For the love of the game, Pt. 2

Every system of pen & paper roleplaying that I've encountered has more than a few mechanics for resolving more than a few things.  Through an extended example, I'm going to leverage how we need to love the game more than the rules.  While this example uses events in a novel/film to leverage its points, the basic differences between PnP RPGing and other forms of storytelling are readily apparent, the most crucial being the cooperative and spontaneous elements therein. 

Take the example of Gimli, Aragorn, and Legolas tracking the hobbits and Uruk-Hai.  Under D&D 3.5X You can, for example, make thirty-six successive constitution checks for 'hustling' to check their fatigue, and have Legolas make a stream of dreary DC10 checks to aid Aragorn's tracking, and possibly even suggest that Gimli's minor clerical magic delivered in the form of humor gives them some resistance to exhaustion.

Rolling the number of dice required to do this would take at least 15 minutes.  It's clear that if the characters decide to take this course of action, they want to see it come to some sort of progress in the plot--and as the DM, you aren't doing anyone favors by belaboring this exercise.  In any form of storytelling, Plot-Points don't come during Montages (Samurai Jack's agility with the technique notwithstanding).  The plot point to resolve here is singular, or so it would seem--Do the Three reach the Hobbits before Isengard?

In this case, the rules are getting in the way of the game.  The game, the tone of the story that has come before, dictates that within ten minutes, everyone at this table would like to know what happens next.  Five minutes would be better.  Two would be best.

If you were the DM, you could say that Whatever comes Next could be that a Nazgul in the skies spots the three on their epic jog and that they must take refuge in a canyon, losing the trail, or that they happen upon the Rohirrim before their battle, or whatever strikes your fancy, guided by the player's level of success.  The action of the trek, however, lays between your gaming group and Whatever Comes Next and the mechanic as written in the rules is standing in the way of the game.

GNS--Something I'll say segregates us too much in another post

 

Here I will be accused of being anti-simulationist, and that the progressive difficulty of manifold CON checks for fatigue gives believability and realism to this journey.  But I say hogwash.  If five people are at a table to play a roleplaying game, they certainly don't want to roll d20's for a half hour with varying descriptions of (you get tired and have to slow down) or (your progress is good this hour).  They want to get to the decisive moment--the one where dice rolling and roleplaying can turn the story in any direction.  And the burden lies now on the DM to get the story past that point.

I'm touching upon many operational terms here in this first essay that aren't well articulated in the other literature on Gamemastering--"Decisive Moment" and a "Mechanic/Game" oppositional axis--terms which I'll bring to light as we continue this journey--but I want first to hook you into this idea of Mindfulness.

Let's return to the Grey Company in the wilds of Eriador.  As the DM, you have reached a point in the story where you need to maintain suspension of disbelief by allowing dice rolls and mechanical resolution to guide the outcome of the epic jog.  Your players are excited by the twist of the captured hobbits.
You have a moment.  You can typically always have about 30 seconds to figure out a mechanic, and it's conventional that if one takes ten seconds to flip through a book it's acceptable.  You have time to think. Thinking for a moment is much more efficient than pressing go on an inefficient mechanic or an unfun encounter--much like a speaker will sound far more persuasive without intersplices of 'um' and 'hmm.'

Let us now go deep.  Let us now go into your mind, and walk through the choices you have before you on how you could resolve this problem.  (note that the choices are spread across a continuum of more>less>no dice.)

• A) Use the mechanic as-is
• B) Make Something up using the nuts & bolts of the system before you.
• C) Gloss it over; they reach the hobbits.

Choice A will waste time at the gaming table and likely disengage all but the most straight-edged of your players (the parallel essay, Time is Precious, will address why this is a cardinal sin).  Choice B will allow everyone to feel that there's a chance of their actions succeeding and that their strategies for helping can affect the outcome.  Choice C will diminish the cooperative element of the game, as it will be left entirely up to you how the trek pans out.  B seems to be the best choice here, because of the successful uncertainty over how the effort of the Grey Company's trek will pan out.

Phase 2: What are the important questions that it might be fun to answer with a resolution using dice ? (if you wanted the Nazgul to appear, or for the Rohirrim to meet the Grey Co. before the scene of the battle, the lead-in is entirely off-camera--and thus up to you by fiat.  (Random encounter tables can be an inspiration here--and provide for turns in the story that your players wouldn't normally expect from you--but that's a topic for another post)

• When does the party intercept the Uruk-Hai? Before or after the battle with the Rohirrim? (notice this subsumes all tracking checks...if they lose the trail, the answer is late or never)
• In what condition does the Grey Company reach What Comes Next? (Since the story before has established that self-reliance is a theme in The Two Towers, we can conclude it's unlikely that deus ex machina will occur so early)

Phase 3: How can we answer the question? We know that the existing rules are cumbersome.  Mechanically, we know that it's a test of endurance--and likely also one of will (to keep going through blisters and hunger.)

Brainstorm something that tests these things.  We know we are rolling too many dice as is; would fewer dice, or even one die per player work better?  Endurance and will are two things we need to test...(and it makes sense that charactersthat have invested more energy in being good at these two things should have a higher degree/chance of success) HEY! there's something called a Fortitude Save, and a Will Save in this game.   Now here's where we can get unconventional.

Here's an option:

Dumb, but production this good in player imagination mean you're ok.

Have the players roll a fortitude save.  Then subtract each player's result from 30 or 40; that's how many damage they've got on their sheet when they reach What comes next. You could say that players that took 10 or more damage are fatigued, and those that took 20 hp are exhausted.  This rewards players with high HP, drains healing resources, and rewards thoughtfulness if anyone remembered to memorize something like restoration.

The propensity to falter and slow down the party seems like a test of will.  You could have them all make a will save; if they mostly save high, they get there early, if they mostly save low, they're late.  If they end up late, perhaps allow a junction if they're doing poorly: "Gimli's ankle will be sprained by the end of the day, and his quips are becoming less humorous and more desperate as he excuses falling behind..."

Then, if Aragorn's player were to say, "I'll carry him" you could have him make a strength check (i'd recommend climb as it's STR-based and improves with level), and apply similar damage/fatigue from the first check, or maybe STR damage from soreness.

That's all.  I'll edit with more ideas, and perhaps chime it with your own ideas of how to expedite this 'fistful of dice' moment (which are to be avoided, explained in principle in part 1).  You can add pivot points (another essay) and a second batch of die rolling/saves to modulate this (climbing a cliff, avoiding a stampede of aurochs, etc.)

End Phase: Now that you've gotten all that time from eliminating the part where the Rules got in the way of the game, you might have time for a twist!  Perhaps the party comes to a ravine that would take more time to cross, but there's a chance they might be able to jump across or balance on an ill-secured log...

 PS: I'll point out that with this kind of resolution we can count this as an encounter, and give folks some xp.