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<blockquote data-quote="!DWolf" data-source="post: 8787980" data-attributes="member: 7026314"><p>I can give some advice on running Abomination Vaults though I run in person not on a VTT.</p><p></p><p>Abomination Vaults is a megadungeon. My advice is to determine up front how you want to run it and what play experience you want your characters to have; tell your players you are running it that way, and take any steps to make the system run the way you want it too. For example: “traditional megadungeons” have tons of quests that take characters into the dungeon, monsters that move about and may take actions to counter the PCs, contain monsters they have little to no chance of defeating when they first meet them, have monsters that retreat or want to talk, restock monsters, etc. while a “kick-in-the-door style megadungeon” has no quest or plots, monsters that stay in their rooms waiting for the PCs to attack so they can die, no monsters that the PCs can’t defeat, etc.</p><p></p><p>Determining this up front (and communicating it to your players) makes sure everyone is on the same page and can prevent a lot of frustration. For example: if you are running a more traditional style megadungeon, a party playing hack-and-slash style that insists that once minis are on the map the only choice is to fight to the death, might get mad when they TPK to something like the Void Glutton or Volluk on the fourth floor or when you combine two moderate encounters into one extreme encounter or when you have the monsters retreat or move into different rooms.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I like to run megadungeons in a very “old-school”/”sandboxy”/combat as war” way. So if you want to run it that way here is what I did/am doing to facilitate that:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I used Decuma (which is a ‘game’ from Golden Lasso Games) to form the party. This ties everyone together and gives motivations. It also makes session zero really fun.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I use the free archetype and automatic bonus progression rules (with an addition to simulate sturdy shields). This makes more flexible, customizable characters and gives them tools to respond to a wide variety of challenges while allowing me to reduce the treasure load slightly in order make money/magic items feel more impactful.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I use the hero point deck, but use fortune/fate points instead of hero points. Fortune points work the same as hero points except I give each player one at the start of the session and at the two hour mark instead of one every hour after the first and they can only be used for rerolls or what’s on the card. Fate points save a character from death, no matter what they will survive the scene, but each player only gets 1 for the campaign. I do this so that people will more freely spend their fortune points instead of hoarding hero points.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I use XP instead of milestone leveling to let the players feel rewarded for exploring in any direction and to enable numerous side-quests.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> For the lower levels of the Abomination vaults I run the game as theater of the mind (probably not something you want to emulate if your using a VTT). I do this to make the dungeon seem labyrinthine and mysterious. There are also environmental cues at the start of each chapter of the book which I use along with the read-aloud text (modified slightly) to describe the rooms.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I moved the dungeon an hour away by foot (still visible from town, but no longer practically IN town). Also it lets me do a sort of narrative transition from the relatively safe world of Otari to the dangerous world of the Abomination Vaults as the characters pass through the swamp.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I structure the game into ‘delves’ into the dungeon to avoid combat slog fatigue. I do this by:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Using a mandatory downtime rule. Each session requires a day of downtime outside of the dungeon for the heroes to recover (or they become fatigued). I also adjusted crafting to work on a day-to-day basis (basically earn income to buy the crafted item at full cost).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Handing out side-quest hooks like candy. I made a big rumor table with a bunch hooks from the Abomination Vaults and Trouble in Otari and use that to give side-quests. I also have NPCs trigger certain side-quests based on player actions (running of mayor for example gets side-quests from one of the other lumber companies promising support in the upcoming election if they investigate some sabotage occurring at the company). The goal is for each session to have a bunch of interesting things for the players to choose to try and accomplish (reach the library to retrieve books, defeat the morlock priest on the second level, investigate the mysterious fires around town, etc.) that they must choose between.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Checking for random encounters whenever the characters rest in the dungeon (once an hour if sleeping). I usually have wandering monsters from elsewhere in the dungeon be the random encounter and don’t pay attention to the difficulty (for example: when my players low-level characters attempted to sleep in the ruins, I had them encounter Volluk as he headed up to inspect the gauntlight)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Making purchasing lodgings in town unpleasant and/or expensive (sleep with drunken lumberjacks on the floor of the common room of the crook’s nook for 5 cp; or spend a night in a cot in the back of the rowdy rockfish for 5 sp). This is to incentive the characters to make friends in town. In the same vein, I also limit earn income levels to 0 without an appropriate sponsor in town.</li> </ul></li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I heavily foreshadow (or telegraph if you prefer that term) the more dangerous combat encounters and reward the players for scouting with lots of information. This lets the characters choose how they engage and gives the players much more agency in how they deal with encounters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I have intelligent opponents, if possible, use their actions to make things worse situationally/environmentally for the players: they may call for help (which will arrive in a round or two), attempt to isolate and overwhelm a PC, snuff out a light source forcing the PCs to fight in pitch blackness, fall-back to a better position to fight from, etc.. Basically, the creatures never use “move into melee and attack until dead” as a strategy (unless they are mindless of course).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I made maps with all the room names, creatures, and hazards annotated on them (In hindsight should have included locked doors and treasure stashes as well). That way I can see at a glance what a room is supposed to be and what creatures are nearby.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> I usually let the players retreat by moving to another level. I combined this with having the monsters use retreating to escalate the danger level (by splitting up the party as they pursue, by switching to hit and run tactics, by leading the PCs to dangerous areas or to other monsters, etc.) so that verisimilitude is maintained.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Because of the previous bullet, I have many creatures that survive encounters with the PCs. I have them take steps to counter the PCs exploration of the dungeon (bar doors, set traps, set up patrols, etc.) in order to make the dungeon a living place.<br /> </li> </ul><p></p><p>Don’t know if this is helpful, just my 2 cp.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="!DWolf, post: 8787980, member: 7026314"] I can give some advice on running Abomination Vaults though I run in person not on a VTT. Abomination Vaults is a megadungeon. My advice is to determine up front how you want to run it and what play experience you want your characters to have; tell your players you are running it that way, and take any steps to make the system run the way you want it too. For example: “traditional megadungeons” have tons of quests that take characters into the dungeon, monsters that move about and may take actions to counter the PCs, contain monsters they have little to no chance of defeating when they first meet them, have monsters that retreat or want to talk, restock monsters, etc. while a “kick-in-the-door style megadungeon” has no quest or plots, monsters that stay in their rooms waiting for the PCs to attack so they can die, no monsters that the PCs can’t defeat, etc. Determining this up front (and communicating it to your players) makes sure everyone is on the same page and can prevent a lot of frustration. For example: if you are running a more traditional style megadungeon, a party playing hack-and-slash style that insists that once minis are on the map the only choice is to fight to the death, might get mad when they TPK to something like the Void Glutton or Volluk on the fourth floor or when you combine two moderate encounters into one extreme encounter or when you have the monsters retreat or move into different rooms. Personally, I like to run megadungeons in a very “old-school”/”sandboxy”/combat as war” way. So if you want to run it that way here is what I did/am doing to facilitate that: [list] [*] I used Decuma (which is a ‘game’ from Golden Lasso Games) to form the party. This ties everyone together and gives motivations. It also makes session zero really fun. [*] I use the free archetype and automatic bonus progression rules (with an addition to simulate sturdy shields). This makes more flexible, customizable characters and gives them tools to respond to a wide variety of challenges while allowing me to reduce the treasure load slightly in order make money/magic items feel more impactful. [*] I use the hero point deck, but use fortune/fate points instead of hero points. Fortune points work the same as hero points except I give each player one at the start of the session and at the two hour mark instead of one every hour after the first and they can only be used for rerolls or what’s on the card. Fate points save a character from death, no matter what they will survive the scene, but each player only gets 1 for the campaign. I do this so that people will more freely spend their fortune points instead of hoarding hero points. [*] I use XP instead of milestone leveling to let the players feel rewarded for exploring in any direction and to enable numerous side-quests. [*] For the lower levels of the Abomination vaults I run the game as theater of the mind (probably not something you want to emulate if your using a VTT). I do this to make the dungeon seem labyrinthine and mysterious. There are also environmental cues at the start of each chapter of the book which I use along with the read-aloud text (modified slightly) to describe the rooms. [*] I moved the dungeon an hour away by foot (still visible from town, but no longer practically IN town). Also it lets me do a sort of narrative transition from the relatively safe world of Otari to the dangerous world of the Abomination Vaults as the characters pass through the swamp. [*] I structure the game into ‘delves’ into the dungeon to avoid combat slog fatigue. I do this by: [list] [*] Using a mandatory downtime rule. Each session requires a day of downtime outside of the dungeon for the heroes to recover (or they become fatigued). I also adjusted crafting to work on a day-to-day basis (basically earn income to buy the crafted item at full cost). [*] Handing out side-quest hooks like candy. I made a big rumor table with a bunch hooks from the Abomination Vaults and Trouble in Otari and use that to give side-quests. I also have NPCs trigger certain side-quests based on player actions (running of mayor for example gets side-quests from one of the other lumber companies promising support in the upcoming election if they investigate some sabotage occurring at the company). The goal is for each session to have a bunch of interesting things for the players to choose to try and accomplish (reach the library to retrieve books, defeat the morlock priest on the second level, investigate the mysterious fires around town, etc.) that they must choose between. [*] Checking for random encounters whenever the characters rest in the dungeon (once an hour if sleeping). I usually have wandering monsters from elsewhere in the dungeon be the random encounter and don’t pay attention to the difficulty (for example: when my players low-level characters attempted to sleep in the ruins, I had them encounter Volluk as he headed up to inspect the gauntlight) [*] Making purchasing lodgings in town unpleasant and/or expensive (sleep with drunken lumberjacks on the floor of the common room of the crook’s nook for 5 cp; or spend a night in a cot in the back of the rowdy rockfish for 5 sp). This is to incentive the characters to make friends in town. In the same vein, I also limit earn income levels to 0 without an appropriate sponsor in town. [/list] [*] I heavily foreshadow (or telegraph if you prefer that term) the more dangerous combat encounters and reward the players for scouting with lots of information. This lets the characters choose how they engage and gives the players much more agency in how they deal with encounters. [*] I have intelligent opponents, if possible, use their actions to make things worse situationally/environmentally for the players: they may call for help (which will arrive in a round or two), attempt to isolate and overwhelm a PC, snuff out a light source forcing the PCs to fight in pitch blackness, fall-back to a better position to fight from, etc.. Basically, the creatures never use “move into melee and attack until dead” as a strategy (unless they are mindless of course). [*] I made maps with all the room names, creatures, and hazards annotated on them (In hindsight should have included locked doors and treasure stashes as well). That way I can see at a glance what a room is supposed to be and what creatures are nearby. [*] I usually let the players retreat by moving to another level. I combined this with having the monsters use retreating to escalate the danger level (by splitting up the party as they pursue, by switching to hit and run tactics, by leading the PCs to dangerous areas or to other monsters, etc.) so that verisimilitude is maintained. [*] Because of the previous bullet, I have many creatures that survive encounters with the PCs. I have them take steps to counter the PCs exploration of the dungeon (bar doors, set traps, set up patrols, etc.) in order to make the dungeon a living place. [/list] Don’t know if this is helpful, just my 2 cp. [/QUOTE]
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