topic for discussion at the table: "I'm wondering what my character would do. We just learned that Octavian is racist. My character is still young and have never encountered that kind of thinking before. She doesn't understand why Octavian hates her. So...I'm trying to figure out how she would react."

Another aspect of this is how many characters people play. Death happens. Sometimes characters get retired for other reasons. But in general, we pick a character and stick with that character.

Players are shepherds, too. The degree of direct power the players have varies from game to game, but our culture is such that the expectation is that everyone is responsible for everyone else's good time. It isn't the DMs who are stuck with making sure that everyone is having fun. Yes, that certainly is a large part of the DM's responsibilities, but as you know, it just takes one asstastic player to ruin an entire group. So everyone is responsible for a) not personally being a ****, b) not using his or her characters to be a ****, and c) not creating characters that are too dickish. You don't get to say, "Well, my character WOULD set your character on fire! I'm just roleplaying!"

This responsibility, however, extends to in game play. Don't wreck the game. Don't wreck the game by bringing in ubermench who can destroy all the night's combat encounters by himself. Don't wreck the game by doing something that's going to destroy all our hard work. And, in terms of our buy in discussion, if we're playing a fantasy noir game, play a fantasy noir character. Don't show up with Drizzt - show up with Dresden. Don't play Drizzt - play Dresden.

And this also extends to character creation. People often create powerful characters - they make wise choices - but they also make choices which make sense for their character. In fact, they'll make decidedly suboptimal choices in the name of character (I'm famous for making "John characters" - mechanically bizarre, yet memorable).

In conjunction with this, the players usually contribute quite a bit creatively to the campaign. In my games, I encourage the players to go ape ****. Just make stuff up. You're the prince of a kingdom? Awesome. You have a dangerous artifact? Cool. You know an NPC in the city who might be able to lend you some aid? Go for it! Sometimes this means actual mechanics - Fate Points, Action Points, and so on - and in others it just means speaking up and letting your wishes be known.

Here's a concrete example. In our current campaign, we sat down and built the world together. We created it's nations, themes, some people and things in the world, etc.. We discussed, for example, what roles dragons would play. We discussed what the characters would be like. And when the players say, "I want there to be undead in this second part of the game...oh, and a dungeon crawl," well, that's what happens...

Player choice is the rule of the day. Personally, I have no idea why people play in games where they don't get to do what they want. To me, that is THE WHOLE POINT OF SITTING DOWN AT THE TABLE. Our culture says that the players get to make their choices. There might be consequences - they don't always go the players' or characters' way - but you can do what you want. If that means you say, "Bah! I don't like this plot. Let's wander off," well, you get to wander off.

I, personally, try very, very, very hard not to steer the players. Sometimes that leaves them feeling lost, but I want to REACT to what they do, not hint around about what outcomes I like. My NPCs don't speak for me. Now if the players misunderstood something I said - for example, "John said the minotaur was green," when I actually said it was blue - then I'll speak up. Otherwise, I try very, very, very hard to just sit back and watch (and try not to smile like a son of a bitch).

We metagame. It may sound odd given on emphasis on reacting in character, but we think and talk about the metagame.

First and foremost, we have, historically, played many different games. MANY different games. As a result, we're always learning rules and getting them wrong. So we have a pretty damn lax policy about making changes to your character based on realizing in play that something unintended has happened. You just say, "Hey, I wanted a stealthy guy and I didn't realize that I didn't actually make him stealthy, so I'm going to change that." We recognize that we're playing a game and that the intent isn't so much to stick by each and every rule, but to have fun.

Second, we often discuss the campaign's meta game. We discuss theme, things that should happen, where it's going, etc. - as a group. That isn't to say that the group approves the plot per se, but often things that are hidden by other group's DMs and GMs are made plain by ours. Part of the reason for this is for buy in and cooperation. It's easier to agree to play a game and to play it in a certain way if you understand what that way is.

Here's a concrete example of what I'm talking about. In our current game, we created three nations - a primal one (where we started), a divine Roman-esque one, and an Industrial Revolution-esque arcane one. We discussed as a group the general outline of the plot: The characters start in the primal setting and learn of a danger; we switch to the divine area, creating new characters, with the intent of learning more about that danger; we switch back to primal to see how what we learn impacts the overall plot - and potentially our Roman characters join us in that part of the world; then we move on to the arcane part, discovering more about it and what's happening; and, finally, we end up resolving the campaign in the primal area.

We're getting ready to play our second session in the divine area inspired by the Roman Empire. We sat down, as a group, and really discussed what that should look like. I, as the DM, went off and added some stuff, clarified some stuff, and came back with our ideas in concrete form. We decided that the Emperor is missing. We decided that the campaign is going to start centered around a civil war that has just started to get underway. We decided that the characters were all going to work for the Emperor's eldest daughter, who is contravening convention and tradition and making a bid to become the first Empress. I said, "This isn't going to be about a double cross on the part of the daughter. She is what she seems. She may not agree with your characters all the time, may act on her own, etc., but you can build your characters knowing that she and her actual agenda is just what we discussed."

We like games. Although currently we're trying to finish a 4e campaign, we play a number of different games. And we'll probably continue to do in the future. Deadlands, Exalted, Vampire, Werewolf, new Vampire, new Werewolf, new Changeling, Doctor Who, The Window, Story Engine, Agone, Bloodshadows, SpyCraft, Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu , InSpectres - I can't even REMEMBER a quarter of the games we've played. Some play we play for just three weeks; some we play for months.

There's more, of course (we've been playing together for over a decade), but those are what I feel are the main points.

So why am I telling you all this? As I said, we're recruiting.

However, we try as much as possible to be VERY CAREFUL when recruiting. This is NOT an invitation to come join us. I'm interested in seeing if a) this sounds interesting to you, b) this sounds like what you want out of gaming, and c) if you'd like an opportunity to meet the group. Because what we try to do is meet prospective players before we invite them to game with us. We like to get a sense of who they are, what they've played, how they like to play, etc.. And then IF OUR GOALS AND PREFERENCES SEEM TO MATCH we see if they're interested in playing with our group ON A PROBATIONARY BASIS.

So if you like what you've heard, let me know and we'll try to set up a board game night so you can meet the guys and they can meet you. (As you probably realize, I've been trying to do this for months now.)

We're thinking about trying to do this the night of Saturday, February 25, which is why I asked what you were doing.

Thanks!

***

As you can see from the e-mail, new members are probationary members. It used to be that the group leader was in charge of handling any problems with new members. Now we have an ambassador program: the current group member who sponsored the new member is responsible for correcting any problems.

I know that this seems very…detailed and overwrought. In use, it’s not remotely as draconian or cumbersome. It is pretty simple and straightforward, and, I feel, intuitive. We use this process because we’ve found that having a process, one that includes explaining our culture and being selective about who plays with us, has helped us succeed as a group long term.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, when I began playing and running 4e, I was interested in seeing what I could do with the game. Each edition has its strengths and weaknesses. Also, I am of the opinion that new mechanics and new takes on old mechanics often present DMs and players with new opportunities. Finding interesting and unintended ways to use Fortune Cards are one example of this.

After running 4e for a while, I noticed I wasn't terribly excited about NPC spellcasters. They felt flat to me. I was used to having a wide variety of choices while running them and going back to, for example, Shadow Ray over and over and over again, even if I re-skinned it, wasn't as interesting to me as spellcasters in previous editions had been. So, with the idea of making 4e's new mechanics work for me, I started thinking about how I was going to change the NPC spell hurler in the new edition of D&D.

I finally decided that I would give my NPC spellcasters an unusual number of Encounter Powers. Instead of having an At-Will, Daily spell, or Recharge abilities, I'd give them a variety of Encounter Powers, each having a slightly different effect. To help balance out the old output versus the new, I could simply indicate in the Power block that the spell caster could only choose some many of them per encounter. The new system would, however, return some versatility to NPCs who otherwise were one trick

Here's an example of an NPC lich from the Monster Manual. I used one like it and it didn't exactly cause me to do back flips.

Lich (Human Wizard)
Level 14 Elite Controller
Medium natural humanoid (undead, human)
HP 218; Bloodied 109
Regeneration 10 (if the lich takes radiant damage, regeneration doesn’t function on its next turn)
AC 28; Fortitude 24; Reflex 28; Will 26
Speed 6
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic
Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1
Initiative +8
Perception +8, Darkvision

Traits
Aura: Necrotic Aura (necrotic) • Aura 5
Any living creature that enters or starts its turn in the aura takes 5 necrotic damage.

Indestructible
When a lich is reduced to 0 hit points, its body and possessions crumble into dust, but it is not destroyed. It reappears (along with its possessions) in 1d10 days within 1 square of its phylactery, unless the phylactery is also found and destroyed.

Standard Actions
Ranged Basic: Shadow Ray (necrotic) • At-Will
Attack: Ranged 20; +18 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 + 6 necrotic damage.

Burst: Frostburn (cold, necrotic, zone) • Recharge 5 6
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20; +18 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d8 + 6 cold and necrotic damage. The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of the lich’s next turn. The zone is considered difficult terrain. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes 10 cold and necrotic damage. The lich can sustain or dismiss the zone as a minor action.

Second Wind (healing) • Encounter
Effect: The lich spends a healing surge and heals 54 hit points. The lich gains a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of its next turn.

Skills
Arcana +18, History +18, Insight +13

Str 11 (+7) Dex 12 (+8) Wis 13 (+8)
Con 14 (+9) Int 22 (+13) Cha 18 (+11)

Alignment evil Languages Abyssal, Common

Here's how I'd inject some versatility and choice back into this lich.

Lich (Human Wizard)
Level 14 Elite Controller
Medium natural humanoid (undead, human)
HP 218; Bloodied 109
Regeneration 10 (if the lich takes radiant damage, regeneration doesn’t function on its next turn)
AC 28; Fortitude 24; Reflex 28; Will 26
Speed 6
Immune disease, poison; Resist 10 necrotic
Saving Throws +2; Action Points 1
Initiative +8
Perception +8, Darkvision

Traits
Aura: Necrotic Aura (necrotic) • Aura 5
Any living creature that enters or starts its turn in the aura takes 5 necrotic damage.

Indestructible
When a lich is reduced to 0 hit points, its body and possessions crumble into dust, but it is not destroyed. It reappears (along with its possessions) in 1d10 days within 1 square of its phylactery, unless the phylactery is also found and destroyed.

Standard Actions
Ranged Basic: Shadow Dart (necrotic) • At-Will
Attack: Ranged 20; +16 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d8 necrotic damage.

Ranged: Shadow Bolt (necrotic) • Encounter
Attack: Ranged 10; +16 vs. Reflex
Hit: 2d8 necrotic damage.

Area: Wall of Souls (conjuration, necrotic) • Encounter
Wall 8 within 10 squares
Effect: The lich conjures a wall of dark energy that is shot through with the wailing forms of bodiless dead. The wall can be up to 4 squares high and must be on a solid surface, and it lasts until the end of the lich's next turn. The wall provides cover. A creature’s line of sight through a wall square is blocked unless the creature is adjacent to that square. Entering a wall square costs 1 extra square of movement. If a creature enters the wall’s space or starts its turn there, that creature takes 1d8 necrotic damage and ongoing 5 necrotic damage (save ends). The lich can sustain or dismiss the wall as a minor action.

Burst: Frostburn (cold, necrotic, zone) • Encounter
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20; +16 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d8 cold and necrotic damage. The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of the lich’s next turn. The zone is considered difficult terrain. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes 5 cold and necrotic damage.

Burst: Screaming Skull (psychic, necrotic) • Encounter
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20; +16 vs. Will
Hit: 3d8 psychic and necrotic damage. The lich chooses one target was hit by the Screaming Skull power to be pushed 5 squares and dazed (save ends).

Second Wind (healing) • Encounter
Effect: The lich spends a healing surge and heals 54 hit points. The lich gains a +2 bonus to all defenses until the start of its next turn.

Skills
Arcana +18, History +18, Insight +13

Str 11 (+7) Dex 12 (+8) Wis 13 (+8)
Con 14 (+9) Int 22 (+13) Cha 18 (+11)

Alignment evil Languages Abyssal, Common

The modified lich's damage expression has been reduced over all and it's to-hit bonus was dropped a bit to help make up for the reliability of it's new Encounter Powers. Previously, it's Frostburn power had a better to-hit and damage, but it might not recharge. The new version has no recharge and so individual powers have been reduced in effacy a bit to help offset that.

In this example, I didn't create Encounter Powers that forced the DM to choose between them. Here's how a couple of those might look:

Burst: Inferno (fire) • Encounter
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20; +16 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 3d8 fire damage. The burst creates a zone that lasts until the end of the wizard’s next turn. Any creature that starts its turn within the zone takes 10 fire damage. The wizard can use either her Inferno or Cold Snap power per encounter, but not both.

Burst: Cold Snap (cold) • Encounter
Attack: Area burst 2 within 20; +16 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 2d8 cold damage and the target is knocked prone (save ends). The wizard can use either her Inferno or Cold Snap power per encounter, but not both.

Of course, depending on the specific circumstances, I might create several of these Powers and perhaps limit the wizard to two or three choices from among her little bag of magical goodies. 

A war has burned in the hearts of men.

Fine, it's not a war. It's more like...disagreement. But it has still burned in the hearts of men.

And, to be fair, the disagreement has also burned in the hearts of female gamers as well. And gamers of various ethnicities, social backgrounds, ages, sexual orientations, ice cream preferences, initial D&D boxed set, and various other real and imagined, important and trivial categories, groups, and divisions we seem to insist on separating ourselves into.

The disagreement is over the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Some people enjoy it. Other don't. It would seem simple enough, but there are two important factors that are feeding the fire. The first is the Internet. The Internet is, as you know, a wonderful tool for the holding of grudges, airing of stinky laundry, peeing on the Cornflakes of others, and so on. The second is Pathfinder, which allows those who still want to play the previous edition of D&D to get new materials for their games. Unfortunately, it sometimes also functions as an Everburning Torch of Ideology and those who want to make their displeasure with the fourth edition of D&D, or 4e, known to all gather around it and use it to set things on fire.

I enjoy 4e. This article is about why I enjoy it and specific ideas I have about running it that have, for me, contributed to said enjoyment.

I came to 4e late. I had just left my old gaming group when it hit the shelves and so it was over a year before I got the chance to play and run it. I heard in the interim many, many things about the game and, to be honest, I didn't believe most of them. I knew my informed opinion was going to be, for me, the only opinion that mattered. At this point, I've played and run 4e for about a year and a half now.

I knew right away that there were things I would change about the game when I ran it. Residuum, for example. Nope. No. Nada. Not going to happen. I understand why it's there - I simply prefer to game a different way. This is, I think, the core of why I feel I have been so successful with 4e: I have always viewed the rules as something that serves myself and the group. I have always expected, whether it's Basic D&D, first edition AD&D, second edition, third edition and its myriad offspring, that we'll change and adapt rules as needed. Also, I have always expected, whether it's D&D, Chill, Vampire, SpyCraft, or any of the other hundreds of roleplaying games that I own, that we'll change and adapt the rules as needed.

Moreover, I view the rules as a framework or an aid to creating and running a game. They are not, to my mind, a jailer, schoolmarm, disapproving priest or a nun with a ruler. They are not the sum and finite expression of potential within a game. They're what you build upon. They're guides. They a kind of conscience to make sure that players have opportunities, that the person running the game doesn't show up in a black turtleneck and matching beret and cast it down into a dank pit of auteurism.

This means that when I read a roleplaying game - and that includes 4e - I'm thinking about all the cool and interesting ways I can put the rules to use. For example, when I read about Rituals, I'm not worrying about whether or not they deprotagonize the magic user - I'm thinking about how I can change them to make them more fun, how I can use them as plot hooks or plot device, and how I can crack a whip across their back and get them to build moments of in-game wonderment.

Much has been said about 4e's Powers and combat. I won't repeat what's been said. It hasn't bothered me, especially since I've been running fourth edition D&D. I wanted to share why.

I do not view Powers as finite, predetermined entities. The Power listed on the sheet is one aspect of a general and more nebulous ability that the character or monster can call upon. The specifics listed in the Power entry give us an idea one way the Power can be used and about how powerful it is over all. It gives up the theme or flavor of the Power. Let me provide you with some examples from a game I'm running.

I created an NPC for the game. Her name is Amanthine and she is a nymph. When I created and introduced her to the game, I wasn't sure how the players would respond to her - she originally showed up in an enchanted cave, humming a lilting song and combing her long black hair with the hand of a skeleton. She'd been imprisioned in the cave (for good reason) and now is begging to be released. Here is what her stat block looks like:

Amanthine, the Argent Lady
Level 4 Controller
Medium fey humanoid
HP 80; Bloodied 40
AC 16; Fortitude 13; Reflex 15; Will 16
Speed 6, swim 2
Initiative +6
Perception +3, Low-Light Vision

TRAITS
Aquatic Defense
Amanthine gains a +2 bonus to all defenses while it is adjacent to or touching a body of water at least a few feet across and a foot or two deep.

STANDARD ACTIONS
Melee Basic: Lure of the Silver Nymph (charm, psychic) • At-Will
Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); +6 vs. Will
Hit: 1d6 + 3 psychic damage, and the target is dazed (save ends).

Ranged Basic: Song of the Still Waters (charm, psychic) • At-Will
Attack: Ranged 5 (one creature); +6 vs. Will
Hit: 1d8 + 5 psychic damage, and the target is slowed (save ends).

Ranged: Breast and Thigh (charm) • Recharge on 5 or a 6
Attack: Ranged 10 (one slowed or dazed creature); +8 vs. Will
Hit: The nymph pulls the target 3 squares, and the target is dominated (save ends).

Ranged: Nymph's Displeasure (thunder) • Recharge on a 6
Attack: Area 1 within 10; +6 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d10 + 5 damage.
Effect: Creatures within the burst are knocked prone.

SKILLS
Bluff +13, Diplomacy +13, Nature +8

Str 14 (+4) Dex 18 (+6) Wis 13 (+3)
Con 14 (+4) Int 15 (+4) Cha 22 (+8)

Alignment unaligned
Languages Common, Elven

Those Powers you see listed under Standard Actions, that's what her abities look like mechanically when she's using them in combat. Those are not her Powers. They're not her powers, abilities, the defining limits of capabilities. Those are what said abilities look like in combat. That's all. Amanthine is much more than what you see on that sheet.

The sheet does, however, give us an idea of what she's like. We can see from her Aquatic Defense that she has an affinity for water and is strengthened by it. We can see that she can charm people with a kind of magical compulsion, that said complusion - when we want to roll it out - will be a d20 + 6 versus the target's Will defense, and that to really get someone under her spell, she needs to work a bit at it. It takes a bit of time. We can also see from the name of one of her Powers that she uses her feminine wiles to do so. We also know, thanks to Nymph's Displeasure, that she has a bit of violent, forceful magic she can call upon when needed.

And, of course, even this isn't the sum of Amanthine. I made a number of other decisions about her, before and during play. She has two guises. In one, she is wearing nothing but a thin white dress and in the other, she has scale armor that looks a bit like silver fish scale. She can change between these at will, but her Armor Class (which is a mechanic and really has no place here) remains the same. She gets sustenance and power by drowning victims and consuming their life essence. And, from our last session, she can cup her hands together, fill them with water, and imbue the water with Primal energies.

Here's another example. I took a standard Healing Potion and changed it a bit. Mechanically, it's a still a Healing Potion - you spend a Healing Surge and get ten Hit Points back. But the potions I'm giving to the player characters, they're special. They're mysterious. They're in dusty but clear vials. If you wipe away the dust and muck, you can see that suspended in the thick, clear liquid of the potion is a little seed with a curl of steam and leaf coming out of the top. To get the effect of the potion, you have to swallow the seed. When a character does so, the next time he or she takes an Extended Rest, that character will dream that he or she is wandering out into the forest, planting a little seed, and watching as that seed grows and grows to become a might tree before their eyes.

I don't know what this means. These potions fit with the theme of the campaign in which they'll be handed out, but I don't know why they work that way or what the dreams mean or what impact they'll have on the game. These Healing Potions are just an example of a Dungeon Master taking fourth edition D&D's mechanics by the hand and running off to cavort and frolick among the symbols and iconography of imaginationland.

You can still do that.

I'm going to be blunt: It seems to me that some of the discontent with 4e is coming from people who used to take previous editions of Dungeon & Dragons and spindle, mutilate, and fold them with wild abandon. They did that as a matter of course. But when 4e came out, whether because of the blizzard of commentary about the game on the Internet or some other internal reaction, they didn't see the new edition in the same light. Instead of a framework of rules on which great and grand adventures can be built, they see tiny shackles of ink next to illustrations of heroes and dragons.

There is a message I hope you take away from this blog and it is this: It doesn't have to be that way. If you're the kind of gamer who approaches gaming like I do, you can still play 4e in that manner. You can be successful. You can have fun. You can fill your heart up with the same kind of wonder and enjoy that D&D sessions used to bring to you. And, yes, you can do it with fourth edition Dungeons & Dragons.

One of the things I was particularly excited about when running my first game of 4e was Skill Challenges. I had heard quite a few negative things about Skill Challenges (and 4e in general) and my experiences with Skill Challenges in the adventure I was playing in certainly left something to be desired. Luckily, I'm a member of the grand tradition of gaming that spindles, mutilates, and folds games until it's the desired shape and so I was interested in seeing what I could do with Skill Challenges.

After pondering the subject for a while, I decided on two main points: I wanted additional mechanics and parameters assigned to social Skill Challenges and I was interested in Skill Challenges where it's nature or "board" on which it is played changes. I'll discuss the former at some future point in this blog; this entry is about the latter, Skill Challenges where elements of the challenge are not constant, but change based on the actions of the player characters.

As I didn't care for the Skill Challenges I'd been through involving gathering information, etc., I decided mine would be about exploration. The first one I came up with revolved around the idea of getting across a cave and the second a ruined bridge that had to be climbed. Both are detailed below.

The first thing I did was create a diagram of squares that represented general routes which might be followed. Each square has a skill and a DC associated with it - that's the skill that needs to be checked to leave the square and the DC required. There are consequences for failure, specific to the particular Challenge. Next I thought up and wrote out other parameters and rules that apply, trying to imagine what the players might do before hand so I could have a pre-determined, thoughtful response as much as possible.

The first Skill Challenge takes place in an underground cave network. I never got to use this one as the players found a different route through the cave system, but I'll share it here. The path the characters would have been following is interrupted by a large cavern. The cavern has no floor - it just falls away to a river rushing through the darkness below. Thus if the characters want to cross it, they'll probably have to climb across it's walls.

The diagram represents several routes through the cave. The top half, the top three rows, represent one wall and the bottom two rows represent the other. The routes all begin on the right hand of the page. Although some have fewer squares, they all represent roughly the same distance. Not all routes are the same, however.

Although they generally call for physical Skills, some routes have more difficult checks. Some are shorter. Some allow you to choose between Athletics or Acrobatics, but some allow for just one Skill to be used. Despite being abstract, the routes are representational. Notice the squares that call for Strength checks. This is an area where a small tree (yes, a tree underground) is growing out of a cleft in the rock wall and weakend to the point where water cascades out from its roots and down into the river below. Thus Strength is used hang on instead of Athletics to climb through those squares.

I can't remember how I decided to handle the player characters trying spy out the routes before moving down them, but I did want them to be able to tell their was some difference between the routes and do their best to select a route that matched their character's strengths.

Here are the pre-determined parameters I wrote out for this challenge. They are in part based on rules I looked up while creating the Challenge. The diagram is below.

Fail check by 4 or more: Stay in square; DC same; square disappears for future characters (the handholds crumble, rocks come away from the wall, etc.)

Fail check by 5 or more: Character is falling; can catch hold, but DC +5; square disappears

Aid Another: Must explain; must be within 1 square of other character

Rope: +5 to checks if square is present, regular DC if not

Light: In dim light, DCs are +2

Distance: Routes in real world are 120 feet across

Moving between squares: Must be adjacent; Athletics DC 15

I took the basic idea of the cave Challenge - a kind of physical exploration where the route might crumble if you did poorly - and incorporated it into my second, much longer and more detailed Skill Challenge. This one takes place on a bridge that has crumbled. There are two ways across the canyon now: jump from ruined support to ruined support or climb down and then back up. This one I was able to run. I had mostly positive feedback, but I think I'd change a few things if I ran it again.

Here's the background and parameters I created for it. The diagram is below.

Challenge at Brennan’s Folly

History – Nearly forty years ago, a priest of Erathis received a vision. The priest, a then humble acolyte named Brennan, dreamt one winter evening that he was to lead a holy mission deep into the hinterlands of the Dawnforge Mountains, bringing an era of civilization and enlightenment to the savage humanoid tribes who dwelt there. After receiving the blessing of the high priest and years of gathering provisions and supplies, Brennan set off to tame the wilderness.

History records his failure. Although he reached the area intact, the locals provided little support for his mission. He was able to found a church high the mountains using few of his funds, but he was not content with a mere chapel. He wished to create an everlasting symbol of Erathis’ grace and might in the area. He decided to build a bridge across a river gorge that connected the valley in which his church sat with other inhabited areas lower in the mountains, hoping to ease the burden of travel to and from his church.

Local dwarves warned that the gorge was subject to frequent tremors and that construction would be long and difficult. Brennan insisted on his bridge. In the end, he paid dearly for it, both in coin and years. It was seven summers before the monument was complete. He had exhausted his resources, his good name, and his standing in the church, but the bridge now spanned the gorge with stony buttresses and a too solid presence.

The following summer, local orc tribes commandeered the bridge, using it as a choke point in its aggressions with other tribes and forcing those who wished to cross to pay tribute. The following spring, a tremor struck the area and, despite its dwarven engineering, the bridge was shaken to pieces.
After it’s destruction, locals took to calling the bridge Brennan’s Folly.

The Challenge – Characters can make Perception checks to discover details about the challenge. Due to the rough nature of the wall and the angles at which it must be viewed, players who succeed at a DC 13 check may either choose to learn if their chosen path continues for two more squares or if the DC of the next square increases or decreases from the previous one. 

Rolls are made to exit a square, not enter it.
 
Those who fail a check by less than 4 stay in the square and roll on the results table.

Those who fail by more than 4 are falling and roll on the results table. (See page 284 of the PHB for more information about falling.) Each square represents a d10 of falling damage. Characters who begin to fall may make an immediate Athletics check DC 20 to catch hold of something. If they succeed, they remain in the square from which they began to fall.

Characters can use ropes to aid in their climb. Using a rope to move down the gorge wall changes all DCs to 8. Characters must still make Athletics checks at this new DC for each square they move through, even ones which were previously impassable.

Using a rope to ascend is more difficult. Characters who do so gain a +2 circumstance bonus to their checks. This does not stack with the bonus provided by a Climbing Kit as the rope is standing in the kit’s stead.

Characters who tie themselves together with ropes may each gain a +2 circumstance bonus to their checks provided they remain within 2 squares of each other. If one of the linked character falls, the stable character must make a Strength DC 10 to cling to the rock and prevent both characters from falling. The DM should alter this DC if the falling character is particularly light or particularly heavy.

Brennan’s Folly Results Table

When a character fails a check to move out of a square, add the amount by which the character failed the roll to 2d6 and consult the table below. (Example: A character is moving out of Athletics DC 10 square and gets a total of 8 on his check. He then rolls 2d6, adds 2 to the roll, and looks up the final result on the table.)

Result –

3. Minor rockslide. The character’s frantic efforts to catch him or herself touch off a minor rockslide. Bits of the gorge wall go tumbling down into the valley below, but there is no other result.

4. Minor rockslide. The character’s frantic efforts to catch him or herself touch off a minor rockslide. Bits of the gorge wall go tumbling down into the valley below, but there is no other result.

5. Precarious handhold. The character finds a narrow hand or foothold before he or she plummets to the earth, but it does not provide much leverage or traction. If the character is falling, the handhold crumbles under the character’s weight and the resulting check to catch hold is only a DC 17 instead of DC 20. The character’s next check to exit the square should he or she remain in it, whether previously falling or not, is now made at the listed DC +2.

6. Found a root. The character frantically scrambles for purchase as he or she begins to fall and manages to catch a hold of a root. If the character is falling, the root pulls free from the rock wall and the resulting check to catch hold is only a DC 18 instead of DC 20. The character’s next check to exit the square should he or she remain in it, whether previously falling or not, is now made at the listed DC +3.

7. Nothing but air. The character’s planned route turns out to be a disastrous one. What appears to be a thin ledge of rock offering support is a trick of the light. As the character begins to retrace his or her steps, the character suddenly slips. If the character was already falling, checks should be made as normal. If the character was not already falling, he or she must make an immediate Athletics check DC 8 to catch hold of something before plummeting to the rocks below.

8. Major rockslide. The character’s actions have knocked loose a good amount of stone and gravel, which falls onto his or her companions in squares below. A +5 versus Reflex attack should be made against each character who is in a square underneath the clumsy character. Those who are hit take 1d10 points of damage. Apologies should be made.

9. Major rockslide. The character’s actions have knocked loose a good amount of stone and gravel, which falls onto his or her companions in squares below. A +7 versus Reflex attack should be made against each character who is in a square underneath the clumsy character. Those who are hit take 1d10+2 points of damage. Apologies should be made.

10. Head-sized boulder. The character’s foot brushes up a loose bit of rock and a head-sized boulder falls away from the gorge wall. It drops down onto the closest character below the unlucky one. A +11 versus Reflex attack should be made against that character. If a character is hit, he or she takes 1d10+8 points of damage. Profuse apologies should be made.

11. Whoops! The character is paying more attention to the potentially fatal drop that he or she should. Hands slippery with sweat, the character’s purchase on the rock wall fails and he or she makes a comic yet heart-stopping bid to catch hold of something. The character’s efforts may rewarded, but with a slow crack, previously passable bits of the rocky trail sheer off and fall down, down, down. The DC to exit this square is permanently increased by +3. This penalty may be applied multiple times to the same square.

12. Did I do that? The character touches off a minor rockslide. Pebbles bounce down into the gulf below. They touch off another slide and soon fist-sized rocks tumbling down into the gorge. Those rocks touch off yet another tumult of stone. Crashing rocks obliterate parts of the previously passable squares. Each square below the character has its exit DC permanently increased by +1. This penalty may be applied multiple times to the same square.

13. Disaster! The character has drawn the attention of the gods, who apparently are not pleased. Without much warning beyond a sudden, thunderous crack, a large section of the gorge wall falls away, likely taking the luckless character who was climbing on that particular hunk of cursed stone with it. If he or she was not already falling, the character must make an immediate check to catch hold with the standard DC of 20. But because the gods have now become involved, that’s not all that happens. The square disappears and any efforts to move through it now are hampered by a permanent +7 increase to the exit DC.

Results greater than 13 should be discouraged, ridiculed, then considered to be 13 for all intents and purposes (because rolling a 13 is about as unlucky as you can possibly get).

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading about my exploration into what can be done with Skill Challenge and especially hope it kicked off a few ideas of your own.

The idea of customized combat maneuvers are nothing new to tabletop gaming. They have been a part of other games such as Werewolf: The Forsaken and even earlier incarnations of Dungeons & Dragons. This current edition of D&D, with it's framework of Powers, lends itself particularly well to this idea - and you can even take the idea a step further and create customized non-combat Powers.

Personally, I believe gaming is at its best when the game revolves around the characters, when the players and their decisions change its course. To my mind, a game should be notably different if different characters are used, even if all the other elements, such as plots and NPCs, are the same. One of the most enjoyable aspects of roleplaying games is watching them unfold in response in surprising ways based on the characters, their personalities, etc..

And so when I started running a 4e game, I was interested in making it as character-centric as possible. Because our schedules and involvement in other groups, we can only meet once a month or so and I worried that players' investment in their characters would wane as the weeks passed without a session. I felt it was particularly important to do what I could to increase the bond between player and character.

One day I had an epiphany: Why not take a page from previous games and create group tactics that represented the player characters working together? The tactics could be Encounter Powers. Then I refined the idea - instead of the DM creating something, I'd ask the players to think about their characters and come descriptions and mechanics that would outline how their characters interacted on the battlefield.

Here's the outline of my thoughts and ideas regarding these Powers.

First, the players sit down together and begin to describe their characters' strengths and weaknesses on the battlefield, the broad and specific means by which they achieve their goals, any special moves they have, how their oft-used Powers work, etc.. For example, Bill might describe how his Elven Ranger named Ragland rapidly lets fly with arrows and tries to pick off foes as they rush toward the group's Fighter. Susan, who plays Verina, the Fighter of the group, reminds everyone that her character has a battle cry, that she bashes her with her shield and knocks them to the ground, and can automatically mark those around her. Jeremy is playing Karno, the Laughing Wizard, who was built around the idea of increasing Magic Missile's damage and usefulness.

Now the DM let's the group know in rough terms how powerful the new Power can be. Will it just provide a +2 to something for a round? Will it last the rest of the Encounter? Can it inflict status effects, such as being knocked Prone or Dazed, in addition to a bonus? Also, will a player character need to take an action to use the Power or can be it used as a free action anytime certain conditions are met?

(An interesting idea: When a Power has a Trigger related to a character's weakness or a set back, it can be more powerful than would otherwise be allowed. For example, perhaps a particular Power has Trigger: Ragland is Bloodied for the first time in the combat or Trigger: Each player misses an attack this round.)

With an idea of the efficacy of Power in mind, the players discuss what they'd like it to do and how they'd like it to do so. This should entail some thought about how past battles have gone - gone wrong - and the weaknesses of the characters and their tactics. For example, the group recognizes that their Ranger and Wizard are often rushed by attackers while the Fighter is overwhelmed. They decide their Power should address this. They eventually come up with the following:

Wrath of the Manticore
The Laughing Wizard embues arrows with enchantments similar to his signature spell so that when Ragland fires one into Verina's raised shield, shattering the arrow, even the fragments fly true and strike foes in the area, crippling them and hampering their movement.
Encounter - Standard Action
Close Burst 1
Target: Each enemy in burst
Prerequisite: The character Verina is adjacent to at least three enemies. A party member must take a free action to shout to the group to use Wrath of the Manticore.
Effect: Karno's Int modifier damage and the targets are knocked Prone.
Secondary Target: Up to three enemies within 10 squares of Verina
Secondary Attack: Ragland's Dexterity vs. Reflex
Hit: Karno's Int modifier damage and targets are Slowed (save ends).

Of course, once the characters and their contributions are understood, the desire effect selected, etc., and the group is getting down to the nuts and bolts of writing the Power, it can be difficult to find a way to involved all the player characters. Not a problem - consider creating a suite of Powers. Perhaps the group creates three Powers, only one of which can be used in a given Encounter.

Combat-based Powers are interesting, but, to my mind, the most interesting and exciting ones are those which are designed to be used during roleplaying encounters or Skill Challenges. The steps to create them are similar - think about each character, decide on a power level, and select an effect. But instead of combat effects, they augment skill use or perhaps have effects which aren't based on game mechanics at all.

For example, upon reflection, the group realizes that Tharg, a Barbarian, frequently sinks delicate negotiations and attempts at diplomacy with burps, slurps, rude noises, and faux pas. They decide a good group Power that addresses this problem would be interesting and beneficial. After some discussion, they come up with:

Mind Your Manners!
Tharg belches in the count's face. Selene quickly steps forward, smiles, and elbows Tharg sharply in the ribs, reminding him about their recent etiquette lessons. Tharg tries again: He echoes Selene's smile and greets the count with as much courtly grace as he can manage...
Encounter - Immediate Reaction
Prerequisite: Another party member must be within 5 squares of Tharg.
Trigger: Tharg fails a Diplomacy check.
Effect: If the check was made as part of a Skill Challenge, this check is ignored and does not count toward the group's failures. Otherwise, Tharg re-rolls his check with a +2 bonus.

As you know, all this could easily be covered with roleplaying. However, remember the goal behind the creation of these sorts of Powers: Getting the player to think about their characters, how they fit together, how they interact, and how they interact with the campaign world. It's about being excited about the characters, not the mechanics.

Another idea: The Powers change as the characters grow, continuing to reflect their interactions.

Yet another idea: Give out additional Powers as a form of treasure.

As an Encounters player, I've had pack of Fortune Cards for a while now. Yesterday, I purchased several more packs and, having looked them over, I've been thinking about how I might use them. Sure, I could use them as intended, but that's no fun. I've been thinking about how I could re-purpose them. Here are some ideas I've come up with.

1. Boons. The DMG 2 introduces to 4e the idea of Boons, a way to provide the player characters with treasure of a sort without piling on the magic items. Fortune Cards can be used as Boons of a sort, the more powerful, useful, or easily used the card, the more impressive a Boon it is. 

Of course, the fun in using Fortune Cards this way comes from deciding how and why the Boon operates.

The Phantom Ally card provides the player character with combant advantage for a turn when using an At-Will Power. If this were granted to an elf or ranger from the living heart of a forest, perhaps this is represented by a bird of prey which harrys enemies at a key moment, a root that twists under the orc's foot, or a downburst with buffets the wizard just as he is gathering about himself his arcane defenses.

The Live and Let Live card provides player characters with a +4 to all Defenses the following round if they do not attack on the current turn. If the heart of the forest has provided this Boon, perhaps it represents a momentary vision or respite in which the character sees a shining green light well up under her while a feeling of calm washes through her. Phantom bark and ivy grows over her, protecting her for a short time before it is destroyed by enemy attacks...

2. A Partial or Entire Magic Item Power. Fortune Cards can be added to magic items to make them unique or give them a bit of extra power. For example, Trained Advance, which allows a character to shift as a Free Action when an ally shifts, could be added to Boots of Speed. Or the same card could be added to Fortification Armor to give the item a bit of an unexpected twist.

Or Fortune Cards could be added to regular items to make them slightly magical. Perhaps the item has more than one card, representing a small suite of themed powers.

As with Boons, the fun of this application of Fortune Cards comes from dreaming up the rationale behind their use. Does the Fortification Armor have the Trained Advance card because the soul of a previous owner clings to the armor and uses its thin vitality at just the right moment to keep the current owner safe? Does the cloak the group just found have Trained Advance and Live and Let Live because it is a saintly relic, something owned by a very devout peasant woman whose virtue and belief that men should not fight each other was so strong that it survives beyond her death?

3. A Battlefield Condition. Fortune Cards might represent a static or changing battlefield condition. The condition could apply to the entire battlefield or just elements of it.

Exposed Target allows the character to gain a +2 to a ranged attacked against a target that doesn't have cover. If the group is underground, fighting in a cave, perhaps those high above the melee, firing from a narrow ledge, gain the use of this card.

If you want a challenge, you could create a small deck of Fortune Cards and use them in a fight to represent changing battlefield conditions. You could draw cards randomly or stack the deck.

4. A Battlefield Condition That Can Be Won, Destroyed, or Countered. As with the entry above, Fortune Cards represent battlefield conditions. This time, however, the conditions can be altered by those in the fight.

Perhaps Exposed Target represents an impromptu bit of cover enemy archers have built out of crates and barrels. The player characters can fight their way to the barricade and destroy it with an attack, a Strength check, standard action, or whatever.

5. Modify Standard Opponents on the Fly. If you want to keep your players guessing or perhaps add a bit of a twist to an encounter, you can allow monsters and NPCs to use Fortune Cards in addition to their normal attacks and Powers. Challenge yourself by drawing them randomly.

If you want to challenge your players and are comfortable with the idea, why not allow them to come up with the in-game rationale behind the application Fortune Cards. You can do it using them in the proscribe manner and using a method listed above.

For example, perhaps the battlefield has a Watchful Approach attached to it. This card allows the character to use a standard action to shift his or her speed. But, in order to use it, the player has to come up with some colorful, entertaining in-game explaination for why his character is suddenly speeding across the courtyard to engage the count's men...

I hope you've enjoyed these examples and ideas. Please share your own!

Seanchai