“It was by no means simple being a witch. Oh, the broomstick was nice, however to be a witch you wanted to be wise, so wise that typically it harm. You handled the truth – not what folks wished.” – Terry Pratchett
The Smart Factor to Do?
Ought to monsters behave sensibly (and also you may substitute “realistically” if you happen to don’t balk at that time period in a fantasy context) in role-playing video games? Persons are everywhere in the map about this, from a transparent “Sure” to a transparent “No” and all over the place in between. My reply is “sure”, and I’ll quote myself from 40 odd years in the past (White Dwarf journal) as an example:
“D&D is a simulation of life, a life we imagine might exist, however doesn’t.”
By that I meant it would not need to be foolish. It would not need to be “mind fever.” It will probably make sense the best way an excellent fantasy novel is smart. There is a huge divide right here with two colleges of thought.
The primary is characterised by a press release by Robert McKee, who was speaking about novels:
“We give the fantasy creator one big leap away from actuality, then demand tight-nit chances and no coincidences thereafter.”
The second is dominated by the “Rule of Cool”: “if it is cool, use it.” This could consequently to typically unusual or nonsensical outcomes, however that is a part of the enjoyable.
Make Sense!
We have mentioned how monsters may make sense in my Monster Workshop sequence of articles, in two components, the place we tried to make monsters make sense. Sbszine summed up the philosophy as:
. . . ensure the monster would not simply come out and battle for no purpose. What’s the monster doing once you encounter it? Maybe it’s suckling its younger and desires to guard them. If the monster is clever, maybe it talks, negotiates, presents a job? The place is the monster and why? It might be out searching, hibernating in a cave, constructing a nest, no matter.
In different phrases, make the monster greater than a stage prop/spear provider within the journey. Persevering with:
Give the gamers a purpose to work together with the monster. Consider the conditions the place you may encounter a bear, and what would encourage you to work together with it. The anti-pattern is to open a door right into a featureless stone room and have a bunch of monsters assault and battle to the loss of life.
These of us taking part in Dungeons & Dragons within the early days began with the “anti-pattern” as a result of that is how Gary Gygax taught us, however a few of us determined (McKee-like) that this did not make sense. So we wished to verify the monsters did not simply present up and battle for no purpose. Robotically preventing is more likely to put the monster within the Useless E-book – not good for survivability of the species.
Conversely, when the participant characters need to battle “for expertise factors” that could be a “sport factor,” not a actuality factor. One other excuse for preventing monsters is “for treasure” however so many monsters are (in actuality) unlikely to have vital treasure. (Treasure-grubbing is a giant a part of video video games, the place “monsters” are even much less more likely to be wise than in tabletop.)
Is not the social gathering mission oriented? Do not they’ve a mission in thoughts that they need to obtain, and so they need to solely battle when it is necessary and unavoidable? But so typically we see monsters which can be prepared to battle in nearly any circumstance and participant characters who’re prepared to battle in nearly any circumstance.
You may take into account the ecological place of the monster in its residence, shouldn’t that make sense? Why do they reside right here, the place do they get their meals, what about waste disposal and air flow?
I’ve sometimes populated a dungeon-like place by having monsters wander in and discover their area of interest, which could embody kicking another person out. I don’t fairly battle out the fights, however I take relative fight power into consideration. It is an fascinating train for me, and after an journey I run extra “monsters” in in order that the dungeon is not precisely just like the gamers left it, which is what would occur in actuality until the participant characters got here again very quickly.
If it does come to fight, the monster ought to use ways, whether or not instinctual or clever. Take into consideration the monster cost (“human” wave). Whereas suicidal desperation by monsters as a substitute of wise monster conduct helps the gamers, when the monsters make sense, the participant characters can act extra rationally as effectively. There’s a sequence of books by Keith Ammann that are from a web based column referred to as The Monsters Know What They’re Doing which will present assist right here.
Cool Monsters
The counterpoint to “wise” is what’s handy. It’s simpler for a GM to manage monsters who aren’t wise. Smart can also be not flashy. Speaking a “monster” into doing what you need isn’t usually regarded as heroic. Moreover, wise monsters might be harder to beat if gamers are too passive. I mentioned Lively and Passive Gamers, in two components.
This method is just that monsters do what is smart for the sport, not for what ought to make sense in a fantasy world. This fits the moment technology of dungeon crawl strategies, a minimum of partly as a result of there’s merely no time to elucidate the place monsters got here from since what occurs subsequent is new to each the gamers and the sport grasp. Or to place it one other means, once you’re producing a dungeon on the fly, why the monster determined to reside there’s not of main significance. The “Rule of Cool” permits creatures to indicate up with out plenty of prework and is extra narratively versatile, even when it would not at all times make sense.
There’s additionally the opportunity of the randomness shaping the world itself. That’s, if a kobold exhibits up in a dungeon with a bear as a pet/guardian, we are able to now assume all kobolds do. As an alternative of arising with a logical framework for the way kobolds work, the sport performs this out in actual time — just like how participant characters have been as soon as clean slate 1st-level characters and in later editions of Dungeons & Dragons now come full with backgrounds (we talk about this in “Which Got here First, The Character or Their Backstory?“).
Does it Matter?
How you are feeling about your monsters “making sense” probably pivots on how a lot time it’s important to put into the sport, how a lot your gamers care about logic in a fantasy universe, and the group’s general playstyle. However no matter fashion you select, it is price contemplating earlier than you begin a marketing campaign. Ask your self, “does this make sense? Do I would like it to?” and you could be doing all of your gamers a favor.
Your Flip: Do the monsters act sensibly once you GM? Do you care about wise monster conduct?
