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Old 12-14-2021, 05:16 AM   #11
Chris Rice
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
Location: London Uk, but originally from Scotland
Default Re: How you personally play adventures

Some great answers guys. Many thanks.
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Old 12-14-2021, 12:22 PM   #12
Helborn
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Default Re: How you personally play adventures

I take a slightly different approach as I keep players on a mini map (8.5"x11" hex paper) and only move to tactical maps when they run into something. I use a small group counter on the mini map with their counters or figures off on the side in the order they are using.
I use Shadekeep's Shamat Mapping Tool to create and print my master map and either draw the mini map from it (usually) or have a player draw as they go along.
All time on the mini map is freeform including trap removal/placement, pre combat spell casting, etc., etc., etc. I only go to distinct turns for combat.
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Old 12-14-2021, 04:49 PM   #13
larsdangly
 
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That is a good approach to situations where MH scale movement is warranted. Another related thing I do is to use the magnetic hex tiles from Headless Hydra to resolve wilderness travel parts of adventures. They are good for any scale from ca. 100 m to maybe 5 km per hex, so you can use them to resolve 'turns' f anywhere from maybe 10 minutes to a day of outdoor adventuring.
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Old 01-17-2022, 04:58 PM   #14
JohnPaulB
 
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Location: Portland, Maine
Default Re: How you personally play adventures

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Originally Posted by Chris Rice View Post
For those of you who regularly play, a question. If you are playing a dungeon adventure (for instance) do you play the entire adventure using the strict turn sequence and movement rules or do you slot in and out as the action happens?

If the former, doesn’t this make play quite tedious as the players traverse the empty parts of the dungeon? Obviously Death Test did away with the intervening portions but most adventures won’t be like that.

If the latter, when do you decide to slot back in to the strict strict rules and how do you determine where the players are at the start of the action?

Looking forward to your ideas.
In the past I had created and ran a 3d dungeon with walls and furniture and 25mm lead figures. It was a 2 floor dungeon laid out on 4 foot x 4 foot plywood boards. The dungeon had 'ceilings' which covered the entire board and when figure entered an area, I revealed a '30 foot' section of floor if it was dark. If they were at a door that they just opened, I would reveal the room. The rooms were furnished mostly with cast furniture, though I did craft some wood tables/beds. When they left a room or closed a door, the 'ceiling' would be put back.

I ran this game as a strict turn sequence. (Well sort-of. Most of the time I eliminated initiative rolls because there was no enemy about.). I might allow two or three movement or waiting turns to be combined if it didn't impact the story.

This particular dungeon was meant to be a linear dungeon that the players immersed themselves in. The players didn't mind going through it because along with the regular adventure, there was the mystery of the place itself. They never felt that doing this strictly by turn sequence was tedious for this particular game. They were hungry to have the next part revealed.

Most other games that I run are RPG until combat or risk is involved, then it goes to table.
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Old 01-27-2022, 02:30 AM   #15
billybell
 
Join Date: Dec 2021
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Basically, I play all adventure games. My game strategy changes frequently. Sometimes I can make a move that I do not consider good, but in this way I can mislead my opponent. Just a little trickery. lol
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Old 02-03-2022, 03:13 PM   #16
ParadoxGames
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Location: New Jersey
Default Re: How you personally play adventures

Strict & Tactical!
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Old 02-17-2022, 04:20 PM   #17
David L Pulver
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Default Re: How you personally play adventures

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Rice View Post
For those of you who regularly play, a question. If you are playing a dungeon adventure (for instance) do you play the entire adventure using the strict turn sequence and movement rules or do you slot in and out as the action happens?

If the former, doesn’t this make play quite tedious as the players traverse the empty parts of the dungeon? Obviously Death Test did away with the intervening portions but most adventures won’t be like that.

If the latter, when do you decide to slot back in to the strict strict rules and how do you determine where the players are at the start of the action?

Looking forward to your ideas.

Usually the dungeon is sketched out in megahex scale and characters are walking and mapping, which the rules says is 3 hexes (1 MH) per turn), or about 10 Megahexes a minute. With PCs stopping to plan and so on they're usually moving 5-10 megahexes/minute, or maybe twice as fast if they break into a jog.

For the most part, that sort of "exploration" part of the labyrinth adventure is generally narrated with the PCs drawing their own map as they explore based on my description, or if they aren't in a hurry and not mapping, with me just keeping general track of where they are on my labyrinth map with a finger and telling them when they hit a door or room, or need to make saves to spot something or avoid a trap. When they encounter combat we lay out the map and counters for the region they're in, expanding the map as needed should they flee or advance off the edge.

This is pretty much the exact same approach I took to tactical mapping when using GURPS for dungeon adventuring. (In D&D, I usually play OSR systems rather than 3e, PF, or 5e, and so don't bother with miniatures, but on those times when I did use a battleboard I would also follow the same procedure).
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Last edited by David L Pulver; 02-25-2022 at 10:13 PM.
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Old 02-18-2022, 01:10 AM   #18
Steve Plambeck
 
Join Date: Jun 2019
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Me and my former group's fellow GM's ran the show just as David mentions.

In our terminology there were "Game Turns" and "Combat (aka Melee) Turns".

Game Turns were variable in length, and totally up to the GM, with things like random encounters, weather rolls, and foraging results rolled for once per Game Turn. During a large outdoor quest like I used to run, a Game Turn was one day, and if the party spent it on all-day travel, then they moved one hex on the large scale regional map, or two hexes if the terrain was favorable. During shorter adventures, a Game Turn might be an hour or some other amount of time, representing walking from the inn to the dungeon, the other side of town, to the next hamlet, etc., with a chance of things happening along the way.

Virtually all role playing occurred during Game Turns. The players options during Game Turns were whatever the GM said they were.

But the moment anyone could get hurt or killed, we followed what I like to call "The Rule of Self-determination". In any dangerous situation, we dropped from Game Turns to Combat Turns, the GM would put down the hexgrid, counters would be positioned, and everything would follow the rules of Melee until the situation was resolved. When the danger was past the GM would declare Combat Turns over, and the current Game Turn would resume.

No one ever died outside of Combat Turns. It probably would have been more realistic if they had. Say the party was crossing the sea during Game Turns and a storm sank the ship, with one saving roll to drown or not. But such things are anathema to the spirit of the game, and all GMs should avoid them.
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Old 02-25-2022, 10:17 PM   #19
David L Pulver
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No one ever died outside of Combat Turns. It probably would have been more realistic if they had. Say the party was crossing the sea during Game Turns and a storm sank the ship, with one saving roll to drown or not. But such things are anathema to the spirit of the game, and all GMs should avoid them.
That's an interesting approach. I remember INTERPLAY ran an article long ago where someone traced their TFT campaign's death stats, and "died from drowning" was fairly high up there...

Personally, I've never drowned any PCs in TFT, but water travel wasn't a significant part of the game. I do so soon, however, as I've been contemplating an aquatic adventure.
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Old 02-26-2022, 12:12 AM   #20
Steve Plambeck
 
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Personally, I've never drowned any PCs in TFT, but water travel wasn't a significant part of the game. I do so soon, however, as I've been contemplating an aquatic adventure.
Ah - it's rare but during Melee turns a PC could be wounded to ST 0 while waist deep in an underground stream, while the rest of the party is all engaged in heavy combat. I lost a great PC that way.

I've gotten enamored of the idea to run an under-water campaign some day, one of very "Lovecraftian" flavor that would involve TFT equivalents of "The Deep Ones." To that end I wrote a new spell that temporarily gives a party of up to 7 PCs gills, and the ability to breathe underwater for a number of hours determined by the ST put into the spell. The mischievous twist being the more often you use the spell, the greater the chance the gills become permanent, the ability to breathe air is lost, and the PC becomes one of "The Deep Ones" themselves. I should post that in the appropriate thread.
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