SoH: Time pressure

[Slaktor]

Hi all!

GM:ing my first session of SoH tomorrow…

After reading through some of the comments its seems that there can be an issue with players returning to town as soon as somebody gets grievously injured. I might have a sort of narrative solution for this but I need the some guidance from the TGA community.

The plan is to keep tabs on how many times the players return to town. By the end of the campaign, and/or even half way through (if that would work), check the numbers with a post-game chart that tells what parts of the city that were destroyed. I might even add in some places and tie those places in with personal backstories – like a dwarven family for the Cogsmith or the Fleetmasters lover and/or frigate.

This is to make them care. We are all old RPG nerds but at times the power gamer pops out, so I want to have a "built in" incentive.

The questions I ask to all the people whom have played through the Shadows over Hammerhal campaign is:

How many returns to town per dungeon level would you recommend to keep the players challenged, but not discouraged?

Also, how many returns to town in total would you say is fair?

The questions are in regard to the gameplay, not the story-line.

 

[JPjr]

is there no built-in mechanic like in Blackstone Fortress where every time you return to Precipice you have to draw a 'Legacy' card that makes the next mission harder (for example some cards introduce new hostile encounters and make certain hostiles more dangerous) and also ultimately acts as a countdown as the campaign is over once you've drawn (I think) 12 cards.

and if there isn't that seems like a fairly elegant device to adopt.

[Slaktor]

Nice. Would love something like that but alas, as far as I know i dosen't exist in SoH.

[MacDuff]

I would not be surprised if some enterprising TGA members start to make some DIY modifications to 'borrow' good ideas from Blackstone. This might be a good thread for that...

[TheOtherJosh]

That depends on what your objective is.

In the expansion from White Dwarf from last Dec-Feb going back to town allowed additional side adventures.

Triggered by visiting locations in town.

Gather enough bits of stuff in those dungeons and open a new link to an entirely new storyline.

[Lucio]

Time pressure can be straight forward, if you leave to heal wounds, then repopulate some of the areas with monsters, or make an extra draw for the remaining areas. Either that or tell players in advance that they have 3 chances to return to town, once they're used up, the badguys achieve their goal and "win"

[Sharkbelly]

Makes sense. The plot moves along even if the heroes go back to town to rest.

[Slaktor]

On 12/31/2018 at 9:54 PM, Lucio said:

Time pressure can be straight forward, if you leave to heal wounds, then repopulate some of the areas with monsters, or make an extra draw for the remaining areas. Either that or tell players in advance that they have 3 chances to return to town, once they're used up, the badguys achieve their goal and "win"

I really like the simple solution with a limited amount of “town portals”. I feel stupid for not thinking about that one...

 

Anyway I played it through almost to the end during a single sitting (like 8 hours..). I’m sad to say that the game was somewhat lacking in depth and feel.

There was also no real incentive to return to town other then to heal injuries - which never happened btw. So they never did other when I sorta convinced them to. The town thingies seems almost pasted on and there was no real synergy with the main game. At least that’s my experience.

Here’s hoping that the next iteration of WHQ in the Mortal Realms steps the rpg aspects up a bit, mainly ruleswise. 

[Lucio]

Warhammer Quest requires you go beyond the listed gameplay to attract an RPG element

Introduce non-combat challenges, such as a lock. Require a keyword or 2 to "bypass" it, with a specific number of attempts allowed to secure the correct dice totals.

E.g. A magical lock might be a 2+ action for an ARCANE or AGILE hero, requiring a total of 3 AGILITY rolls to bypas

A fallen pillar might be COMBAT, a 5+ action requring a total of 2, 6+ rolls to bypass


The idea here is that any challenge can be failed without preventing the quest going forward, but the failure means you miss out on a piece of treasure, or have to suffer an extra encounter, or in extreme cases, suffer a wound directly.

[chsic]

Hello, I will advise you this:
First, do not limit the visits to Cinderfall too much, as you are missing part of the game and it's quite fun (I think).
To discourage too frequent ascent, you can give a disadvantage:

- The GM rolls the dice for an ambush before the heroes arrive in each room already visited before Cinderfall.

And an incentive:

- When the heroes completely finish an unexplored dungeon without returning to Cinderfall, roll a D6:
1-3: The hero with the torch distributes D3 gold coins among the heroes.
4-5: The Torch Hero designates one of the heroes who receives a treasure card.
6: The Torch Hero designates a hero who gains a skill card.

You can instead give skill cards to make it simpler, logic but less fun ;).

Cheers!
Chris