[DF] Solving for N

[Faolyn]

Anyone know a good way, except via eyeballing, to figure out the methods used in determining N in the DF adventure? I really like the idea and am in the process of making my own random encounter tables.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Anyone know a good way, except via eyeballing, to figure out the methods used in determining N in the DF adventure? I really like the idea and am in the process of making my own random encounter tables.

If you figure one out, let me know. N values in the encounter tables in Mirror of the Fire Demon were arrived at by trial and error.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

Anyone know a good way, except via eyeballing, to figure out the methods used in determining N in the DF adventure? I really like the idea and am in the process of making my own random encounter tables.

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

If you figure one out, let me know. N values in the encounter tables in Mirror of the Fire Demon were arrived at by trial and error.

LOTS of trail and error. I ran that adventure in playtest a half a dozen times and the first three resulted in all different results. It wasn't until the fifth or sixth time that things sort of trundled out.

Ditto on the monsters from Monster Hunters 3. I must have ran twenty or thirty encounters trying to fine tune the numbers PK had in the draft.


You really have to eyeball your party AND your players. Do you have a sneaky player? One good at improvising solutions? One not so good at it? How are the characters themselves constructed? Any heavy hitters? What's the amount of damage the characters can dish out? What can they take? How many HP do they have? Do they have a high HT? Any advantages that modify that? Do they have meta-game altering abilities (Luck, Serendipity, etc.)?

Those questions will help you figure out what N means if only for your particular party of adventurers.

[cosmicfish]

Is there a reference for any of this? I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

[Faolyn]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Is there a reference for any of this? I have no idea what you guys are talking about.

In the adventure "Mirror of the Fire Demon," the encounter table is built so that you encounter N monsters. For instance, N Dire Vultures or 2N Orc Scouts. N was equal to the number of PCs, plus useful NPC allies. It's an amazingly useful guide, because it allows the adventure to be scaled according to party size really easily.

[Faolyn]

Darn; I was hoping for a good guide. Ah well. I'll mostly have to eyeball it, then.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

In the adventure "Mirror of the Fire Demon," the encounter table is built so that you encounter N monsters. For instance, N Dire Vultures or 2N Orc Scouts. N was equal to the number of PCs, plus useful NPC allies. It's an amazingly useful guide, because it allows the adventure to be scaled according to party size really easily.

N also scales according to PC ability (300 point characters get more opposition than 250 point ones, for example). But it turns out that figuring out how many monsters of such-and-such a type are good opposition for a set of adventurers, even ones constrained by DF templates, is not easy.

[Gnome]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

N also scales according to PC ability (300 point characters get more opposition than 250 point ones, for example). But it turns out that figuring out how many monsters of such-and-such a type are good opposition for a set of adventurers, even ones constrained by DF templates, is not easy.

Yes, "constrained by DF templates" is not constrained very much at all, considering that just using DF 1 you could play anything from a Wizard with Wild Talent to a Bard with Mind Control. You really have to consider the specific set of adventurers in question when abilities that powerful are possible.

[cosmicfish]

Originally Posted by Faolyn

In the adventure "Mirror of the Fire Demon," the encounter table is built so that you encounter N monsters. For instance, N Dire Vultures or 2N Orc Scouts. N was equal to the number of PCs, plus useful NPC allies. It's an amazingly useful guide, because it allows the adventure to be scaled according to party size really easily.

Ah!

Whenever I am running a game, I always try to keep things loose. If an encounter is going badly for the PC's, introduce some ally or just otherwise allow the bad guys to fail a Fright Check. If it is going to easily, have one of the bad guys whip out a horn and summon reinforcements, or perhaps just have them show up!

As the campaign goes on, you can refine that N number better with each encounter.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by cosmicfish

Whenever I am running a game, I always try to keep things loose.

Oh, certainly. That's what I do myself. However, within the context of a published adventure which might be purchased by people who didn't want to spend money to be told to make judgement calls, we needed something more precise.