As the title says this is sort of a series of questions all based around a core theme.
I’m running through the Three Squires adventure with three characters (all played by one player, and I’ve adjusted the enemy quantities down by about 1/3) and it’s going well so far but I’m a little concerned about how it will play out. So far the party has –
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[li]Defeated the rats in a Drive Off conflict, which I decided would send them deep into the dungeon to possibly come up as a twist.
[/li][li]Defeated the kobold guard room (four kobolds) in a Drive Off conflict, which pushed them into the next room and alerted that group (8) of kobolds.
[/li][li]Used Celestial Music to try and split up the large group of kobolds by putting an enticing noise down the next tunnel. I split them into three groups and rolled nature vs ob2. Two groups failed and one passed, so four remained behind.
[/li][li]Engaged in a Kill conflict with the kobolds left behind and won while losing only 3/7 disposition, so the minor compromise was an injury to the lead character (who, fictionally, took a kobold bomb to the chest).
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Then they healed Jeorn but with the Celestial Music expiring soon they’ll soon have to face the remaining eight kobolds that return from their sortie. So here are my questions:
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[li]Am I interpreting the effects of a Drive Off conflict correctly? Fictionally it makes sense that the rats would disappear into the caves while the kobold guards would get absorbed into the larger group of kobolds, but I’m worried that this makes Drive Off conflicts a real risky proposition in dungeons. But the alternative is…
[/li][li]Kill conflicts are dangerous! It’s not too hard for a group of kobolds to drop a party’s disposition down by half, which inflicts a mid-level compromise, which should probably kill one member of the party especially if that party member is already injured. Am I interpreting that correctly?
[/li][li]Should I be encouraging more alternative conflict types? Kobolds are weak to Convince and Trick, but if no one speaks kobold Convince and Trick both seem out.
[/li][li]Alternately, should these be conflicts at all? My feeling is that if the group encountered 1-2 kobolds I would probably just make it an obstacle of some type, but 4+ seems like it has to be a conflict, unless the situation vastly favors the party.
[/li][li]When a character is Injured and engages in a physical challenge you’re supposed to warn the player that failure could result in Death. Does that hold true for Conflicts? Should I warn them that just engaging in the conflict type could result in Death, even if they win?
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Thanks! I love this game and in addition to the one-player campaign I’m running I’m planning to start another with one of my regular groups. I just want to make sure I’m working at the right level of meanness + suggesting alternate paths.
Am I interpreting the effects of a Drive Off conflict correctly? Fictionally it makes sense that the rats would disappear into the caves while the kobold guards would get absorbed into the larger group of kobolds, but I’m worried that this makes Drive Off conflicts a real risky proposition in dungeons. But the alternative is…
Kill conflicts are dangerous! It’s not too hard for a group of kobolds to drop a party’s disposition down by half, which inflicts a mid-level compromise, which should probably kill one member of the party especially if that party member is already injured. Am I interpreting that correctly?
Yep and that is where the Rule “Let them hang by their own Rope comes in” By them not dealing with the situation and just making them drive off the character is making the situation worse because yeah it would make sense that they would gather up and hit them hard, you as a GM should hint that this might be the case though so the player doesn’t totally think its bs that it has happened. And yeah Kill conflicts are dangerous by design for a reason.
Should I be encouraging more alternative conflict types? Kobolds are weak to Convince and Trick, but if no one speaks kobold Convince and Trick both seem out.
Out of game not really, its up to the characters to decide what they want to do. Though saying what a Kill confict or a Drive Off conflict can’t help. Being open and honest and saying if you do a kill conflict you could die, if you do a drive off conflct they might in the future come back as a bigger army etc. Then say what do you want to do. Also using the fiction to say you can’t do certain conflicts seems legitimate.
Alternately, should these be conflicts at all? My feeling is that if the group encountered 1-2 kobolds I would probably just make it an obstacle of some type, but 4+ seems like it has to be a conflict, unless the situation vastly favors the party.
I think that sounds kind of right though maybe 2 kobolds might be a conflict as well, depends on the fiction really.
You’re right, Drive Off conflicts are risky because they leave the potential for another conflict at a bad time. That’s by design!
And also by design—Kill conflicts are a huge gamble! You’re putting your lives on the line.
I prefer to let the players figure it out on their own. You give them clues and cues, but don’t outright tell them. Learning how the game works is a powerful motivator for continuing play.
That’s your call. You want to make conflicts into nice action scenes. Sometimes they can be short and sharp, sometimes they can be epic.
I think it’s fair to say, “Remember, you’re injured!” before they doing anything rash. That gives the player the opportunity to make good decisions…like spending a persona point to tap Nature or burning that Reckless trait.
If you have a wizard, check if he has Thread of Friendship. That’s a great way to make conflicts go away (and it created very creepy awesome scenes in our game where the Kobold chief became smitten with our wizard). Also Celestial Music entrances people to follow it. Right into traps and pits and the like. As the game says, you get better with play and sadly it’s up to your players to grow through experience (not XP). Also keep the Good Idea rule handy. If he comes up with a way to break the kobolds up into manageable chunks, then the conflicts can be made easier. Also don’t forget the political problems the Kobolds are having in this particular adventure. Knowing that there is infighting between the various factions may give him some ideas on some Trick conflicts (some things could be conveyed through body language and gesture).