SPLITTING THE PARTY

"Don't split the party" is common advice, and it is wise to heed it at times, but it has its uses and can enhance the game on both sides of the screen when done well. The trick is to not do it in a way that disrupts the fun of the game for everyone at the table. Here I am going to go over some basic thoughts and give suggestion on how to do it right, based on what I have experienced. 

I think it is important to distinguish between the different types of party splitting. Going to different stores in the next city isn't the same as going to different shorelines of the continent. As a general rule, the greater the distance and time, the more likely it is to be a problem and at a certain point it is no longer a split party, but two different campaigns entirely. 

Still larger scale party splits can be done if the GM is attentive and everyone is on-board. I wouldn't recommend doing it too often. It is more of a once in a while thing. In one of my own Ravenloft campaigns, many years ago now, the party needed to acquire information from an NPC who lived quite far and an object from a ruined city (I no longer recall the details of the information or object). They decided on their own it would be better to split up so they could save time. This meant a session and a half of the party being on two completely different paths. 

Because it only happened once in that campaign, and because it was a conscious decision of the players, where they understood what it meant, it worked out well. As the GM, I did my part by being sure to shift quickly from one group to the other. I found early on that it was to easy to linger on one group and ignore the other, so I forced myself to shift focus more rapidly than I was naturally inclined. It could have been a disaster, but it wasn't, and one of my players still comments to this day on how great he thought that part of the campaign was. 


What also made this work was the party still shared a goal. They were working toward the same cause and the information and object were linked. Where it would have been more problematic is if they had split because one group wanted to hunt vampires in Barovia and the other wanted to kill wolfweres in Kartakass. 

So as another general rule, when the party splits and they share a common goal, I think it is more likely to work out. 

If the GM carefully plans each encounter around the party's resources and characters to achieve a particular challenge level, splitting the party may also present problems. I don't really run games that way so much, so splitting the group hasn't been a huge issue for me (and running away is always an option if things get too difficult). Still you do need to account for your group's preferred play style and that may be a consideration here. 

Understanding your own GM style and personality is equally important. Some GMs have greater difficulty juggling two different groups. It can be a bit more confusing. Personally I find it helps me clear my head and come up with ideas. If one group is heading to the morgue to interrogate the mortician and another is going to the graveyard to search a tomb for clues, I have time to come up with stuff on the fly when players do unexpected things, as I shift back and forth. 

I think if you ask yourself, is the split....

1) A conscious choice on the party of the party
2) For a shared goal
3) Shortl enough distance and time to be sustainable
4) Manageable for the GM
5) Compatible with the group's preferred style of play

...and the answer to all four is "yes", a split could actually enhance play. I think the more you answer "No" on this list, the more likely it is you will encounter problems. 

Wuxia Inspiration: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (WHOG) draws on a number of sources for inspiration. I watch a lot of wuxia movies and TV shows, and these have had a big influence not only on Ogre Gate, but on Sertorius and many of my d20 campaigns. I am hoping to share some of my favorite movies and shows in the genre here as we work on WHOG. I am also hoping that this will introduce some people to movies and television shows they may not have seen, or thought to view. I think wuxia has a lot to offer fans of fantasy. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is definitely a film that goes beyond its genre and has wider appeal. 

Detective Dee is a 2010 release produced and directed by Tsui Hark (Peking Opera Blues and Once Upon a Time in China), with fight choreography and art direction by the legendary Sammo Hung. It stars Andy Lau (Detective Dee), Carina Lau (Empress Wu) and Li Bingbing (Jing'er). Set during the Tang dynasty in 689 AD as Empress Yu prepares for her coronation ceremony, Detective Dee mixes mystery, adventure and wuxia to stunning effect. This is one of my favorite films, and one of my top three wuxia films. 

The film begins as Empress Wu Zetian, the first and only female monarch to rule China, is crowned after having been Empress consort for many years. For her coronation, Empress Wu has commissioned the construction of a vast statue called the Towering Buddha, which is so tall it casts a shadow over the coronation stage from some distance. When a dignitary form the west comes to view the interior of the statue, Master Jia (the Minister of Public Works who oversees its construction) bursts into flames and dies. 

Empress Wu sends two judicial officials to investigate. Soon after, the senior official catches fire just like Minister Jia. The junior officer, Pei Donglai (Deng Chao) is forced to work with former rebel, Di Renjie (who I will just call Detective Dee) and the empress' right hand woman, Shangguan Jing'er. The three make an unlikely trio of investigators. 

Detective Dee has been in prison for eight years, after being convicted of rebellion against Empress Wu. Through flashbacks it becomes apparent that Detective Dee was a loyal favorite of the former Emperor (who died mysteriously of "liver disease"). He is brought onto the case when the Imperial Abbott (a talking stag) instructs the Empress to release him to solve the murder. The Empress frees Dee and places him in charge of the investigation. 

This is how the stage is set for the remainder of the film  Because it is a mystery, I do not want to give away much more than that. This is definitely a movie you want to see without knowing any spoilers. I will say the climax of the film is wonderful. It has everything and ends the movie with a bang. 

One thing I really like about Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is the atmosphere created by Hark and Hung. This brings you into a whole other world. First you see a fabulously rendered imperial china, punctuated by the perfectly rendered CG of the Towering Buddha, then you travel with Dee through underground cities and temples, and bamboo forests. From a purely visual perspective, the movie gets high marks in my book. But the story and characters hold your interest as well. 

Andy Lau is excellent as the detective. He brings the intelligence needed for the role, as well as the physicality. Though Di Renjie was a real-life official during the Zhou Dynasty, Hark takes great liberties, making him a skilled martial artist. However I think Carina Lau's performance as the Empress, even though it is a smaller role, really makes the movie shine. This is a complex character, and she pulls it off. 

The relationship between Dee and his fellow investigators is another high point of the movie for me. Again I can't spoil anything, but the story between him and Jing'er is well done and has many unexpected moments. The cooperation between Dee and the hot tempered Donglai (who appears to be some sort of albino) is a balance of hostility and respect that works very well. 


The fight scenes are impressive. With Sammo Hung as action director, you would expect that of course. Still they really stand out, a particularly well done battle that takes place in the underground complex called The Phantom Bazaar. 

I think even if you don't like wuxia, even if you hate martial arts movies, this is one to view. Right now, I know it is on Netflix, and also available in DVD and Blueray. If you get a chance to view it, definitely do so. 

If you are a gamer or a GM looking for ideas, WATCH THIS MOVIE. Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame is right up your alley. 

Also there is a prequel that just came out and is well worth viewing, called Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon. 

WANDERING HEROES OF OGRE GATE PLAYTEST VI

We resumed our Heroes of Ogre Playtest on Friday but technical issues with the video call forced us to stop early and play with one less person. So we only made a little bit of progress. 

The game resumed on the outskirts of Rong Yao, with the characters heading north to speak with the leader of the Tree Dwelling Nun Sect about an alliance. As they were moving through a tall mountain pass, Shu heard something move behind him and saw a man made of bronze materialize from the soil. He was bald and adorned in golden robes. 

Shu went into attack but was struck in the face by the monk's fist, this did 2 wounds. When the others saw the monk, Min recognized it, mentioning the Talisman of Bao. Min struck the the monk with the Wind Sabre of Sunan, she hit but was unable to harm it with the attack (because of her damage roll). Still this enabled her to freeze it in place for two rounds. Leng then attacked it with his fists, but its bronze body was too resilient and he did not damage (again the damage roll was too low). 

On the next round, Min managed to harm the Monk, doing 2 wounds. But after that, the party continued to have difficulty damaging it. Before the monk unfroze, Shu took a boulder and used tree bounding stride to climb into a tree. Once he was high enough, he dropped the stone on the monk, doing considerable damage and pinning it. However he failed his athletics roll and began a 100 foot descent. Leng used Boundless Step to appear beside Shu as he was falling and grab him. 

Realizing the monk was probably quite powerful, the party fled toward the north and Min explained that her Heiping Master possesses the Talisman of Bao, which allows her to send the Bronze Monks after foes (sometimes up to five monks at a time). 

Unfortunately this is where our video platform crashed so we had to call it a night. 

I did observe that the Bronze Monks are very powerful. If the party didn't have the Wind Sabre of Sunan, they likely would have died or had to flee. It may not look like it from the playtest report, but this was a potentially lethal encounter. The players had a lot of difficulty beating the Bronze Monks Hardiness and doing damage (his Hardiness was a 9). Even with the Wind Sabre, they had difficulty. 

SERTORIUS CAMPAIGN: ORCS OF THE NORTH II

We continued our Orcs of the North campaign, with the group deciding to accompany their fallen companion, Aetos, to kill General Brogustu. Here is who we had in the party this session: 


-Enos Ozihel (my character), an Orc who worships Ozias.


-Poro, a Kobold tradesmen.  


-Orto Turanus, a one-armed Orc scholar from Caelum. 


-Aetos, an Orc Tribesman.


-Ah-Sri, a Hasri raised by Humans in Ronia.  

Just to recap, Aetos was killed by a troll last session, then raised as a Ghoul by Enos Ozihel. The spell used to raise Aetos is a last ditch effort, that commands him to seek and kill an enemy of the caster's choosing. Because our King has an interest in defeating Caelum, I decided to send Aetos after General Brogustu. 

After we decided to join Aetos, the group petitioned King Malka to bless the mission and provide us with supplies. He gave us gold and let us keep the golden helm we had acquired (which would allow us to command and influence orcs). We then travelled from Neoda to Caelum to find the General. Ultimately this led us to the city of Rono. You can see our starting point and ending point circled in black on the map to the right. 

This was a long journey. On our way we narrowly evaded some Theklan Raiders (cursed brigands who can teleport from location to location), among other threats. We made out way south into Perlova Valley, where we learned the armies of General Brogustu had allied with the local Agar tribes and conquered their enemies the Servars, securing the region for Caelum in the process. As we travelled further south and interacted with the local tribesmen, we learned that there was a big event in Rono, a wedding. 

Eventually we reached Rono and found all the local inns were booked. But we also learned that Brogustu was there to attend the wedding and had a personal physician with him. We did manage to find two inn rooms but had to pay 120 silver pieces to get them (an outrageous amount, which went toward the innkeeper kicking out those who had claimed the rooms before us). We then set to work on planning our attack on Brogustu. 

A couple of things need to be pointed out at this stage. Almost none of us had any combat related spells. Our group was made up of intellectuals and tinkerers. Our only war Sertori was Aetos, but he lost his spells when he became a Ghoul. The other complication was Aetos himself. His mind was fading, his only focus was killing Brogustu or eating flesh. We kept the latter in check by providing him chickens and goats.

We decided to use Ah-Sri's spells and knowledge of poisons to set a trap for Brogustu. I spent a large amount of money acquiring expensive clothing and grooming the party. I then donned the golden crown and claimed to be Chief Anumar of the Perlova Tribe. This seemed to work. Our plan was to gain the trust of Brogustu's physician, feign an illness, see how he treated the illness. Then use magic to give Brogustu symptoms of the same illness after swapping the physicians treatment with our own poison. Between the helm and Ah-Sri's spells we managed to pull this off. He created a magical rash that resembled a skin disease and when the physician came to inspect me, we noted what ointment he planned to apply. When his assistant brought the ointment I used my crown to captivate him and convinced him to bring the remaining supply of the physicians ointment in case I needed it (promising to return what remained if I didn't). The next day we claimed the condition was fully healed and gave him the ointment back but laced with a poison Ah-Sri had devised (one that paralyzed). 

We then talked out way into the wedding party and there Ah-Sri used his spell to afflict Brogustu with a rash. As we expected, the general was brought to his quarters to be seen by the physician. At the same time the I contacted the assistant and asked him to see my friend, Aetos, who was also sick, then used the crown to convince him to take my friend directly to Brogustu's physician. Because Aetos was a ghoul, illness was easy to fake. 

The assistant brought Aetos to the inn where Brogustu was staying. There Aetos transformed into a wolf form (a power of Ghouls) and began his attack. He did get wounded by a guard, but found Brogustu and the physician both paralyzed by the ointment. He killed Brogustu, fought some more guards and made an escape, but not before performing a brief ritual to Ozias. 

Aetos' player rolled a 10 on his Ritual Skill roll and Ozias was pleased, promising to grant him a gift of his choice: he could be restored to life or Ozias would enhance his current state to transform him into a more powerful entity. Aetos opted for the latter and was changed into a Vampire. 

This is where we left things. 

Character Death

Sometimes characters die. If you game long enough, normally you experience your fair share of tragic and unexpected character death. Now opinions vary considerably on when and where character death is appropriate, I just want to talk about my evolution on the subject and how that influenced our development of Sertorius. 

I started gaming in the mid-to-late 80s. I was in elementary school when I first got exposed, but probably wasn't until I reached Middle School that I started GMing and playing more actively. My first experience with Dungeons and Dragons and similar games was frequent character death. I believe, if I remember correctly, my first D&D character was killed by a zombie. One died drinking the wrong potion. Another was killed by a dragon (which was under the command of another player character at the time). 

At the time, this never really bothered me. A character dying from a stray arrow or a slip down a cliff was just part of the game, and I never really felt it interrupted the flow. But by the time I picked up 2E, there was definitely a shift in how GM sections and columns of Gamemastering death with the subject. And back then those were like holy words flowing down Mount Sinai. 

The emphasis started to focus more on keeping the story going, not allowing the dice to produce a death that was either undeserved or not fitting. So a common saying would be to only let the PC die for outrageous acts of stupidity. Fudging behind the GM screen to protect PCs was encouraged at times. My purpose here isn't to criticize this approach, just mention it was what I was being told at the time by the books and magazines I read, and I embraced it. For a while it did seem to work. 

Eventually I found myself getting frustrated with this approach, both as a player and as a GM. There were other issues circling it as well (how adventures were constructed and how much the GM should plan ahead). A lot of the advice was producing very linear approaches to play. I don't personally think there is anything inherently wrong with that. It works for a lot of people. For me I started to feel like I was not GMing but writing a novel or telling a story that already had an ending. So I re-evaluated how I played the game. 

I changed a number of things but chief among them was my approach to PC death. I stopped shielding player characters from harm. I didn't set out to kill them, or view it as a "me against them" scenario. I just told them that I would roll everything on the table in the open, no characters would be protected, and that death could come at any point (whether it was dramatically appropriate or not). This along with a less linear approach to running adventures really freed me up to enjoy the game more. It allowed the game to surprise me, for there to be some excitement both for the GM and the players. 

As a player, I found myself enjoying games more where my characters could die when the dice said they should. I simply found this more fun if that possibility was clearly present. At the same time, I didn't want a grind-fest where I was constantly rotating from one character to the next. 

That said not all games require character death as a serious possibility. This does assume something more like Dungeons and Dragons where death is a pretty frequent threat in the air as you explore dungeons and face supernatural foes. A game that is more political in nature, isn't going to require this as much. 

When we made Sertorius we wanted character death to be a possibility. But at the same time, our game has a wound system and we wanted characters to be able to get away with a bit of dungeon crawling before needing to rest for a week. This was partly behind the reason for amplifying the nature of Sertori. It had already been settled that Sertori were divine in nature, the reborn fragments of Senga. But they still had just as much health as anyone else at that time and we found this made dungeon crawls tough to do. So given that they had the soul of a god, we figured their bodies could be stronger and more resistant to harm as well. It was a case of the needs of the setting and the needs of the game both being in agreement. So we increased their wound total just enough. 

That said, Character death is still quite possible. There are no hero points in the game or mechanics to protect player characters. They can and do die. We had a number of such deaths occur in our play tests. Some of the spells are potentially very lethal, as are many of the monsters. At the same time, it isn't a grind-fest, caution and careful planning definitely keeps the toll down. 

Sects in Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is set in a world of martial sects where grudges and revenge lead to frequent bloodshed. In my current campaign the players have embroiled the sects in a war over an artifact called the Wind Sabre of Sunan (I covered the backstory to this HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE). 

In preparation for tonights session, I put together a handy chart of the different sects. The sects to the left, in blue, are those who oppose the players and their allies. The sects to the right are those the players have formed an alliance with and those who are friendly toward members of the alliance. The purple entries below are the neutral sects, but each one is marked to show which side it leans toward. This will be helpful if the PCs try to engage in diplomacy and increase the size of their alliance. 
On a separate sheet I have other details like the number of members and heroes in the sects.

I honestly have no idea how things are going to turn out. Much of it depends on what the players do and who they try to pull in (or push out of) their alliance. I am very much trying to emphasize the wandering aspect of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, being very open to the different directions and places the characters decide to explore. So this all evolved fairly organically and we have now reached a point where the politics are quite interesting.   

That makes sects very important to the game. I have created quite a few so far (all the ones in the above image are described in the rulebook). Each sect has its own history, style and martial philosophy. They also have their own interests, which is where things usually become interesting. They are divided between Orthodox and Unorthodox, with the Orthodox sects generally being viewed as the more righteous ones, but closer inspection often reveals these labels to be misleading. 

Seizing the Throne: When Player Characters Become Monarchs, Tyrants, Prophets and Generals

Call it wish fulfillment but I think one of the things I enjoyed about gaming when I first experienced it was that I could try to rise to a position of power and importance in the setting. Whether it was navigating the ranks of the local thieves guild to command a criminal enterprise or performing heroic deeds on the battlefield to lead armies to glory and forge my own kingdom, there was a lot of appeal in leaving a mark on the fictional world our GM created. However, as a GM one of my first impulses was to quell such efforts by my players. Certainly there was reason behind it, every fool who sets out to conquer the world shouldn't succeed. But I found I became too resistant to the idea, and blocked plans and innovations by Player Characters that should have succeeded. Ultimately I learned there is a lot more to be gained by approaching such schemes with an open mind and understanding the attraction this has for players. My games improved dramatically as a result. When we designed Sertorius, we did so with this in mind, and made a system and setting that facilitated the rise of Player Characters to positions of leadership. 

This does not mean you hand everything to players on a platter. But it does mean you avoid things like protecting pet NPCs, dismissing ideas out of hand because you don't want players altering power structures and setting details through their actions, etc. In essence you need to be fair. Part of this means prepping things in advance to avoid the temptation of altering details like royal body guards on the fly to evade clever PC action. But you can't foresee every eventuality so when the need for such information arises, go with what is most plausible, not with what causes the players the most challenge (sometimes the most plausible thing is incredibly challenging, sometimes it isn't). It also means being open to dramatic change in your setting. 

This can come up in a number of different ways in a fantasy RPG. It could be relatively small scale, with a Player Character recruiting a number local bandits to form a small organization that systematically robs merchants along an important but not well guarded trade route. Or perhaps a player tries to start his own religion by performing miracles (real or fake depending on the game) and preaching a message that appeals to an audience of disenfranchised peasants. It could be something much bigger, like a party forming a base of support in a city governed by a senate, then working to establish themselves as absolute rulers of the city through political intrigue and strategic use of force. I think there is a natural urge to resist these sorts of things at times. But seeing where they go can be tremendous fun for the GM and the players. 

In all of these cases, the rise to power itself is an adventure. And the result is far from certain. That is what makes it exciting. The players trying to take power from the city senate may well succeed and become the first in a long line of rulers. But they might fail and face literal armies of opposition. It is also possible they succeed but then have to deal with a stubborn resistance operating in the shadows of the city streets. Part of what makes this so fun, is neither the GM nor the players know where it will lead.