Cap & Co., part 5

motivational, inspirational, educational, goblinational

Before we get back to the story, I want to point out a really cool little book my wife got me for Christmas.

Available everywhere, but I like linking to the publisher directly. Picture from the MIT Press website.

Written by two brothers specifically for Dungeons & Dragons, fifth edition (or 5e, as the youngsters say), I’ve found it useful for thinking about these solo sessions, and I plan to adopt its recommendations for any multiplayer in-person campaigns I run from now on as well.

Most adventures in traditional TTRPGs start out the same way: Something bad happens and your players have to muster their courage to stand against it. Whether it’s rescuing the little dog that was kidnapped by the local troll, stopping an assassination attempt at the archduke’s wedding or recruiting an army to disrupt the construction of a world-ending ritual site, the party will always find a way to save the day. After all, what kind of heroes would they be if they let the dog, duke or entire population die? Saving the day is fun, but it starts to get repetitive after a while. If you’re using a “bad guys try to do stuff, good guys try to stop them” engine to drive all your sessions, you’re taking all the agency out of your players’ hands. Bad stuff happens, good people have to try to stop it, roll, rinse, repeat.

I find it especially true of superhero media, but it was also one of the main criticisms of Jackson’s Tolkien movies amongst my friends, how the heroes had to be convinced to take on the evil, or in the case of the Ents almost tricked. Violence is only allowable in self-defense, which made for a lot of pretty boring cartoons in the 70s.¹

This book’s idea is to instead have the players publicly and/or privately define specific and achievable goals for their characters, which they will pursue while the GM (and the world) reacts to them. More fun for the players, less work for the GM.

It struck me while reading the book that this is also the single biggest problem with classroom education. We spend all this time telling students what to do and then have the nerve to be surprised when they don’t want to do it.

The Key to Motivating Students--and Maybe Everyone Else Too

I’m already experimenting with this approach in my Alien Ecosystems course this semester at UNCG. I’ve asked the students over the weekend to define some goals for themselves:

1. short term (this next month)

2. medium term (through spring break)

3. long terms (through the end of the semester)

I plan to try it with my one independent study undergrad as well.

Chartreuse Goblin is About to Die

Highligher and ball-point pen on copy paper, based on an image I can no longer find online in order to link to it.

Maybe it’s just me, but looking at that drawing I could totally see Cap as a Muppet. Or as one of Disney’s Gargoyles, which I’ve been watching parts of.²

I’m reasonably certain there was never a Goblin player character in any of the Gauntlet games, though I’ll admit I never played any of them past Dark Legacy. This video shows how much text-to-speech technology has advanced since the Atari days.

I like to imagine the gargly Gauntlet announcer commenting on my solo-play efforts.

Chaos Factor is now SEVEN.

But Back to the Game

As a reminder, Rocky Ledges is where the Lone Pine goblin tribe lives. Last week’s bloody attack took place at the edge of the woods just a little farther down the road. Detail from the original map by Andreas Claren.

This Is What We Call the Goblin Show

Chaos Factor definitely up to 7 now.

Cap critically fails a Poison saving throw (1!) and develops a raging infection from the shit-stained spear wound. Cosmos does his OSE barbarian Cure Poison thing and gives him a second saving throw, which he makes (17).

Do the PCs stop in Thorham? Unlikely. 69 No

Do they push on to Gosterwick? Likely. 26 Yes

Do the pursuing Lone Pine goblins stop in Thorham (2+ days later)? Likely. 66 Yes

• <7 so Random Event → NPC Action table 2 → 69 People + 48 Intellect

OK, so that means the chief really does have 18 Intelligence

• which means he speaks multiple languages and quickly figures out they aren’t in Thorham

Do they follow to Gosterwick? Likely. 60 Yes

Do they catch up? 50/50. 15 Exceptional Yes

Inside Gosterwick? Very Unlikely. 11 Exceptional Yes, double ones < 7 so Random Event

• 75 PC Negative → 79 Repeat and 38 Hidden

The chief enters Gosterwick, alone, disguised, to find Cap and . . . ?

Keep in mind that I’ve already gamed it out, and your responses won’t change anything in this case. But I am very curious to find out what you all think might happen, what your expectations are.

But for now let’s pause and learn more about our pursuer through Mythic’s NPC tables. We already know he’s a 3rd level Goblin. I decided (for no reason other than I thought it would be cool) that the Lone Pine who gives the tribe its name was a Dryad, which inspired the Goblin name Lorak Treehugger.

• Strength 12 no bonus

• Dexterity 13 no bonus

• Constitution 14 +1 hp per level

• Intelligence 18 native language plus 3 others (Archontean, Thorcin, and Druid)

• Wis 12 no bonus

• Charisma no bonus, max 4 retainers, loyalty check 7

Because I hadn’t tried it before, I might have gone overboard with the NPC Trait tables.

1. Appearance 36 Festive and 34 Features

2. Background 42 Fame and 22 Community (not a Fate Question so no Random Event)

3. Conversations 88 Praise and 82 Oppose

4. Descriptors 18 Bold and 61 Inept

5. Identity 27 Engineer and 05 Advisor

6. Motivations 88 Safety and 72 Passion

7. Personality 84 Savvy and 02 Adventurous

8. Skills 17 Balance and 69 Obstacles (how is that a skill?)

9. Traits & Flaws 38 Friends and 93 Travel

The results of all that dice rolling on my frothing brain processes are obviously not in the AV book, and as my own creative work I’m going to keep them secret for now, except to the paid subscribers. We’ll see whether they become relevant to the current storyline.