Cephalofair Games

CREATOR

over 1 year ago

Project Update: Some page updates and GM guidelines

Good day! I've got some potentially exciting page updates to share with you on this lovely Friday, but first let's go through the stream schedule!

Yesterday was a relatively light streaming day. I joined Drew in the morning for a two-player run through of a Gloomhaven: Second Edition scenario. We were showing off some Angry Face updates (and I was just playing a Cragheart) and a scenario that saw some more significant changes than some of the others we've played. Did I die? You'll have to watch to find out.

What we've got for today is an exciting RPG play from Pixel Circus, starring Kailey Bray as the GM and Saige Ryan, Carlos Cisco, Gina DeVivo, and Anthony Carboni as the players. That'll be going live at 11am PST and is definitely worth a watch!

And then we've also got some more miniature painting from Tabletop Minions that goes live at 8am PST which is coming up real soon!

Not to mention the usual Friday stuff: a fireside chat with me at 4pm PST, and a new puzzle for the Silent Knife down at the bottom of the main page!

Okay, exciting shipping update! Price has been hard at work figuring out better shipping rates for Asia, and the following countries are being incorporated under the existing China & Hong Kong rates to bring their rates down significantly.

Japan - JP
South Korea - KR
Malaysia - MY
Philippines - PH,
Singapore - SG
Taiwan - TW
Thailand - TH

We'll have these rates updated on the main page soon, and know that Price is still working on getting better rates in other regions too!

And then I just thought I'd update you on some smaller page changes. First of all, we did an audit of all the miniatures on offer and made sure all the graphics were correct and displayed the correct counts of minis. Sorry if the previous versions confused anyone. In addition, we've given exact counts on the base rings and flight stands that come in each separate product, which should be plenty to field whatever comes in the box.

I've also added videos and a stream schedule to all the pledge level pages, so if you're looking for videos on a specific project, you can look there to find everything aired so far for it and what will air in the future. I hope that helps!

For the rest of the update, let's talk more about the RPG! Yesterday I gave some info on how a GM runs monsters, but what about how a GM should handle the rest of running a game? I figured the best way to answer this would be just to pull out a few sections of the core rulebook pertaining to the matter. Here are the two other major considerations: managing a party's stamina throughout an adventuring day, and guidelines on attribute checks.

Managing Stamina

A successful adventure comes down to the GM’s ability to present a challenge that is neither too easy nor too difficult. If the adventure is too easy, the players will feel underwhelmed. Most players enjoy a challenge, but they'll often feel frustrated if it’s too difficult, believing their choices could not change the outcome. Sometimes the trick of striking this balance is juggling their Ability Cards and Stamina.

An adventure can span a single day or multiple days, but the main key to ensuring a day of the adventure is challenging and tense is properly gauging your party’s Stamina through the number of Ability Cards they discard, ending the day just as they feel the pressure of running out of cards. Note that not every day of an adventure should be tense and leave everyone on the brink of exhaustion, but if you want a day to be tense, you should budget for your players to discard, on average 35-40 cards.

Characters typically discard their cards in the following ways:

Attribute Check Outcomes If players are doing something strenuous, and the check doesn’t go as well as expected, a result can be that they discard cards, signifying an expenditure of stamina.
Combat As a rough metric, 1 point of creatures at the recommended campaign level (see below) will cause one character to discard four cards. This depends on how many creatures characters face at once, but it can be used as a general rule of thumb. For instance, if four characters face 12 points of creatures in a room large enough to maneuver tactically, you can expect them to discard about 12 cards each on average (ending the combat in about 6 rounds). If you place four characters in a confined space with 36 points of creatures, however, they are likely just to get overwhelmed and exhausted.
Other Strenuous Effort Even if something doesn’t require an attribute check, a GM can ask players to discard cards for something their character is doing if it is strenuous. It’s recommended that characters discard 1 card every 20 minutes of travel.

Let’s say you are planning a day’s adventure for your party. They will be tracking down a missing caravan wagon.

First, they need to get some initial leads, talk to the population of a small town, and look for clues. Each player is anticipated to discard 2-3 cards in the attribute checks to gather information.

An initial lead sends them to an abandoned fort on the edge of town where some local ruffians are holed up. Next, they must climb over the fort’s walls, a significantly strenuous effort that requires discarding 4-5 cards in movement and attribute checks.

Once inside the fort, the players must fight a group of ruffians to get answers. Four characters face 12 points of creatures, resulting in about 12 cards being discarded.

The players discover that those in league with the ruffians took the wagon south to another hideout. They must travel for 2 hours, discarding another 6 cards.

Arriving at the hideout, the characters are tired but have enough gumption to fight another 12 points of creatures, discarding a final 12 cards. This brings the total to 36-38 cards, putting the characters on the edge of exhaustion.

Testing Attributes

Part of being a GM is determining when an attribute check is called for. If a character is attempting something mundane that they could do with ease as part of their class skill set, they can generally perform that attempt without needing a check. However, even the simplest actions may require an attribute check if they are attempting the same thing under duress or in high-stress situations, like under a flurry of arrows or while being attacked in combat.

Occasionally, the players will ask to do something strenuous that requires an Attribute Check. They will describe what actions they are trying to take and what they are trying to accomplish, and it is up to you to decide which trait should be tested for that check. Remember, you decide on any disagreements as the GM. Still, if a player has a compelling argument or gameplay circumstance for why a particular trait should be allowed, it should be worth considering.

Other times, it is up to you as the GM to request a passive attribute check. This is used when you want to test a character’s abilities for more passive circumstances. For example, you can ask for a focus check to see if the character is paying close enough attention to notice something. You can ask for a Finesse check to see if the character can keep their footing on a crumbling path. You can ask for a knowledge check to see if a character recalls a specific bit of information.

The main difference between active and passive attribute checks is that passive skill checks do not require an action in combat.

On either type of check, it is up to you to determine the target difficulty of that check. You can start by determining the level of challenge for each character. Use this table to determine what the base difficulty rating should be.

Skill Check Difficulty Ratings

Very Easy: 1-2
Easy: 3-5
Moderate: 6-8
Hard: 9-11
Very Hard: 12+

Some characters may be better suited to a particular attribute check based on their size, strength, class, background, or other elements. An easy check for some may be moderate or even difficult for others. An attribute check may also sometimes be easier or harder based on external elements such as weather, terrain, or other circumstances surrounding the check. What might be an easy check on most days can turn into a moderate or difficult check during a storm. A sight-based focus check will be harder on a foggy day, but a hide check might be easier.

Explain the difficulty to the player and allow them to perform the attribute check. It is also up to you to determine what happens if the character misses or hits the target number. The non-binary success system means checks are not simply passed/fail. If the character comes close to hitting the target number, they succeed with a complication. Common complications are taking damage, discarding cards, or requiring additional attribute checks. If they surpass the target number by a healthy margin, they succeed with benefits. If they miss by too wide of a margin, failure is, of course, still an option. Whenever a check is outright failed, the character gains a luck token, which, when expended, gives them advantage on a check.

Do not be afraid to challenge players with passive checks or raise the difficulty of attribute checks to pressure them during an encounter. Attribute checks can be used to provide challenges just like combat encounters.

If all of that sounds a little strenuous, worry not! The core rulebook also features a 20-hour adventure full of helpful guides and tips and can act as a great example for you to ease into the role of GM with. I hope that provided you with some useful insight, and you can see some of these principles in action today with the Pixel Circus stream (at 11am PST), and episode 2 of my Old School campaign, which will air tomorrow at 10am PST. Next, I'll be talking about loot and character progression.

I hope you have a great weekend, and I'll catch you tomorrow!

RPG Poll Day 3: A Harrower Soothsinger. Great! Let's say our attributes are: 2 Knowledge (Kn), 1 Focus (Fo), 0 Athletics (At), 3 Finesse (Fi), and 3 Influence (In). We'll jump right into the action and worry about skills and backgrounds later. We are relaxing in our tenement one evening when there comes a sharp, decisive knock on the door. We weren't expecting anybody. What should we do? (Note: an attribute abbreviation in brackets means a check of that attribute is needed to perform that choice well. For instance [Fi] = finesse check.)

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