D&D is not a game. It's games.

Pre-ramble

A few days ago I joined a largish 5E D&D group on Facebook and I was ... astounded. For a few days I clicked around, participated in a few discussions, and most of the people were normal and quite polite. So far so good.

But still. Astounded. I've run 60 sessions of more-or-less D&D 5E. Sure, there are house rules - what game isn't house ruled? - but the game we run is certainly 5E compatible. It's also OSR compatible, with everything from DCO to DFD and SUD getting played.

And there I kept asking myself, what game are these people playing? Who are these dungeon masters? These games sound nothing like my games! The core books held as laws to be followed. The constant call to "CR" and "balanced encounters" and "challenges" and calls to "fudge dice".

My mind is completely boggled. D&D is supposedly a game where your imagination provides an unlimited special effects budget ... and here I saw it reduced to accounting over and over again.

I vented my astonishment on the G+ OSR group - again managing a pretty normal and polite discussion. Good job folks.

My Bard

The whole experience with accountant-D&D reminded me of one experience, years ago, when I tried to join a group at a game shop. I'd been DMing for years and I looked forward to being able to play a bit. So ... the DM lets me know the basics, level, setting, stuff like that. I roll up a bard.

I show up at the table and all the other players begin complaining, 

"Oh, God! A bard!"

"Bards are totally underpowered!"

"Bards can't fulfil any role, they don't even make good support!"

We came to the first encounter, some orcs at a barricade. I announce that I try to talk to them. The DM stares at me, "But they're orcs!"

I respond, "Yeah, but I'm a bard with an epic lute and I can try to soothe the savage beast."

All the other players look at me darkly. The DM looks at me darkly.

My bard offers parley, the orcs accept. The bard stands up and starts to talk. The DM rolls some dice and announces, "Five arrows hit you. 22 damage."

My bard was down.

The party charged into battle and killed the orcs. My bard bled out.

"Now you can roll a character that can help the team fight."

I left the group. F**k if I was going to waste time moving minis around square rooms shooting orcs with a wand of magic missiles Mk 3 for four levels until I got fireballs and could do the same thing but against appropriately higher CR monsters.

D&D is Not A Game

Finally, the heart of the post. During that OSR discussion (and also thanks to this here post on RPG combat as war vs. combat as sport) I became aware more acutely of something. When you get together with friends to play chess or monopoly, you know exactly what game you will be playing and what the victory conditions are.

But not with D&D.

Because D&D is not actually a single game. It's actually more a type of play activity, within which different games are played. Let's look at the games (pl.) of D&D.

1. An overland exploration / travel game that is literally Outdoor Survival from Avalon. The so-called Hexcrawling. This is a game I never managed to play successfully at my sessions, by the way! (with resource management system 1 - over long periods)
2. A combat game that comes originally from Chainmail, which was a miniature war game (and I think that's where the accounting war game tension comes from). (with very short term resource management)
3. An exploration / mapping game where players delve into a dungeon. This is where the grid squares come from (it was easier to get grid paper to draw architectural-ish labyrinths!) and this is the game that is well spoofed in Munchkin. (with resource management system 2 - over short periods)
4. A hero simulation game, where the PCs go from zero (or level 1) to hero over the course of several sessions. This is where the whole experience thing comes from.
5. A game of improv, which is the DMs funny voices and the actual role-playing - which are surprisingly completely untethered from rules in actual D&D. At least some basic improv tenets would be useful here.

I actually think this is pretty great. It means that you can take this House of Games (HOG) and cherry-pick your play experience. It's also pretty easy to add additional games to the D&D play house:

1. A 'domain' game of geopolitics, which might as well be replaced with Diplomacy or a similar simple strategy game.
2. A world-building / history-building game, which could be either wholly narrative or set up as a card game (I think Microscope does something like this).
3. In-game gambling / fortune-telling with cards, dice and more.
4. A dungeon or city-building game with lego bricks and dice.
5. A music game of trying to find the perfect song on Youtube to fit a given scene / character / battle or result (I actually do this at the game and give XP for players who come up with great music).

This big playhouse means that there are different things for different people to enjoy and actually think reducing D&D to just one or two of any of these components diminishes it. Honestly, it's not a great exploration game, and it's not even that great a combat game! But, the mix and the openness of games it allows, this is amazing (I suspect even the founders of D&D didn't realize exactly what kind of play house they had created). By the same token, taking the subsystems of the game and trying to reduce them to the same rule system does not necessarily work well.

What I do think is a problem is that D&D as presented in the game books isn't up-front and open about this situation! It clearly refers to D&D as a game, but then says that "the game has no real end".

No, of course it doesn't have a real game! Why? Because the "campaign" is just a themed play-time. We're playing Feyrun [sic] or Greyskull [sic] or Mordorland Blues because it gives a mental reference frame to our actual games of "kill the annoying archmage Elfminister" or "explore the ruins of Aetheria to find the Magic Sword of Swordiness" or "banter and jibe in an improvised rhyming competition among oppressed railroad worker orcs while listening to music"

So ... phew. Not sure exactly where to take this forward, but the Games not Game realization has opened my eyes to possibilities. Now, since you read so far, some music from Dio (and Rainbow):

All PCs are Thieves

Over the past five months I've drawn over 144 wizards, thieves and fighters. Characters, vignettes and accompanying texts. A number I've also published here.

The Wizards were easy. They're madmen, plumbing the depths of creation, seeking knowledge humanity was not meant to know, bringing magic, science and weirdness into the fantasy rpg. A wizard as an opponent in a game of D&D is the perfect opponent. It takes so little to make them wrong. The corruption of magic can make dispatching a wizard, even one who is good at heart, an act of mercy. No hero needs feel bad about dispatching a wizard.

The Fighters were also easy. They represent power, hierarchy, strength, domination. A wizard breaks the rules of reality to get to the top, a fighter is the top. Two heroes walk into a ring, one comes out. That is the fighter. A fighter represents the Man and it is so easy for the power of the fighter to corrupt. After all, there can be only one.

But Thieves. Making thief-type opponents is hard, because by their nature they are not the opponents of PCs. They are not kshatriyas or brahmins, they are not in positions of power, they do not seek to spit in the eyes of gods and demons with their magics. They are the underdogs. Ordinary folks getting by on guts and guile.

Thieves are essentially all adventurers. At best, they are competitors, but not opponents.

Prometheus. Heinrich Füger 1817

Prometheus. Anansi. Loki. Robin Hood. Reynard the Fox. Bilbo. Aladdin. Sinbad. Odysseus. Theseus. Conan. Brier Rabbit. Coyote. Bart Simpson. The Doctor. Bugs Bunny. Benjamin. All of them are "Thieves" and "Upstarts" against the order. Against the Man. Sneaking into the Scary Wizard's Temple to steal a ruby. Overthrowing a tyrant king. Going against the giants. Assassinating a hobgoblin holy man to prevent the downtrodden goblinoid masses rising up against the rightful elven aristocracy.

The only thieves are the ones who overthrow the tyrant and then put themselves in his place, becoming the Man, the Wizard, the Priest.

At the core of the D&D adventure is a group of down-on-their-lucks making it in the big world. Rising up, against all odds. To do this they use guile, trickery, guts and if they don't die, they achieve glory. In essence, it doesn't matter if a 1st level character is a barbarian or a bard or a warlord (terrible class name, by the way), they're all thieves.

And that's why setting thieves as opponents is kind of crappy. They're thieves because they're the underdogs and have to fight a sneaky battle against those in power. And that's why following Elminster the All-powerful's instructions is kind of lame, because it's just doing what the authority tells you.

The PCs are in a fantasy world where they can overturn everything at no cost. And now, they're going to follow orders from the Man to keep things the way they are. How boring!

Subvert the order! Bring down the Fighters and the Wizards that keep the common goblin down!

d12 Table: As you leave the Popular Noble King Wizard's Audience Chamber

1. a maiden slips you a discrete silk purse that holds a crystal rose and a scented letter alleging that the king has had six secret sons imprisoned in a crypt beneath the citadel of City Over.
2. a group of petitioners with magic cabbage growing from their ears are beaten away from the doors by the NKW Police.
3. an NKW security wagon rumbles by, three captured goblins inside, destined for the NKW processing facility five.
4. a merchant comes to you, offering to pay for goblin futures on scalps you'll collect cleaning the New Expanse of their troublesome hides. He'll give you 50% on the rate, so you can armour before you go to the New Expanse.
5. a group of peasants with placards protesting the price freeze on turnips imposed by the NKW to fight speculators and kulaks. A group of Official Trading House accountants laughs at them from their coach and throw turnip pies at them.
6. a nobly accoutred knight pulls you aside and mentions that if you do well in clearing out the Marble Quarries of Marmarra of the filthy kobold raiders, he may have a job protecting the tax collectors in the Western Ranch Reach.
7. an astrologer attorney offers additional money if you also bring her any patent amulets on farms and mines that the goblins might have stolen in their raids. The goblins don't realize that these trinkets are valuable, if properly argued in the NKW property protection courts.
8. a preacher stands on a box ranting about the inhumanity of the filthy hobgoblins in the New Expanse, who continue to pollute the Good Folk with their robbery and brigandage and breeding like rabbits and bringing sexual diseases and corrupting young folk with filthy notions and stealing young men for their lust matriarchs. The ranting goes on. And on.
9. a noble scribe comes to mention that he knows a specialist interested in live goblins as test subjects (for a spell that will allow for the more effective fumigation of the New Expanses) and will pay 'andsomely for them. He passes an address in the Fine Warehouse Quarter of City Magnificence.
10. a woman in a great dun coat whispers if you want any illegal goblin tech to help you out, maybe some of their cryptic mesomorphic keys to help you out in the Rainbow Ruins?
11. a troop of proud young recruits, chests puffed and wearing the silver and red livery of the Righteous Fighters of the NKW march back and forth in the parade square, groups of young fine women swoon delicately, peddlers offer snacks, shoe shining and grooming for pennies.
12. a number of drunken NKW university students accost several half-goblin slaves and beat them with smelly salamis while onlookers cheer and wager.

Improved Information Presentation for Dungeon Masters and the Slumbering Ursine Dunes

The Golden Goats (our D&D party) has chosen (on the basis of insufficient information and DM nudging) decided to (of their own free will) hit the Slumbering Ursine Dunes. This is not a review of that adventure, but I will use it for illustration.

Like many dungeon masters (referees, game masters, whateverees), I have stacks of adventures at my disposal. Infinite modules and adventures, games galore. From the OSR classics like Death Frost Doom to Zak Sabbath strangenesses like Red & Pleasant Land to the gargantuosity of Blue Medusa to short things like Gus L's Tower of the Hated Pretender and the subsequent Dread Machine and Patrick Stuart's Deep Carbon Observatory. Seriously, google those and check them out. They are good.

I've come to really appreciate pre-made adventures, because they provide me with

1. the skeleton of an adventure to run, useful when short on time, 
2. and encounters that I didn't make up myself, which is great because they challenge me when running them, expand my experience, and leave me completely indifferent to outcomes.

But one thing I have run into in every one of these adventures is the challenge of information presentation.

The information I need from an adventure as a DM is different from the information players need, furthermore I function as a medium for this information, filtering it for the players. So, the information flows a bit like this: Author (Adventure) ---> DM ---> Players. Every one of those steps is open to entropy, distortion and information loss.

But the big difference is in how information is (or should be!) presented to different audiences.

How Players Receive Information During a Game

A player receives information in a linear fashion from the DM. For example:

DM: There is a great stork in front of you. About 60 feet high. It grabs a merchant and swallows him whole.

PC: Is it blue?

DM: No.

PC: Damnit, my Arrow of Blue Slaying won't work. Can I jump on it?

DM: If you climb a nearby building or tree, it could work, but it'll be dangerous.

In this way, a player's experience is a bit like reading / playing a piece of interactive fiction with a real-live fictomancer (aka. storyteller) and dice to provide random events.

How DMs Receive Information From an Adventure

The same way. In a linear fashion.

Most adventures are laid out and written as though I, the DM, am an invisible, floating, incorporeal, somewhat mind-reading eye or spirit exploring the adventure step-by-step.

1. The sands here have been compacted by generations of ritual blood-letting by the troglocactus people. A golden cow is buried under the semi-animate dragon statue. A smelly path leads south. A sweet path leads east.
2. 1d3 orco-agave slaves are here working. Great clay bowls pock the canyon here, where the troglocactus people deposit their sappy discharges to make the delectable nectar known as peopltle. Peopltle causes a buzz and gives advantage to speaking to animals or plants and a 20% chance of seeing a vision familiar (see p. 59). A paved path leads to the adobe hut of the ogro-saguaro chief red-knocker to the west and a dirt track leads to the orco-agave slave village further south.
3. 40% chance Red-Knocker is here. The adobe hut is fine and decorated. There is always a spiny ant-eater-umber-hulk crossbreed here. She is named Mary-Louise and likes checkers. Can find rumours. Red-Knocker has blown all his gold at the Gamblehouse of Sweet Nectar Slim in Migarro, so there is no loot.

And this is kind of fun. It's like a make-my-own adventure game in some ways. I end up rooting for the Clan of Poo werebear circus performers. I chuckle at puns.

What PCs and DMs Do With Information

The player immerses herself in her own story in a linear fashion, knocking down one door after another, until she discovers the prince is in another castle. And yes, I've done that. She doesn't need to know what is (or could be) behind the window, under the hidden trapdoor, in the background or in the mind of the extra-corporeal corner-demon Pelutho who is tossing bread crumbs into this reality to fish for the souls of men (but not women, for Pelutho is not that kind of tosser).

The DM mediates the adventure to the PCs. The DM is like the adventure's Search and Map and Random Seed and Dice Rolling system mashed together with some bad voice acting and terrible theme music for fight scenes. Oh, also, while generally conducting the party like a master of ceremonies (because a good game of D&D is a party).

And therein is the problem.

As a DM during play I need a synchronous overview of the adventure at multiple levels. I need both higher and lower-level overviews, and I need more information density than a player ever experiences. Adventures try to deal with this, and many recent OSR adventures are taking steps, but they're not there yet. The essence is still linear, even in the Blue Medusa.

Information Presentation (the Example of the Slumbering Ursine Dunes)

I'm going to break-down the SUD based on the information being presented.

• p. 1 - Welcome to the Dunes - an introduction and some guidelines (not using it during play)
• p. 2 - Dunes History - dropped it, as I slotted it into Rainbowlands
• p. 3–p. 8 - Faction Behavior - this is important, but at 4 pages, I don't have the time to review it as I play. In practice, this means my rendition of the SUD diverges at the first NPC encountered.
• p. 8–9 - Rumor Table - yay! But let's hope I spot it more often. (R&PL has an interesting approach, where all the tables are (repeated?) at the back, which I like. Another cool option would be a bonus .pdf of just the tables to keep them available).
• p.9–10 - Wandering Critter Table - important. See above.
• p. 10 - Using the Map - honestly, ignored this in play.
• p. 11 - the Map - I refer to this constantly. It now has a flap, marking it in the book. This is one of the most important references in the adventure, unfortunately, like on many maps, the locations are simply numbered, not named. Maps are an area of information presentation for DMs that I think present one of the best chances for improvement in future products.
• p. 12–20 - 25 Point-crawl locations - all the "level 1 locations". A key problem is that there are two key adventure/dungeon locations, which are not marked as such on the map and require "redirection" from p. 16 to pages 20 and 30. Also, several of the small locations do also conceivable break down into smaller sub locations. Linear!
• p. 20–40 - Actually, three large dungeons, containing 3 of the factions. Together they add an additional 25, 14 and 18 locations, respectively. Each comes with specific local environment settings and encounter tables, but their maps are only at the end of the adventure. And, again, numbered. Linear!
• p. 41–43 - Chaos Index - a fun tracker-based mechanism to modify the environment based on party activities. However, notice it's location: slotted in the middle.
• p. 44–55 - Bestiary - ok, reference. It can be here, I probably won't manage to check during play, though!
• p. 55–56 - Spells - as above.
• p. 56–59 - Bonus Classes - as above.
• p.60–61 - NPC hireling pre-gens.
• p. 64–65 - maps for p. 20–40

At its core, the SUD is a location-based adventure with 4 factions, 4 location areas each with its own encounter tables, a total of c. 85 location objects + additional character and treasure objects, and several global tables and trackers (chaos index). This is an approximate information architecture of the whole adventure:

SUD information architecture: I want stuff like this when I run an adventure.

SUD does its job pretty well, but it's quite classic in that the only non-linear tool is a map, the rest of the adventure presentation is linear.

Ideas on Adventure Information Presentation for Running a Game

That quick information architecture? That's a top-level overview for a DM. Slightly below that, is a diagram breakdown of the different moving parts (objects: locations, characters, treasures, traps, tricks, etc.) and how they pertain to each other. I generally make one for every game I run (here's the DFD example. It has pictures, too.) — assuming I have at least a bit of time.

If I have time, I may try to hammer something like this out for SUD, because it's fun and I'm in the process of running it. When I run a game, I want to have the information presented to me in a dense yet visual format, that I can use to grasp what is going on and stay on the ball ... sort of like a good infographic.

This is how I envision it:

1. top-level adventure track = adventure info architecture + factions track + chaox index + key tables (this is basically a table of contents cross-pollinated with DM screen, I guess!)
2. adventure diagrams = crossbreed of map + key facts about each location (NPCs, treasures, challenges) - these should correspond to the individual adventure levels, so SUD would have four - but the level 1 (pointcrawl) should mark the entrances to sub-levels.
3. location details = this is basically an index-style presentation of the individual locations. What we already have.

I suspect every DM does some level of self-architecting before running an adventure, but my hunch is that several handout style one-pagers would make running most adventures much, much easier. If I'm write (I'll find out soon enough), a 60 page adventure like SUD really just requires 5 stand-alone .pdfs to make it ridiculously easy to run.

And now, a picture.

See the Red Dunes? Just south-west of Sfera?

Classy XP for Wizards, Thieves and Fighters

WTF the 5E light game doesn't really do XP, but maybe it should. So, here's a simple system. Based off this a bit. Hey, we're heading back to the Rainbowlands, so it's cool.

When you perform "deeds" and return to a safe haven and boast of them / prove them you gain XP as a die that you roll on the relevant XP table.

1. Discover ancient and forbidden lore - roll on the Seeker of Secrets XP table (Wizard table).
2. Retrieve treasure and loot from a 'dungeon' - roll on the Treasure Hunter XP table (Thief table).
3. Defeat / study a nemesis or new type of creature and bring back a trophy - roll on the Warrior table (Fighter table).
4. Invest proceeds in carousing / study / temple parties / foolish business ventures - i.e. the character's wealth gold is gone save for some change (Goldburner table).

Ideally, the difficulty / glory of the deed would determine the die. Basically, the deed has to be cool enough that telling the tale in a tavern would at least get the "heroes" a round of drinks and bed for the night. Something like this might work.

• Drinks are on the house - 1d4
• Hero of the hour - 1d6
• Memorable - 1d8
• They shall sing songs - 1d10

In practice, this is overcomplicated, so just a roll a 1d10, and the result also shows how impressed the townsfolk are.

Seeker of Secrets XP Table (Wizard)

1. +1 to arcana or science or medicine, 
2. +1 to religion or history or insight,
3. learn new spell (1-3: 1st level, 4-5: 2nd level, 6: 3rd level),
4. +1 to DC of one spell or +1d4 to effect of one spell,
5. +1 to Intelligence or Wisdom or Charisma,
6. +1 spell slot of (1-3: 1st level, 4-5: 2nd level, 6: 3rd level) or double scope of one spell,
7. new familiar or increase die of one spell,
8. learn new spell (1-4: 4th level, 5-6: 5th level),
9. gain 1 bonus spell per short rest,
10. +1 proficiency

Treasure Hunter XP Table (Thief)

1. +1 to acrobatics or athletics, 
2. +1 to perception or deception,
3. +1 to mechanics (thieves' tools) or sleight of hands,
4. +1 to investigation or stealth,
5. +1 to Dexterity or Intelligence
6. +2 to hp or sneak attack damage
7. new expertise or +1 to AC in light armor
8. gain advantage on surprise checks or +1 to hit with daggers or pistols
9. gain 1 bonus action per short rest
10. +1 proficiency

Warrior XP Table (Fighter)

1. +1 to acrobatics or athletics, 
2. +1 to animal handling or survival or an additional inventory slot,
3. +1 to one save (roll 1d10: 1-3: Str, 4: Dex, 5-7: Con, 8: Int, 9: Wis, 10: Cha),
4. +2 to attack or defence vs. one enemy type,
5. +1 to Strength or Constitution,
6. +4 to hp or +1 to damage with one weapon type,
7. +1 to hit with one weapon type or +1 to AC in medium or heavy armor
8. gain additional second wind
9. gain 1 bonus action per short rest
10. +1 proficiency

Goldburner Table (To Do)

1. acquire a random and unusual potion (think purple lotus powder) or gain a boon that gives advantage to 1d6 checks with an ability of choice.
2. +1 to a random save
3. acquire a property, it is (1: a house, 2: an apartment, 3: a farm, 4: a house boat, 5: a house wagon, 6: a deed to a ruin)
4. acquire a loyal henchperson (1: a wizard, 2: a thief, 3: a fighter, 4: a slave, 5: a fop, 6: an intelligent animal or plant)
5. become inducted into a secret society of (1: inept amateur magicians, 2: corporate rogueish merchants, 3: dashing heroes, 4: underhanded navigators and adventurers, 5: local nobles, 6: local revolutionaries)
6. acquire a masterful and possibly magical (1: weapon, 2: armor, 3: book, 4: steed or vehicle, 5: trinket, 6: toolkit or dice)
7. +1 to a random stat
8. acquire a stake in a business such as a (1: local brewery, 2: local food joint, 3: local metalworker, 4: local alchemical shop or druggist, 5: local protection racket, 6: local affiliated corporate security outfit)
9. obtain a promise from a local shady cult of a (1: free reincarnation, 2: greater metachemical healing, 3: stored clone body, 4: teleportal intervention when you break this totally safe gas-filled bauble, 5: a one-use summoning figurine, almost certain to summon a demon under your control, 6: a single-use ten-hour sanctuary amulet)
10. gain a bonus HD for hit point recovery or acquire a bonus feat or an additional bonus fatigue rank.

Flowchart Room Description - Stab 1 - Probably Insane

+Patrick Stuart drew a spatial representation of a room being described. He asked if we thought it was insane. I said I thought so (although, to be clear, I'm a big fan of Patrick Stuart and like his insane very much).

Anyway, I suggested using a flowchart to depict a room and +cole long and +Jacob Hurst wanted to see what it would look like.

So I made a flowchart for a single room (well, clearing in the woods).

... aaaaand I'm not sold on it. It could work, but I think it would still take a LOT of layout work and still likely be slower to read for a DM using this in a product than a note-form approach. Something like the Hackslashmaster approach or the Papers&Pencils approach.

I might be wrong. Am I wrong? Hm.