Common Mistakes (HLC)

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In the surge of excitement—or panic—that precedes a gaming session, it is easy for a DM to overlook important elements or to try shortcuts that ultimately cause problems that detract from the adventure. With a little care, you can avoid these errors and make all of your adventures memorable.
==Don't Tell-Show.==
Get into the habit of creating brief descriptions for most of the scenes in your adventure. Include sensory details such as colors, smells, textures, sounds, and the like. The sensory information helps make your world more believable and tangible to your players. Once you become skilled in describing your world in sensory terms, it is easier to slip subtle clues about the adventure to your players.
The same rule applies to spells. Instead of telling the player what he sees with his detect magic spell, explain the varying hues and colors associated with the magic he is viewing. Detect undead could produce nausea, and that immense globe of fire hurtling toward the party could be either a fireball or a delayed blast fireball.
Adding sensory details also makes it much easier to control the mood of the adventure. Not only do players feel the sense of urgency building, they are able to smell the ozone from the last chain lightning spell that tore into them.
==Don't Over Plan-Prepare.==
Thorough preparations are a must for successful adventures at any level of play. High-level characters, however, usually have the resources to set their own agendas, and you should avoid spending too much time and effort on adventures and encounters the players might choose to ignore.
Effective preparations start with an adventure plot (see the Plots section on page 35). Once you have decided on a plot, gather up all statistics, maps, and other materials needed for your encounters. Make some notes about what each encounter area in the adventure is like. Stick to the basics for now; note what the areas look, smell, feel, and sound like, and who or what is in them. Design any random events or rumors the player characters might encounter. If you're generating events or rumors from a table, roll the dice ahead of time and record the results.
Your preparations should be aimed at making sure you have what you need in terms of hard data—monster statistics, NPC personalities, treasure lists, and so on—in a form that you can locate and use quickly. You should not be trying to choreograph every moment in the game; instead, you should be trying to have everything you need readily at hand so that the action doesn't stall while you decide what happens next.
==Don't Force the Action==
Consider contingencies that can preserve your plot. Treat your adventure as a story with an unwritten ending, and be willing to let your players write it. If you have over-planned, you must fight the desire to lead your players around by the nose.
This doesn't mean that high-level characters are the deciding force on your campaign world for every event, but they probably have the power to shape events around them. A high-level nemesis can aid in pushing the PCs in the direction you want them to go, but it's doubtful the villain is so ingenious that he never gets foiled. After all, if the heroes of the land cannot successfully oppose the villain, who can?
A common justification for forcing the action is designing plots that turn on single events, such as the actions of a single villain: “But if the Count doesn't get away, he won't be around to set fire to the bridge in the final encounter.”
High-level player characters have a way of upsetting well-laid plans, so build plots
that can stand up to PC tinkering. If something doesn't go the way you planned, have a backup plan. In most cases, the player characters should find it easier to complete the adventure if they cause a break in the plot, but not always.
For example, suppose a particular NPC is supposed to escape the PCs' clutches and then travel to a distant city where the villain is highly respected. When the player characters arrive at the city, they are framed for a crime and earn the local ruler's wrath.
The plans begin to unravel when the player characters capture the villain with a rope of entanglement, an item the DM forgot the party had. Rather than concocting some feeble reason why the villain escapes, a thoughtful DM puts a backup plan into effect.
When the player characters interrogate their prisoner, the villain lies—of course—about what is really going. The player characters easily discover the lie, but they also uncover the villain's travel plans. The heroes might travel to the city, hoping to discover what the blackguard was up to. The villain's agents might frame the player characters anyway, but the heroes, having sifted a few essential facts from the villain's lies, are slightly better off than they otherwise would have been.
The DM might put a similar backup plan into play if the player characters slay the villain. Perhaps the villain's agents convince their ruler that the heroes are bandits, spies, or assassins. When the PCs arrive, they become embroiled in a diplomatic crisis.
==Encounters==
Don't use just one type of encounter, offer a variety of challenges. In this case, type refers to the main kind of action the encounter offers: combat, trick/trap, negotiation, and so on. The actual mix of encounter types varies from campaign to campaign. The bulk of your encounters should be the kind your players like best, but a mix keeps them on their toes and keeps boredom from setting in.
==Combat vs. Creativity==
Don't encourage combat, encourage creativity. Fighting isn't the best solution to every problem, even for characters as wise as Merlin and as strong as Hercules. Also, as Chapter One points out, most combat rolls are moot for high-level characters, so fights can be pretty unsatisfying.
Give the player characters some problems they just can't solve through combat. A raging forest fire, for example, won't succumb to sword strokes and death spells, nor is it intimidated by a powerful hero in its path.
Even combat encounters can require a little brain power on the player characters' part. For example, an insane fire elemental might have started the forest fire in the previous example, but the PCs might be unable to locate or attack it until after they quench the blaze.
==Don't Inflate-Enhance==
Chapter One points out the detrimental effects power inflation has on a campaign. Resist the temptation to create bizarre new creatures with mind-boggling power, to introduce legions of high-level villains, or to place high-level player characters in direct conflict with deities.
Enhancement means finding ways to challenge PCs without overpowering them. Chapter One's discussion of maximizing strengths and minimizing weaknesses describes one type of enhancement.
==Gifts vs. Rewards==
A gift is anything the PCs haven't truly earned. For example, if the PCs blunder into a narrow cavern and defeat a dragon that can't fly or maneuver to use its breath weapon, that's a gift—even if the dragon's treasure lies elsewhere. Not all dragons are geniuses, but they are all sufficiently cunning to avoid obvious death traps. Any battle with a really big dragon should be an epic conflict, with the dragon making full use of its mobility and special abilities.
Gifts commonly come in the form of powerful magical items. An item such as a vorpal blade, staff of power, or robe of the archmagi is a reward only if the player characters find it after a long and epic quest. If you drop one of these items into your campaign as part of a randomly generated treasure, you are probably giving the players agift.
==Creating Multiple Threats==
A threat is anything that can damage the player characters or keep them from reaching their goals. It is what provides tension, and hence excitement, in an adventure. If there is only one source of threat, such as a single villain, the adventure coasts to a halt if the heroes overcome the threat. Even if the PCs merely hold their own, the adventure usually lacks variety. A single source of threat usually generates only one type of challenge.
Adventures with multiple threats tend to be more flexible and resistant to player character successes. They also offer more variety. For example, consider an adventure where the player characters are pursuing a kidnapper. If the kidnapper is the only element actively opposing the heroes, the adventure becomes a mere chase with the villain trying various tricks to slow the player characters or to throw them off the scent. No matter what the villain's resources, there is a limit to the number of tricks and ploys the kidnapper can throw into the PCs' way. The heroes might end the adventure prematurely through the use of items such as crystal balls in conjunction with spells such as teleport without error.
Suppose, however, that a rival party also is pursuing the villain and hoping to beat the player characters to the prize. Let's also place the adventure in a dark jungle filled with deadly creatures, including a tanar'ri who remained here after an unsuccessful summoning by a long-dead wizard. Now, the heroes have numerous problems to deal with simultaneously.
They still must track and overtake the villain, but they also must deal with their rivals' attempts to foil their efforts. The party must deal with tropical heat that makes heavy armor impractical, dampness that is baneful to spellbooks and scrolls, swarms of biting insects, and the tanar'ri and his minions. Even if the player characters catch and defeat the villain, they still must get out of the jungle with their rescued kidnap victim.
After they escape, the party must be on the alert for reprisals from their rivals.
==Don't Kill—Scare==
Grinding down a high-level character is difficult, and the task is often monotonous for the DM and frustrating for the player. It is much better to look for ways to undermine player confidence and to keep them from feeling cocky.
The best way to take players down a notch is to get personal by attacking specific player character strengths. The lowly 2nd-level priest spell silence 15' radius is a great way to remind high-level spellcasters that they don't run the world. Antimagic shells, scrolls of protection from magic, and the occasional magic dead zone are more potent ways to keep spellcasters in line. In a similar vein, thieves can find magic mouth spells very annoying and fighters often have difficulty acting heroic when their weapons and armor have been subjected to heat metal spells and rust monster attacks.
Players can be their own worst enemies when it comes to inflicting mental anguish on themselves. The simple ploy of presenting a party with a foe they cannot detect often has players assuming the worst. For example, a few bow specialists who have used dust of disappearance on themselves and consumed potions of speed can send a hail of missiles at a party, leading the players to assume they are surrounded and outnumbered when, in fact, they're simply the targets of harassment.
Trying to design lethal adventures can be harmful to the campaign in other ways. As Chapter One pointed out, increasingly lethal adventures tend to make players want to retire their characters before their luck runs out. Also, remember that outrageously powerful magical items used against the PCs in one adventure are going to be used on the monsters who oppose them all too soon.
==Character Knowledge==
Don't waste time with minor details or arguments about character knowledge—find an efficient way to deal with them. Smart players expect their characters to have some basic knowledge about the places they frequent. They also expect their characters to have some ability to lay their hands on information about places they visit.
It is a good idea to prepare reference materials about your world and always keep them on hand. Include things such as geography, climate, political divisions, and similar information that is common knowledge. Likewise, prepare a list of rumors and other easily obtainable information about the current adventure, and pass it around at the beginning of the game. Doing so not only saves time, it also helps make players feel that their characters are part of a living world.
Of course, high-level characters are specialists in their areas of expertise. If the adventure is going to be an in-depth investigation of a new twist on an old spell, the archmage of the party probably knows all about the spell. It's perfectly understandable that the wizard doesn't know about the spell's new use, but common knowledge should be readily available.
==Don't Ignore the Rules==
Rules should be used creatively. It is important to remember that the AD&D game rules (or whatever version of the rules you happen to be using in your campaign) help define reality for PCs, just as the laws of physics help define reality for real folks.
Players, especially experienced gamers, use their knowledge of the rules to help them interpret what is going on around them and to help them decide how their characters react when it's time to take action. If the DM interprets the rules inconsistently, or applies one set of rules to the player characters and another set to the monsters and NPCs, players often have no firm basis for making decisions about their characters. Uninformed decisions aren't terribly meaningful. The players' inability to make meaningful decisions ultimately robs them of control over their characters, and frustration quickly sets in.
The rules themselves can provide a creative springboard for designing adventures and describing NPCs. For example, suppose the PCs are searching a vast dungeon complex to locate a lich. The group discovers a block of prison cells and frees the inmates, which include a sharp-eyed woman who seems to have fairly good knowledge of the complex. The woman offers to guide the party as far into the complex as she can take them. The woman, in fact, is the lich, using a polymorph self spell.
Assuming that the PCs don't immediately detect the masquerading lich with a true seeing spell, the “woman” might display a few quirks that clever PCs can detect. From a rules standpoint, polymorph self lasts only two turns per caster level, 60 turns (10 hours) if the lich is 30th level. So, if the lich has spent several days in the cells, her neighbors might have noticed her renewing the spell from time to time. A particularly sharp-eared neighbor might note that the woman is in the habit of mumbling to herself once in awhile.
If the party allows the woman to accompany them, she must find an excuse to be by herself at least once every 10 hours or her ruse is revealed. If you're already in the habit of requiring moving characters to take regular rest periods, this shouldn't be hard to arrange, but it should provide the PCs an opportunity to notice the spellcasting. If rest periods aren't part of your normal game routine, you need to find some other way to regularly separate the polymorphed lich from the party. Perhaps she just moves on ahead while the PCs talk among themselves, or periodically makes an excuse for leaving the party. Such ruses can make for lively role-playing.
A polymorph self spell also does nothing to eliminate the aura of magical power and cold that surrounds the lich (as the DM, you can rule otherwise, but remember to use your rule consistently for the remainder of the campaign). High-level characters are unaffected by the magical aura and might not even notice it, but the polymorphed lich must be careful to stay out of lesser creatures' sight lest they flee in fear. In addition, the lich's chilling touch continues to function as well, and the creature would have to avoid touching and paralyzing anyone. Thick gloves might do the trick. Of course, sharp players might wonder what a prisoner is doing with a set of gloves, but that is exactly what they should be doing.
==Proactive—Not Reactive==
Foes capable of challenging high-level adventurers are not stay-at-home types who sit in their bedchambers waiting for groups of PCs to come along and attack them. They make plans and actively try to implement them. Particularly alert foes might notice PCs encroaching on their territory and take steps to discourage or defeat them before they can inflict too much damage.
Even foes who have no immediate plans for sweeping conquests should have a personal agenda to follow.
==Responsive—Not Passive==
When PCs arrive on the scene of an adventure, they represent a major disruption in the normal course of activity. Foes should respond to this disruption in a manner consistent with their intelligence and level of organization. Plans and activities already set in motion should be dropped or altered to meet the situation.
The worst example of this kind of mistake is the keyed dungeon complex or castle where the player characters can move from room to room, defeating the occupants one by one. Such adventures are simple to run, but they lack the depth needed to challenge high-level characters and keep players entertained. Make sure the locals react to what the heroes do.
Start by deciding what goes on while the PCs are not present. Note the major NPC's daily actions and the general activities of the lesser characters (guards, servants, visitors). This allows you to establish a routine for the area and can help determine a proper reaction. An attack during a typical midafternoon, when the guards are very alert but most of the locals are scattered about the countryside, is going to create a reaction quite different from that of an attack made during the week's major religious observance.
==All Failures are Not Catastrophic==
The occasional adventure to save the world from immediate, irrevocable, and utter destruction is fine, but not every situation high-level PCs find themselves in should be an all-or-nothing proposition. After all, what happens to your campaign world—the one you put all that work into—if they fail?
The PCs have earned a little resiliency; if they fail in a task but manage to survive the attempt, allow the world to change for the worse, just a little, and then allow the party another chance to set things right. For example, if the player characters cannot stop an assassination attempt against an important NPC, such as a king or high priest, there should be a general cry of dismay among the people loyal to the slain individual. A dead king might also cause a valuable military alliance to break down, and the passing of the high priest could bring about a deity's wrath.
Use failure to create additional opportunities for adventure as the PCs scramble to limit the damage.