The Ranger and the Wandering Monster

I was sitting in a Burger King parking lot today and thinking about game design.  I have some thoughts.

1. My players don’t care much about encumbrance.  Being encumbered doesn’t seem to have many effects on the game.  They usually escape fights by locking doors, rather than outrunning their foe They don’t fall into bodies of water very often.  Those are things where encumbrance comes into play.

Basically, I’m still looking for a way to make encumbrance interesting.  (I mean, it's easy to make encumbrance important.  But interesting is another thing altogether.)

2. I want exploration to be the main focus of the GLOG.  And while “more rules about X” doesn’t always mean “more gameplay about X”, it’s worth putting some more thought into it.

Basically, I want to make dungeon crawling feel as interesting as combat.

3. Rangers are a tricky thing, conceptually.  There’s the survival expert thing, the animal companion thing, the nature magic thing, the archery + dual-wielding thing.  They’re all over the place.

Basically, I’m still trying to nail down the ranger-concept, and look for unique ways that they can contribute to the party.  I want each class to feel very unique.

by Cosimo Galluzzi

Noise and Perception

First, let’s redo the wandering monster roll.

Old Wandering Monster Check:

• Roll a d6 every 30 minutes.
• 1-2 = random encounter with monster or NPC.
• 3-4 = clues to what’s on the wandering monster table.
• 5-6 = nothing special.

New Wandering Monster Check:

• Roll a d20 every 10 minutes.  (Basically every room.)
• 1-2 = random encounter with a monster or NPC.
• 3-4 = clues to what’s on the wandering monster table.
• 5+ = nothing special.

This is fine, but it doesn’t do much.  It’s a little more chaotic (since you can now get two encounters immediately after one another) but the odds are basically the same.  Perhaps it’s easier to remember (since you’re rolling every room, instead of every 3 rooms) but it’s also more dice to roll.

So let’s get weird.

When you are dungeon crawling, your party has stats the same way that your characters have stats.

Two of the stats that your party has are called Noise and Perception.  The default party has Noise 2 and Perception 2.

• Noise corresponds to how noticeable your party is being as they walk through the dungeon.  It correlates with rolling a 1-2 on the wandering monster check.  I.e. “You are noticed."
• Perception corresponds to how well your party does at noticing the other folks who are walking through the dungeon.  It correlates with rolling a 3-4 on the wandering monster check.  I.e. “You notice other people.”

The following things modify your party stats.

• Each encumbered character.  +1 Noise.
• Each large animal traveling with the party.  +1 Noise.
• Each ranger in the party.  +1 Perception

If a party has a donkey, an encumbered rogue, and a ranger, the party has Noise 4 and Perception 3.  The ranges of the two results on the wandering monster check should change to reflect that.  Ergo:

• 1-4 = random encounter
• 5-7 = notice other people
• 8+ = nothing special.

by Cosimo Galluzzi

Ranger Abilities

Rangers can also track down the people that they notice.  If they want to find them, it takes 1d4(exploding) exploration turns, with each turn requiring you to move in a random direction to follow the trail.  If you find them, you have a 50% chance of surprising them.  If they have a lair here, there is a 50% chance you will find the lair instead of them.  If you find the lair, there is a 50% chance it will be empty.

So that’s an interesting niche, I think.  The ability to manipulate the wandering monster table is a powerful one (although not as exciting as a wizard’s fireball).  Probably more useful than a + to hit, though.

I’m also thinking about other ways rangers can manipulate random encounters.  Possible ideas:

• Increased chance of terrain advantages.
• Ability to avoid certain entries on the wandering monster table.  “I want to avoid whatever is leaving all these acid-smooth gouges in the stone.”
• Ability to seek out certain entries on the wandering monster table.

A lot of almost-TPKs in my games have come from wandering monsters showing up when the party is severely weakened.  Depending on how far I turn the dial, I can imagine a ranger being more helpful for a party’s survival than a cleric.

I like the sound of that.  

by Cosimo Galluzzi