Building tension in your game, part 5

It was a long and winding road that took us from the objective of these articles to where we are now, but the drilling-down process is now done.  We have identified all of the time elements in a location based exploration, and can now apply them to our Mummy’s Mask example (discussed in part 3 of this series).  To review, we have identified:

• ·        Time needed to travel to and from the location.

• ·        Any time element specified in the published adventure

• ·        Time spent moving from room to room in the location.

• ·        Time required to complete combat encounters, traps or hazards.

• ·        Time required to search rooms, either with a cursory or thorough search.

All that remains now is to estimate the total amount of time the characters spend in a location before resting, measure that against the percentage chance of a random encounter as stated in the Adventure Path and decide if the risk potential drives the characters to make meaningful choices.  Let’s do some math! 

1. Time needed to travel to and from the location: 22 minutes
2. Any time element specified in the published adventure: 1 hour
3. Time spent moving from room to room in the location: 1 minute
4.      Time required for combats, traps and hazards: 5 minutes
5.      Time required to search rooms with thorough search: 15.5 minutes

Total time spent on location-based exploration = 1 hour, 43.5 minutes.

As a reminder, the random encounter chart at the back of The Half-Dead City says that there is a 35% chance per hour that the characters encounter a wandering monster.  Using the times determined above, this means that there is only one chance of a random encounter during their outing, and the chance of that happening is only about 1 in 3.  Even if the characters decided to do cursory searches in the entire location instead of thorough searches, it would only reduce the time spent to 1 hour and 28 minutes, so the chance of a random encounter remains the same.  In this setup, the characters have no meaningful way to change their chances of a random encounter.  There is no tension, nor is there any way to change the chances through player action.  This will not work for our purposes.

If we accept the premise that the party will face 5 APL-equivalent encounters before they need to rest (as with the Mummy’s Mask example), then we can infer that each location-based excursion will consume between one and two hours.  If the unit of measurement for random encounters is per hour, the chance of a random encounter is pretty small.  In order to ratchet up the tension, we will see if the tension pool (discussed in part 2 of this series) can make this more interesting and dramatic.  Since using hours as a time frame doesn’t get us where we want to go, let’s reduce our unit of measurement to 10-minute intervals.  Now, we add a d6 to the tension pool after every ten minutes.  When the pool contains 6d6, we empty the pool and roll the dice.  A result of a 1 means we get a complication.

At first glance, this looks no different than the original system.  We still get only one chance for a complication, rolled at the 1-hour mark.  By rolling 6d6 and looking for at least one 1, we’ve increased the probability of a complication from 35% to 66.5%, almost doubling the chance.  This gets us part of the way to our goal.  By doubling the chances of a complication, we changed the probability from unlikely to likely.  This is an important change because the players will begin to expect a complication instead of considering it an unlikely possibility.  Their choices may change with this change in expectation. Time adds pressure.

But there are additional differences that will add tension: Each time that the characters do something that takes a long time to accomplish, like search a huge or larger room or cavern, read a journal, decipher foreign writings or have a lengthy debate, add a d6 to the tension pool.  If the pool has 6d6 in it, roll the pool immediately.  This allows us to add a consequence for lengthy activities and forces the characters to weigh the benefits of the activity against the increased chance of a complication.  Risk versus reward.  I sense a theme here…

Furthermore, if the party engages in any reckless or noisy activity, such as breaking down a door, smashing a chest, setting something on fire, triggering a trap, having a loud conversation or argument, triggering a rockfall, etc., roll the tension pool immediately, regardless of how many d6’s it contains.  A result of 1 on any die indicates a complication.  Then add 1d6 to the pool.  The group of players should start noticing how many dice are in the tension pool before being reckless or noisy; the more numerous the dice, the greater the chance of a complication.

All that remains is to discuss the nature of complications.  Let’s recall that complications should always be bad, never good.  Naturally, a random encounter with a wandering monster is a great candidate for a complication.  We can use the random encounter tables provided in the adventure, or we can craft our own; regardless, random encounters should take up the bulk of possible complications.  We can brainstorm for different types of complications but we need to consider the details of the location to make them sensible.  For example, characters exploring a tomb in Mummy’s Mask would be unlikely to encounter a volcanic eruption or a flood.  A collapsing corridor could be a possibility, as could a build-up of toxic gases.  Opponents in the next encounter could overhear the PCs, and lay an ambush for them.  Whatever you can dream up, be sure that it is appropriate for the location, and always bad for the characters.  If you wanted to raise the stakes, you could use the number of 1’s rolled as a scaling severity mechanic.  Two 1’s is worse than one 1, three worse than two, etc.  Increase the CR of the random encounter by a corresponding amount, or the DCs for saving throws or ability/skill checks. 

I guess I’ve explored (ha, get it?) this topic long enough.  Next time, we’ll take a look at wilderness exploration, how this mode of play changes the measurement of time, and how we can make it interesting, dramatic and meaningful.