Rule Zero and DM's Discretion, does it go too far?

If you’ve been playing TTRPGs for any length of time over about a year you’ve possibly heard “Rule Zero” rolled out in defense of a system and its poor rules. To put it simply, Rule Zero is an unofficial rule in the community that means to snip out rules or change them in a game as you and your table sees fit in order to have the most fun possible. Generally, most versions of D&D encourage you change rules as you see fit, as do most other RPGs. I agree with this rule... to a point.

I have a personal policy that if I am going to pay money for the books of a system, I will use minimum 98% of the rules. For many properties that are mainstream such as D&D, Pathfinder, anything from Fantasy Flight, etc., you are dropping between 25-50 dollars a book. For anything over ten I feel I should be able to use the system as designed. I feel the biggest culprit for this was 3.5, where it seemed like every game followed different levels of rules. It made play tedious and having players join my own sessions only to find I followed most of the rules was a chore. If I need to slim down a system or make sweeping changes, I will look for a system that fits my needs. I want my money to go to people who put time into systems I like to use, and I want my friends at the table to go down the same road with me.

Some systems require some “DM’s Discretion” on how to handle certain rulings. I have no issue with this for certain situations such as enemies attacking players, but I do have a huge issue with it when it comes to anything else. I always felt that if a part of a system required a player to roll a dice to determine the outcome, the system should provide a means to execute the results. If there are no guidelines for the result of the roll, then remove the roll! Some systems have optional rules (5^th Edition, Hackmaster 5e are two good examples) which provide additional rules to substitute a current rule, or to make certain aspects of the game more complicated. I think this is a great way to handle certain systems that often get house ruled in past editions. It’s the developers offering alternatives that may help a current set of rules work for a group better, or add an extra layer of complexity that a group may wish to have.

A personal metric I use when discussing a system in length with someone is how well they know the rules off the top of their head (basics). If I hear that a good portion of the rules are “not worried about” or “well it depends”, then I check out from being interested. I see a lot of systems put on a pedestal, but they come with a laundry list of home changes or rules to ignore to make them “enjoyable or playable”. Pathfinder is the biggest offender in recent memory with many locals I know ignoring a lot of the finer rules and forgetting basic ones and some groups making changes to everything from wealth per level to Base Attack Bonus values per level. Some groups ignore ranged penalties and dual wield penalties. Most groups completely disregard anything involving encumbrance, ammo tracking, spell durations, and anything regarding environmental hazards such as thirst and hunger. What you are left with is a basic d20 system with some classes that have modifications. For many this is 100% fine and I can understand that it’s still a framework to work off of, but there are probably other options out there where you can avoid the need to re-write things to make it work.

I do believe in playing a system that you and your friends enjoy, but if you cut out a chunk of it, please avoid selling its virtues to others as a “great system” when you have a laundry list of changes.

Tracking the passage of time!

When playing D&D and similar systems, often the passing of time is left out of the equation for simplicity sake. When players buff themselves it’s often considered that the buffs will last most of the dungeon, if not the whole thing.

One method I have switched to during areas where the passing of time is important is switching to initiative for asking what people are doing. The party rolls initiative, then until the next combat encounter we go down the list to ask what people are doing. On Roll20 I use a custom Round Counter that raises by 1 every time it comes up on the turn order. In person I use a handheld counter device that I bought for Hackmaster.

Structuring the gameplay in this manner may seem very board gamey, but it gives you an accurate passage of time as often one round is six seconds, so 10 rounds is one in-game minute. It also gives people a chance to roleplay, or get involved if they feel they may be stepping on the toes of their allies, or are shy to butt in. This system allows for ease in triggering and resolving traps as players move on their turn and thus, can accidentally get in front of a rogue who’s on the lookout for such devices.

I use a house rule that every x number of rounds an encounter roll is made. The rate of encounters varies based on the location. In a tomb in the middle of an old mountain pass the rate will be high, 15-20 rounds for a random encounter due to isolation. Places like a castle or a big bads hideout the rate may me 5-10 as more individuals are in the location to intercept the party.

It can slow the game down a bit, and some players can get confused on how to handle when actions happen. It’s best to make clear “when” actions happen, and if people are waiting for others to act first in the round. Delaying actions and readying is all easy to do, as long as no immediate threats are present. When it comes to moving on a per square basis (if you use a map) I usually just let everyone move at the system’s Run speed and still take an action for game flow sake.

A big takeaway from switching to this system is realistically it takes the average party of mine 3-5 minutes to clear a dungeon from start to finish. That can take all game session, but it really breaks down the scope of how time actually passes. It feels like in-game it should take literal hours but the 6 second round helps to make it feel fast and deadly. Another situation I find that my games have gone in when I switched to keeping people constrained to the initiative is people tend to separate from the party. The ability to feel as if they have to act on their own causes groups to form, and the party indeed becomes split, often times over large areas.

Three combats happening at once while the party is spread out over the dungeon.

Of course if you and your players enjoy a more organic turn and burn with no pauses that’s great! I always like to try to use the rules the best I can, and I found this is a good way to keep effects tracked and encounter rate balanced.

Roll20 Tips and Tricks

This entry may be limited in scope, but this is just a compiled list of all of the quick shortcuts and methods that make using Roll20 easier I have found over the years. Many of these are documented elsewhere, but I have found there are still many who are unaware of some of these features.

Start sorting your uploads

Roll20 now offers the ability to make folders within your Library by clicking Add, which can help sort tokens and art that are uploaded for use. This is a great tool when you need to grab a random asset last minute, but want to avoid having to type or scroll. NOTE: IF YOU HAVE ASSETS THAT ARE CURRENTLY BEING USED IN A CAMPAIGN, MOVE ITEMS AT YOUR OWN RISK! IF AN ASSET IS MOVED, IT CAN BREAK THE LINK TO ALL CAMPAIGNS AND CAUSE THE IMAGE TO VANISH UNTIL YOU REPLACE IT FROM ITS NEW LOCATION!

Grab the Roll20 Enhancement Suite

A simple browser add on which provides you with a great deal of extra options and flexibility while in a session. I suggest both GMs and players look into this as it offers data importing into your games to help provide monsters, class abilities, spells, etc. See the link below for more information. This is a must have for anyone running 5th Edition!

Roll20 Enhancement Suite

Changing Grid Size

These days Roll20 offers a very easy way to change grid size under the map options by simply inputting the square's size in pixels in a box. However, you may notice that with many maps this still leaves the grid 1 - 2 pixels off.

The easiest way to make sure you get a proper grid 100% of the time is to take the grid size you wish to you, and divide it by 70. Place the entire number (every digit) in the cell width box.

Below is a list of common cell sizes and the values you would get:

64 Pixels - 0.9142857142857143
32 Pixels - 0.4571428571428571
16 Pixels - 0.2285714285714286
8 Pixels - 0.1142857142857143

Note that the smaller the grid size, the more lines that are drawn on the screen.

Placing Dynamic Lighting and testing it 

When dealing with Dynamic Lighting and laying it out, lower your grid size to half of what your normal grid size it. From there use the Polygon/Line Tool and hold Shift when placing points at grid corners. This will give you nice clean lines, and when you are finished you can change the Grid Size back.

Beautiful

To test Dynamic Lighting, drag a token onto the playing field and give it vision and set the light source values. While the token is selected, use CTRL + L in order to see what the owner of that token can see.

Saving player tokens across maps

When you set a token on the map, you can assign an owner through the Edit pane and assign values to the various bars. As you switch maps, you probably want to keep everything associated with this token for ease of transport.

Open the player's character sheet and hit Edit, then select the token on the board with all options you wish to keep enabled and then click on Default Token. As long as the token's art stays left alone in your Roll20 library, in the future you will just need to drag and drop the token onto the playing field and it will remain consistent.

Use a spare game to store unused assets

As a game goes on in length it is possible that the GM may start to accumulate handouts, monster stat blocks, and even whole maps. Roll20 can start to bog down for the GM as more maps and sheets are visible to them, which can be avoided by making a dummy game and moving items to and from using the Transmogrifier feature. This is a great way to store unused maps, character and monster stat blocks, and handouts that you may need to call upon later. While in a game session you can move things back and forth with no need to reload Roll20, allowing for quick access if needed.

Roll20 Marketplace Review - Quick Encounters Series by Gabriel Pickard

(Author's Note: All reviews on my blog are products I have purchased with my own money. If you see a review here, I have used the product on multiple occasions, for better or worse!)

When I run a game at an actual table we use a wet erase mat from Crystal Caste which makes every sort of encounter fairly easy to setup and execute. On Roll20 I have access to a computer, a screen, and a host of graphics which means I can do more than draw on the digital mat.

For encounter rolls on traveling tables I have found that Gabriel Pickard's Quick Encounter packs have been a great fit. The sets I have used extensively for the past few years are:

 

The biggest allure to these sets are that the maps it comes with are all sized to a 25 x 25 grid (1750 x 1750 px). This means that all you need to do is make a new map in your campaign, drop the map you wish into the game, and set the dimensions of the map to 25x25.  The maps line up with the grid just fine and have a good variety for use. Each bundle you purchase also comes with extra parts such as trees, tents, rocks, etc for free placement at your leisure on any maps you have.

Art quality on all pieces is well done and consistent between each map and item. There is enough detail to look nice, but sparse enough that you don't lose sight of the action as a GM or a player on the mat.

Each set goes for 4.99 on the Roll20 marketplace, and I would suggest picking one or two up if you find yourself dealing with random encounters enough!

Link to Gabriel Pickard's Roll20 Marketplace Page

The World's Largest Dungeon, ugh.

I remember when I picked up this massive tome of a book with a parcel of maps attached. It was Gencon 2008, and the AEG booth had three copies left for 15 dollars each. I had always seen it in high school at the local game store, sitting on the shelf with a 100 dollar price tag. Finally able to satisfy my curiosity I grabbed a copy and took it home.

The map itself was massive, made up of 16 large posters which when put together would take up a 5' x 8' area. It was a beautiful map that hung in it's glory in my office for several years until I recently took it down to hang some D&D Walkthrough Maps. Each square was represented (Although small and almost unusable) and each room was labeled on the map with a number to help find it in the book.

800 pages thick and weighing in at several pounds the tome that came with these maps was about the only good things I could say about this book. The map aside, the dungeon itself was a slog and rather boring with weird difficulty spikes. The first 'map' of the dungeon is made for level 1 players but has CR 3+ encounters, monsters with the Fiendish template, and traps that will delete players immediately around most corners and doors. Any adventurer with a sound head on their shoulders would leave immediately, kicking the giant corpse on the way out.

If anyone is stupid enough to keep going they would find themselves in the next area which is full of Balance checks, rooms that seal when players enter with one only odd way out (or just turning around and tossing checks at the door to force it back open) and a host of monsters that will deal significant damage to a party that's having to spend resources to even get through more than two non-combat encounters. The monsters here are also extremely difficult with extra feats and in some cases class abilities. This theme would continue through the entire dungeon.

The way the dungeon is put together means you may not even go to the right region first, walking into an area where the party is under leveled and can get immediately wasted in the first encounter or trap they stumble upon. This is the issue my friends and I encountered when I tried to run it straight using 3.5 (which it was intended for), even after they had stumbled through the first map with half of the party replaced and a new found hatred of traps, they ended up going to the 'wrong' section which resulted in the first trap instantly killing the party's fighter through HP loss. Correcting course they went to the other attached map, only to find that the encounters were still brutal and the dungeon's own level of bullshit made them wonder if there was a third option.

I have tried to do a write up for this book but it's too terrible to even stomach anymore. A great tear down of this pile of shit can be found at the link below, where someone had the time and stomach to put into words just how horrible this is. Oriongates, you get a shout out for doing what needed to be done.

FATAL and Friends - The World's Largest Dungeon

These days the book rests on my shelf, forgotten in the closet. The maps are all nicely folded up and kept in a sleeve, as I do rather enjoy the map. I almost want to track down the World's Largest City but I am sure that the map is the only decent part of that mess as well.

About the only thing it is good for is keeping other books off of the ground

4th Edition, did it really butcher player choices?

When 4th Edition came out I was excited after seeing the preview materials at Gencon, playing a few demos in the second floor ballroom, and keeping tabs on it during it's late days of development. Before this edition even hit the shelves, I had to go to two different stores in order to secure a set of book at launch (the first store refused to order the books for me, a paying customer, because "I disagree with 4th Edition").

Throughout the life of the edition, I would find that my local group would slowly sour on the AEDU power system, eventually refusing to play in any games I ran with the system. My personal feelings were the opposite, I loved being able to keep combat to a level where I could focus on the small things to keep my players on their toes, instead of worrying if certain monsters could instantly tee off on unsuspecting players.

The biggest gripe my players had was they felt that AEDU power system took away agency... which made me scratch my head because these were the same players that rarely did anything more than say "I swing" and roll a D20. Suddenly I had players trying to 'break' the system by asking how they can jump off a table, do a cartwheel, and land and attack two enemies. If they failed at whatever check I gave them, they'd blame "these damn limiting powers" and grumble the rest of the session. "I don't like how I have WoW abilities" a player playing a fighter would say as they spend two turns masterfully navigating the battlefield and setting up a knock back that caused the entire party to be in range of a critical foe.

Spells worked on the AEDU power system in 4e, which I can understand made some people apprehensive since it tossed out some utility spells and made a lot of the standby spells Rituals (which were still usable, just required more time and some gold cost). Healing was redone to use Healing Surges, a system where each character can only recover hit points so many times between rests. The game focused on allowing 'healer' based characters to heal allies while attacking foes, and gave temporary hit points a greater focus to help mitigate damage between fights. When you were healed, often you spent a healing surge which meant you healed either a fixed dice type, or a number of dice equal to your class's Hit Dice. This meant heals scaled with level better based on a class's expected hit point pool.

Milestones happened if the party managed to clear multiple fights without taking a rest. A milestone gave players Action Points, essentially allowing them to spend them to gain an extra turn in combat, among other things. This gave incentive to avoid the ten minute workday, and for a party to push forward.

When I type all of this out I get a sick feeling in my stomach because I -love- all of this but know a majority of my friends hated it. From a DMs perspective 4th Edition took the combat of D&D and gave it a much needed work over. Roleplaying has always been a side effect of D&D, and when addressed in past editions has been very slim and relying on player/DM imagination.

I do think though all of the gripes are because 4th Edition did what past editions had tried to do but failed. It offered a combat system that put the tactical aspects past editions had talked about on the pedestal. Powers for each class gave you options to move around the battlefield, move others, shift, and manipulate space around your character from melee or afar to punish enemies and help allies. In other systems often combat boiled down to get near something and swing until it falls, or hope an ally has a spell to neutralize it. The option to knock things back, do a cartwheel off of a table and land on the other side of your target, or grapple someone and fall backwards was always there. When 4th Edition gave everyone the Dummies Guide to Doing More in combat through powers, people lost their minds because now it was the -system- saying they can do more. "Oh I have to spam this ability over and over" was a common complaint, which while there was a such a move for each class it was just "Basic Attack, but better based on your role". The simple act of adding a name to "I swing" and giving it a keyword turned people inside out.

So in retrospect, I don't think 4th Edition took away from player agency or from combat. It paired down the skill list, made combat more tactical, and allowed for staying power of the PCs to scale with level. The system had a section dedicated to doing 'off the wall' actions such as using improvised weapons, skill checks to do extra things, etc. If anything I think 4th Edition better prepared a DM and the party for thinking outside of the box, even if the Powers built a sort of odd 'wall' to see it. Granted 4th Edition had it's issues with horrible modules, bloated HP for some monsters in the first Monster Manual, and skill challenges.

I am sure there are other issues with 4th Edition no listed above, and I am sure there are other mechanics I have glossed over that people enjoyed or hated. Many of the smaller systems from 4th Edition were carried over into 5th Edition (Short Rest healing with Hit Dice, Recharge abilities on monsters being two immediately notable ones).

No system was or is perfect, but I do think 4th Edition received a bad shake. Here's to you 4th Edition, hopefully one day you'll get a revisit by WotC.

Back to the Front: Being a better GM through being a player

For the past ten years I have played as a player in five games, all which either died in their infancy or I had to step out of due to a scheduling conflict with my previous employer. As someone who finds TTRPGs a great hobby where I can flex my imagination, I have noticed that the lack of being a player is killing my creativity. I am currently running a Pathfinder Mythic campaign which I feel I have done a great job with so far. Colorful dungeons, great pacing, fun mechanics for down time. My work though has halted at one of the last sections and I know it’s due to being absent as a player for the past two years.

When sitting in front of the screen, only responsibilities being having a character and showing up, you grow as a player and as a Game Master. Mental notes are compiled on neat ideas or blunders that you note to avoid. I have in the past seen encounters or situations that I used to place, but stopped when from the player side I experienced how horrible it was to contend with. The biggest offender is easily save vs suck when thrown at the players. I played in a campaign where it was happening every other fight. Color Sprays, Sleep, poisons, gaze attacks. It’s the only time I somehow rolled more Fort saves in 3.5 than I did Will saves. Those sessions, four hours long, helped me see how much bullshit that can be to deal with when your agency is stripped away for 2d4 rounds for a third time in a night.

Being a player also allows for exploration of new game systems from the perspective of someone whose able to see what makes the game truly function and shine. Gencon is where I try to do this before I thrust large games on my players. Last year I spent a considerable amount of time on Dungeon Crawl Classics, playing in four games (would of been five but I had to skip due t a medical issue). Playing in those games helped me see how the system flows from a player perspective and gave me many mental notes for the future. It was a system I was familiar with but had only played once as a player. While GMing sessions before Gencon last year I was stumbling over rules, spells, and all sorts of encounters that in other D&Dlikes would work well. The absolute worst feeling as a GM whose running a system you pick up brand new is you’re the one running it, and you’re expected to be the teacher. I have always held true to the statement that you’re only as good as your last job, and it pains me when I feel I have failed my players and their perception of a system because I bumbled my way through character creation and explaining mechanics.

My biggest take away as a player in a game is feeling that bond with others. As a GM you feel a bond with the players, but it’s nothing compared to the bond players feel when they need to work together and lean on each other to overcome what feels like impossible odds. The thrill of clutch situations where the party, half gone, roots on the last remaining few who suddenly start tossing natural 20s and begin running a murder train on a foe. Roleplaying in character while trying to decide the best course of action to take in the next room. Discussing outside of the game what to do next session and how to go about it. All of this helps me both truly enjoy the hobby, but also lets me see how my friends interact with a game from that player perspective. It’s easy to lose touch with how a game feels, because when you design the sixty room dungeon all you see as the GM is clever puzzles, set pieces, and banging map design. As a player, you see it: a… sixty… room… dungeon. Woof.

As my own campaign plods on I am already fixing mistakes in material I have ready. The current dungeon is quite large and will take a few sessions to complete I fear. Going forward I am cutting dungeon size down as this group has taken a strong attraction to the roleplaying aspects among the party and the world. It’s a great example of my lack of playing -in- a game clouding my judgement and giving me tunnel vision.

With my newfound weekends off I hope to get into a local game soon!