IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 4A: RIOT IN OLDTOWN

April 7th, 2007
The 18th Day of Amseyl in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

The party decided that Ranthir should continue his research at the Delver’s Guild Library. The rest of them would head to the Republican rally scheduled to start in just a couple of hours.

On the way back up to Oldtown they finished selling the rest of the gear (with Elestra heading into the Bull and Bear Armory to avoid any further repercussions from Tee’s bad run-in with Iltumar the day before).

After dropping Ranthir off at the Delver’s Guild Library, the party continued down Dalenguard Road, discovering that the Administration Building (where the rally was being held) was only a few blocks away. A large platform had been erected in front of the pool in the center of the courtyard before the building. Only a few people milled about – the group was about an hour early for the rally itself.

The group split up: Agnarr headed up to a position parallel from the platform, planning to keep an eye on the crowd. Dominic and Elestra headed to the opposite side, standing near the edge of Dalenguard Road. Tee kept a look-out for Phon, suspecting that she might attend the rally.

Tee was right. About twenty minutes before the rally was scheduled to start – after a relatively large crowd of a couple hundred people had gathered – Tee saw Phon coming up Dalenguard Road from the east. Tee went over to her and waved, receiving a friendly smile and wave in response. After chatting amicably for awhile, Tee said that she’d like to keep an eye on Phon during the rally, just to make sure she was safe. Phon was glad to hear it, but suggested that – since the rally was about to begin – they should get a place near the front.

Just then, a shorter man – barrel-chested and with thinning hair, wearing fancy robes of black and silver – emerged from the Administration Building. Accompanied by two other men, with whom he chatted and laughed, he strode up to the platform, raised his hands, and cried out: “Friends! This is a momentous day! This is the day that you hear the truth of brotherhood and freedom!” The crowd settled down. (more…)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

Session 3B: Questioning Cran

In which answers are demanded, justice is served, and a young boy is unexpectedly disappointed by lost memories…

Decipher Script is possibly my favorite skill.

Tussling meaning out of antediluvian texts and puzzling out the secrets of strange runes is awesome. On the one hand, there’s that Indiana Jones thrill of plucking lost truths from ancient texts (towards which end I commonly stock my fantasy setting with hidden epochs and unknown historical ages which are clearly defined but not commonly known, presenting a meta-mystery which the PCs can slowly unravel — although that’s a topic for another time). On the other hand, encrypting a text is also a great way of signaling that there’s something of particular importance to be found (much like locking or trapping a chest). And on the gripping hand, when only partial successes are achieved (or the text is fragmentary to begin with) the cryptic passages immediately create an air of enigma.

With that being said, Decipher Script is also one of the most problematic skills because:

(a) A lot of GMs don’t want to risk their previous railroads being derailed when someone fails to decrypt a text or cypher, so they don’t include opportunities for using Decipher Script.

(b) The default use of the skill is rendered completely obsolete by a 1st level spell (comprehend languages).

You solve the first problem, obviously, by realizing that failing to decipher the counter-ritual that would thwart the cultists is exciting because it forces the PCs to find a different solution to their dilemma. (And then following up by liberally strewing your campaign world with enigmatic texts because… well, why wouldn’t you?)

The second is a bit trickier to deal with. You could resolve it with a house rule by turning comprehend languages into a spell that grants a hefty bonus to your Decipher Script check instead of simply rendering it irrelevant; or by modifying secret page so that it can thwart comprehend languages but not mundane deciphering attempts. But over the years I’ve opted to implement a variety of other methods instead.

LAYERED CIPHER

One technique can be found in this week’s campaign journal: When Ranthir casts comprehend languages on the encoded journal, it doesn’t work. This is because the journal has been encoded with a Decipher Script check used in conjunction with a comprehend languages spell. (The idea being that you lay the memetic weave of the spell over the page and then inscribe the encoded text onto the page through the weave. When the weave is withdrawn, the text becomes even further “scrambled” and restoring the memetic weave — with a fresh casting of comprehend languages — only gets you back to the encoded text.)

ENCODING A LAYERED CIPHER: This requires a conjoined Spellcraft check (DC 20) and a Decipher Script check (DC 20). If both checks are successful, the text is successfully encoded with the layered cypher. If the Spellcraft check fails, you end up with a text of irrecoverable gibberish. If the Decipher Script check fails, a comprehend languages spell will reveal the text normally.

DECODING A LAYERED CIPHER: A layered cypher can still be decoded with a simple Decipher Script check, but the DC for doing so is at +20. Alternatively, if you cast a comprehend languages spell first, you can use a Decipher Script against the normal DC of the cypher.

IDENTIFYING A LAYERED CIPHER: A successful Decipher Script or Spellcraft check (DC 25, or DC 10 if currently using a comprehend languages spell) can identify the layered cypher for what it is.

LONG TEXTS

Another way of rewarding the Decipher Script skill over the comprehend languages spell is through the simple expedient of using longer texts: The comprehend languages spell only lasts 10 minutes per level. That’s plenty of time to read a couple of pages, but if you’re looking at an archaic tome containing several hundred pages it will take you hours to read through it. You can either cast the spell multiple times, or just make a single Decipher Script check.

Alternatively, for long texts which are heavily encoded or badly damaged complex skill checks (X successes before Y failures) are a great mechanic, allowing the character to suss out additional details for every hour of study with a successful check.

OTHER USES OF DECIPHER SCRIPT

CREATE CIPHER: You can create a cipher to encode written messages. The DC for deciphering the cipher after its creation is equal to 10 + your total skill modifier at the time of the cipher’s creation. Creating a cipher takes 1 day of uninterrupted work.

Quick Ciphers: You can put together a quick cipher in 1 hour, but the DC for breaking the cipher suffers a -5 penalty. A cipher can be created in 1 minute, but the DC for breaking the cipher suffers a -20 penalty.

DECIPHER SPOKEN LANGUAGE: You can make a Decipher Script check at a -10 penalty to decipher a spoken language and communicate in a pidgin fashion. You must make a check for each idea or concept you attempt to communicate or decipher. (You can try this check again if the creature you’re trying to understand repeats themselves or if you try to make yourself understood again.)

(I also allow people to invest ranks into their Language skills, and then use this same mechanic to communicate with people in related languages. This, of course, requires the extra prep of designing actual language trees for the languages of your world. The invested Language skill can also be used like Craft or Profession in order to create written material for sale.)

INTERCEPT SIGNALS: While observing enemies, you can catch a view of any visual signals they are using to coordinate their actions. You can attempt to puzzle out the meaning of the signals and determine the enemy’s short-term plans. Such signal systems tend to use many false signals, leaving a chance that you will pick up on a fake set of signals or misinterpret a signal (if you fail your check by 5 or more). Once a character has cracked a signal set, it becomes much easier to subsequently decode it: The character gains a +5 competence bonus to decode subsequent uses of that signal set.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 3B: QUESTIONING CRAN

March 31st, 2007
The 17th Day of Amseyl in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Arriving back at St. Gustav’s Chapel they found Brother Fabitor tending to the altar. When he saw them enter – soaked in blood, coated in ash – he was immediately concerned. The story quickly spilled out (Fabitor: “Wait, you burned down a house?” Tee: “We didn’t burn down a house! They summoned a fire elemental!”). As soon as Fabitor became aware that Ranthir was unconscious, he quickly healed him.

“Oh dear,” Ranthir shook his head. “I shan’t be doing that again. It just seems to work out so well when Master Agnarr does it…” He quickly came to the conclusion that, if he was going to be finding himself regularly in such predicaments, he should start carrying a weapon. He laid claim to one of the daggers the group had found on the criminals they had apprehended, eventually choosing the dagger which had struck Dominic in the shoulder. “That is if Master Dominic is all right with me wielding that blade?” Ranthir said. Dominic said it was fine, “It’s better than selling it on the street where it might end up back in the hands of criminals… and then end up back in my shoulder again.” Ranthir shook his head, “Given my skill with weapons, I’m afraid I can make no guarantees that it won’t end up there in any case.”

After securely binding both of their surviving prisoners (the half-orc and the man with the red top-knot), the party decided to wake up and question the half-orc first. Brother Fabitor healed him to consciousness, and then Tee and Agnarr stepped forward to question the prisoner.

It didn’t take them long to figure out that, contrary to Agnarr’s continued belief, the half-orc actually was Toridan Cran. At this point, Tee turned the questioning firmly towards the assassination: Why had he ordered the death of Phon Quartermail? (more…)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

Session 3A: On the Murderer’s Trail

In which a fire is unleashed which will haunt the wanderers for many moons to come and a man of ill-repute is brought to a much deserved justice…

For the house fire found in this installment of In the Shadow of the Spire I used a set of custom rules I had designed for handling encounters inside burning buildings. These rules were actually posted here on the Alexandrian way back in 2007 and you can find them under the title Advanced Rules: Fire.

Intriguingly, a few months later, I got a bunch of flak for these rules on a forum: They proved I was a hopeless grognard who had never actually played an RPG because it would be completely ridiculous to use these rules to model huge conflagrations like, say, the Great Fire of London. (Which is true in much the same way that it would be ridiculous to use D&D’s combat rules to model the Battle of Waterloo: It’s true, but completely irrelevant.)

As you can see, of course, these rules were designed to handle fires in small buildings. If I was going to expand the system to handle large conflagrations — like, say, a skyscraper — I’d probably look at adding a more abstract system for handling the spread and severity of the fire in areas where the PCs weren’t immediately interacting with it. For even larger conflagrations, it’s likely that I would handle them in a more narrative fashion (as I did in Mini-Adventure 2: The Black Mist), using the larger crisis to frame scenes with more immediate challenges that the PCs could actually cope with. (Unless, for some reason, the PCs were in the position of trying to put out or contain the fire, in which case I’d still try to find a mechanical structure for them to do that within.)

If you’ve read my discussion of Game Structures, you can probably see where I’m going with this: By creating a custom game structure, you’re giving the players a toolkit for interacting with the situation. When properly designed, these custom structures are incredibly empowering because they can isolate the GM’s preconceptions about the situation and give the players the freedom to craft outcomes which are utterly unique.

(As another example of this, consider the heat track used in my Eternal Lies campaign: Robust mechanical distinctions between traveling, camping, and resting at oases were then tied to the recovery mechanics for characters suffering from heat exposure. This created meaningful decisions about rate and method of travel. Once you’ve added the risk of pursuit or the consequences of time passing outside the desert (both of which are true in the scenario), this results in the players making meaty decisions with potentially long-term consequences.)

When designing a custom game structure to handle a situation in your game, the first thing I recommend is making sure that it’s a flexible tool instead of just reinforcing your preconceptions about how the scene should be resolved. (For example, if the only mechanical interaction in your structure for handling house fires is “putting the fire out”, then the players have little choice but to put the fire out.)

Second, the structure needs to either be simple enough that it can be rapidly explained or it needs to be player-unknown (in the sense that the players don’t need to fully understand the structure; they can simply make decisions in character and the GM can use the structure to invisibly make rulings). You generally don’t want to create situations where the game grinds to a halt so that you can explain a custom mechanical structure to the players.

An exception can be made for structures that are going to impact a broad swath of gameplay. (Like the Eternal Lies heat track mechanics, which influenced two full sessions of play.) A related technique is to introduce the custom game structure through minor encounters so that the players can then take full, experienced advantage of it during the big, important scene. (You get more bang for your buck this way, and the players get the satisfaction of gaining and then exploiting mastery of the system.)

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 3A: ON THE MURDERER’S TRAIL

March 31st, 2007
The 16th Day of Amseyl in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

As the party left the red warehouse on Able Row, the rain had started again – a downpour that washed the city clean and left the air fresh and pure. They returned to St. Gustav’s Chapel, where they had Brother Fabitor wake Phon.

When asked about Toridan Cran, Phon shook her head. “It seems ridiculous, but I don’t know any of these names you keep talking about – Vagger, Laucio, Toridan Cran… I don’t know any of them! I’m just a seamstress! This doesn’t make any sense at all!” (more…)