05-08-2014, 09:52 AM | #11 | |||
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Heartland, U.S.A.
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Re: Monster design
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The closest thing to that, to my knowledge, can be found in Monster Hunter 2: The Mission, p29 — Choosing a Monster. To grossly summarize and simplify: make sure their DR doesn't make them uninjuryable, make sure the number of attacks is balanced, make sure their defenses don't make them unhitable. Quote:
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I usually used published material for inspiration. Not necessary. I wasn't going to read it anyway. :)
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Last edited by Captain Joy; 05-08-2014 at 11:23 PM. Reason: added link |
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05-09-2014, 08:51 AM | #12 | |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Re: Monster design
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05-09-2014, 09:51 AM | #13 |
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2008
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Re: Monster design
While balancing toe to toe encounters can be doable with mathematic methods and comparisons, the thing is toe to toe encounters are only one type.
The problem of monster design really lies in the challenge of encounter design. In this regard, I agree with those who have remarked that it is important to know your party. This ranges from a technical appreciation of how squishy or tough they are in game terms, to questions of play style and competence. Equally important however is that the GM should really understand his or her dramatic (and narrative*) objectives with the encounter, and the implications of those objectives for how the encounter needs to be balanced. For example, dramatic objectives might include: seemingly trivial threats turn out big, oppressively desperate situations to test resolve punctuated by a fight, battles of attrition, predicting/avoiding enemies with sudden-death capability, and of course more. An encounter ends up seeming 'unbalanced' when the dramatic intention is thwarted by unwelcome outcomes, and when there are different concepts of what a welcome outcome might mean. Be aware of your dramatic objectives so that you can know how to balance the encounter in game terms and with the expectations of your players. How you build and describe the encounter are equally critical. The best built drama will fail if players see through or don't get it. Where they see through it by skillful play or clever insight or wise attribute choice, be prepared to go with it -- that's called fun. But if they see though it through meta knowledge or over-simplification the fun has been depleted. On the other hand, where they don't get it and fail it's troublesome if that happens because of missing elements in the encounter description. Use your dramatic objective as the core of questions you ask yourself as you think it through and make sure that all of the answers you give yourself get conveyed through your description. Remember that no plan survives first contact. It's good to have some narrative ploy up your sleeve to get ahold of a campaign if an encounter goes awry. |
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campaign rules, monster |
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