Indy-style tabletop RPG
April 11, 2018 5:28 AM Subscribe
I've never played or GMed in an Indiana Jones-style tabletop RPG campaign, in any system. But it has always seemed like excellent fun to me, and right now I'm preparing to run a banditry-themed D&D campaign which I'm beginning to suspect I could adapt to that style/feel. Those of you who HAVE participated in such a game: what worked? What didn't? Was it as rollicking as it seemed like it would be? Tell me your stories: the highlights AND the lowlights. And feel free to suggest other resources for my research.
This question is inspired by my comment in the Raiders FanFare thread.
We use 3rd edition, if it matters—and we DO use Eberron's action point system, which WILL matter.
One factor that comes to mind is the fact that D&D was very obviously inspired by Indy insofar as it is fixated on traps. I'll have to get more comfortable DMing traps, I suppose!
The PCs will all be members of the same band of outlaws. At least one of them will have the necessary skills and class features to deal with, or at minimum attempt, death-defying stunts. It'll be set after a regional war. That's about all that has been established so far; I don't yet have an opening story hook.
And before you ask, yes, I have the relevant GURPS books :)
This question is inspired by my comment in the Raiders FanFare thread.
We use 3rd edition, if it matters—and we DO use Eberron's action point system, which WILL matter.
One factor that comes to mind is the fact that D&D was very obviously inspired by Indy insofar as it is fixated on traps. I'll have to get more comfortable DMing traps, I suppose!
The PCs will all be members of the same band of outlaws. At least one of them will have the necessary skills and class features to deal with, or at minimum attempt, death-defying stunts. It'll be set after a regional war. That's about all that has been established so far; I don't yet have an opening story hook.
And before you ask, yes, I have the relevant GURPS books :)
For opening story hooks, why not just go the route of the traditional Bond/Indy pre-title sequence and do a short "prelude" session?
Open in media res, with your outlaw crew engaged in a heist or similar operation that is about to go slightly haywire due to circumstances outside their control. They can either come out ahead on the caper or lose in spectacular (if nonfatal) fashion, but ultimately you're just giving the players a taste of action (and a chance for them to establish who their characters are in full-tilt motion) before getting to the main story.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Open in media res, with your outlaw crew engaged in a heist or similar operation that is about to go slightly haywire due to circumstances outside their control. They can either come out ahead on the caper or lose in spectacular (if nonfatal) fashion, but ultimately you're just giving the players a taste of action (and a chance for them to establish who their characters are in full-tilt motion) before getting to the main story.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:15 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
Having played in a couple of pirate themed campaigns with a similar feel, I think one danger is players getting caught up in loot acquisition or leveling up instead of the larger quest you've worked so hard to build. You can deter this by rewarding them for engaging with the story in the desired way, and not rewarding them for just trying to grab more loot. If they decide to rob someone rather than follow the clue you gave them, it turns out the merchant they stopped just gambled away the last of his money yesterday. so sad.
And if you have a big mystery quest to be solved: don't get too caught up in an rigid scenario of when and where and how the clues will unfold. Decide when the players are ready for a clue, give them opportunities to find it, and then reward them for trying.
Instead of deciding the bronze key is in puzzle room 5 of the green dungeon, you make lists of good, bad, and important loot. When they are engaging with the puzzles and rolling well, they get good prizes. When they are just going through the motions they find boring or useless stuff. If they are trying but fail a role they get a cursed thing or a pile of old orc underwear or something like that that's fun to react to, but not actually helpful. If someone really wows you or makes an amazing critical roll, go ahead and give them the map to the next tomb, a magic sword, or whatever important thing is needed to move them onward.
Instead of deciding the innkeeper knows the clue and they need to find him and ask exactly the right question, reward them for trying to figure out who would have the clue. You know the clue, now let their logic work: if they put together the the previous clues and decide that the blacksmith must know what's going on, then now it's the blacksmith who has the next clue. Or if it really has to be the innkeeper, then the blacksmith knows something that leads them in that direction.
A bad example: in a spy game our GM had buried us in an avalanche of background information, she sent us 50+ PDF dossiers of people that might come up, with pictures of actors for each one. This was in the stone age, pre-ubiquitous smart phone /tablet/ laptop era. We needed to read it all and keep it in mind while playing, since printing it all out was just a ridiculous idea. The GM of course did have a computer in the room where we played, and usually had printouts for people who we were interacting with.
We walked into a bar, she described the occupants. I made an critical success on a roll to remember all that background information and apply it to the scene. The GM said I found nothing useful, and we spent the whole session chatting up different people and got nothing but dead ends. Later she revealed that we had failed to notice that one guy she described matched the photos in a dossier she had emailed us months earlier and never referenced again. I still vividly remember and resent that whole scene decades later, and for me it's when the campaign died even though it lasted a few more sessions.
What I wanted from her was to respect the critical success and grant me a clue, at the very least tell me "that guy, you've seen him a file recently, make another roll and I'll tell you more". Maybe even show me the dossier, since it was a critical success and my character had eidetic memory. What she wanted was for me to review all the materials before the game, memorize the photos to the point of matching to one of the 20 people she described being in the bar, and recall exactly why the guy was important.
posted by buildmyworld at 10:36 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
And if you have a big mystery quest to be solved: don't get too caught up in an rigid scenario of when and where and how the clues will unfold. Decide when the players are ready for a clue, give them opportunities to find it, and then reward them for trying.
Instead of deciding the bronze key is in puzzle room 5 of the green dungeon, you make lists of good, bad, and important loot. When they are engaging with the puzzles and rolling well, they get good prizes. When they are just going through the motions they find boring or useless stuff. If they are trying but fail a role they get a cursed thing or a pile of old orc underwear or something like that that's fun to react to, but not actually helpful. If someone really wows you or makes an amazing critical roll, go ahead and give them the map to the next tomb, a magic sword, or whatever important thing is needed to move them onward.
Instead of deciding the innkeeper knows the clue and they need to find him and ask exactly the right question, reward them for trying to figure out who would have the clue. You know the clue, now let their logic work: if they put together the the previous clues and decide that the blacksmith must know what's going on, then now it's the blacksmith who has the next clue. Or if it really has to be the innkeeper, then the blacksmith knows something that leads them in that direction.
A bad example: in a spy game our GM had buried us in an avalanche of background information, she sent us 50+ PDF dossiers of people that might come up, with pictures of actors for each one. This was in the stone age, pre-ubiquitous smart phone /tablet/ laptop era. We needed to read it all and keep it in mind while playing, since printing it all out was just a ridiculous idea. The GM of course did have a computer in the room where we played, and usually had printouts for people who we were interacting with.
We walked into a bar, she described the occupants. I made an critical success on a roll to remember all that background information and apply it to the scene. The GM said I found nothing useful, and we spent the whole session chatting up different people and got nothing but dead ends. Later she revealed that we had failed to notice that one guy she described matched the photos in a dossier she had emailed us months earlier and never referenced again. I still vividly remember and resent that whole scene decades later, and for me it's when the campaign died even though it lasted a few more sessions.
What I wanted from her was to respect the critical success and grant me a clue, at the very least tell me "that guy, you've seen him a file recently, make another roll and I'll tell you more". Maybe even show me the dossier, since it was a critical success and my character had eidetic memory. What she wanted was for me to review all the materials before the game, memorize the photos to the point of matching to one of the 20 people she described being in the bar, and recall exactly why the guy was important.
posted by buildmyworld at 10:36 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
If you're not locked into a mechanic, you may want to give Dusk City Outlaws a look.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:42 AM on April 12, 2018
posted by DrAstroZoom at 9:42 AM on April 12, 2018
I'm going to step in and do what was long ago inevitable back on the Forge: Why not Prime-Time Adventures?
If you're not familiar with the system, it's designed to roleplay the production of an ensemble TV show like Firefly or Chicago Hope or ST:TNG or Buffy or goodness just abut anything. The rules focus around recurring characters taking turns in the spotlight in an episodic show format, with defined sets associated with particular characters (McCoy is at home in the Sickbay, for example) and an experience point system called "fan mail" based on how compelling the other players think a given scene was.
It used to be a common universal refrain, because people often describe a setting for a game and ask what system to use. Since PTA is about structuring situations, it doesn't matter what setting you use so long as you are willing to tell the story as an episodic ensemble-cast TV show.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2018
If you're not familiar with the system, it's designed to roleplay the production of an ensemble TV show like Firefly or Chicago Hope or ST:TNG or Buffy or goodness just abut anything. The rules focus around recurring characters taking turns in the spotlight in an episodic show format, with defined sets associated with particular characters (McCoy is at home in the Sickbay, for example) and an experience point system called "fan mail" based on how compelling the other players think a given scene was.
It used to be a common universal refrain, because people often describe a setting for a game and ask what system to use. Since PTA is about structuring situations, it doesn't matter what setting you use so long as you are willing to tell the story as an episodic ensemble-cast TV show.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 9:56 AM on April 13, 2018
Response by poster: I should clarify that 3rd edition D&D is non-negotiable. BUT, as DM, I am certainly prepared to consult flavor-relevant non-D&D resources.
buildmyworld: Yeah, it's never good to confuse player memory and character memory.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
buildmyworld: Yeah, it's never good to confuse player memory and character memory.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:41 AM on April 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by deadwater at 6:55 AM on April 11, 2018 [3 favorites]