Player Designed EncounterThis is a featured page

So I tried something new last night with our weekly crew that was a lot of fun and I recommend it for all of you. I designed the encounter ingredients and assigned a value to terrain objects, then i allowed the PC's to set up the combat encounter themselves. Here's how it played out specifically.
Enemies: 12 Hyenas and 1 Cacklefield Hyena. The PC's had no control over this element.
Setting: A 10x10 grid with a large fire placed in the center of the grid which took up 4 squares. This was also pre-placed.
Terrain objects:Fire, tents, bedroll & bedding for outdoor camping, shrubs & trees.
NPCs: 3 Goblin cutters
PCs: All 4th level...Wizard, Warlock, Warlord, Fighter & Cleric
I asked the PC's that when they were sleeping, would they use a tent if they had one, if they used a bedroll simply as a pillow, or if they slept on a bedroll with furs or other materials for comfort. I t hen asked if they would be near the fire, and specified that a tent had to be 3 squares or further away from the fire for safety. This places tents out of the grid potentially, but that's by no means a big deal. TheWizard PC placed a tent, which is size large, taking up 4 squares. TheWarlord declared bedroll & bedding which took up onesquare. He placed his mini on the grid, and I drew the sign for difficult terrain underneath him (A triangle with 3 smaller circles around it).The Warlock also made the same choice, and I did the same thing. At this point I had their attention, and I explained that the bedroll & bedding created difficult terrain. As well, I explained that the tent created concealment (-2 to attacks) and that it prevented line of effect.
As the fighter placed his tent on the map, I then asked if they would traditionally set up camp in an open clearing, in a partially wooded area, or in a densely wooded area. They answered partially wooded area, and I then explained to them what was going on, that they were in effect building their own battle map based on the specifications they laid out. I would let them know when the area fit my description of partially wooded, and until then, they could placetrees and shrubs however they liked. Whatever they would look for whenever they camped normally. They then placed shrubs which took up 1 square and when they had some placed, I told them they created difficult terrain. When they placed a few trees, I explained that they provided total cover and you could not pass thru a square with a tree. Lastly, the cleric placed his mini between a tent and a tree.
Now, story wise, they were travelling with 3 goblins as a sort of escort to a goblin hexer's lair. Essentially, they represented a goblin contingency that had taken power that is looking to open its doors to trade with the other humanoid races. The first thing they promised to do was to help the party get rid of the scourge of Hexer's plaguing their region, the Greater Island of Ulmerin. So in other words, these minions were on their side and their presrevation & protectiontook on a level of importance to the party. I them told that they need to be placed on the map, and they were also nestled next to a tent.
Finally, they chose the order for overnite watch, an easy decision, as the warlord chimed in that he would be perched in a tree with his thunder burst crossbow during his watch. I made sure that he was all set with precisely where he wanted to be and understood all the elements around him.
When that was done, I explained that they had a decision to makeregarding the minions. They could utilize the minions in any way they chose to. They could remain in camp, where they can fight along with the party, or they can be removed from the grid at the first sign of trouble and "Guard the horses." Or other. They agreed that two would come off the board. The last one was told by a PC to wake him at danger. I gave the PC a +5 to his roll to save vs unconscious and awaken. The minion was then directed to leave the battle area if allowed to.
At this point, I stopped the prep. The warlord heard howling all around the sleep area/battle map and the goblin woke up the warlock. Everyone else saved to gain consciousness except for the cleric and the battle was on. The 12 hyena's entered 3 to a corner and the Cacklefield entered from the far side of the map. All entrance points were pre-decided and the party caughta break there. The 1 goblin cutter lost his life, but caused an interesting moral dilemma when the warlord considered shooting him to target all the surrounding hyenas. He chose not to, and I add this part in for flavor more then anything else. The cleric was woken when he was attacked. The fighter struggled as he was inside a tent and took a -2 to all swings on the 3 hyenas attacking him. The wizard opened his tent flap, which I considered a hole in the wall*, and his terrain worked perfectly for him. The fire was utilized by 3 party members. The first time a hyena was pushed into the flames, they were rewarded with the news that the fire did 1d6 damage, plus any creature beginning or ending its move in the fire took an additional 1d6 damage. This was chosen over ongoing damage as it was obvious all creatures would leave the fire as quickly as possible and I felt it was a more fun element this way. And once they saw this, the PCs with push, pull, slide, slow, etc...took full advantage of this bonus.
The set up went well, the battle had its bottlenecks and its issues which I thought made it great as did they. It was a hard combat for them but a more than winnable one with a few deaths added in for drama. First deaths only, not final death. Not sure if I would do this again, but I wanted the PCs who hadn't yet peaked behind the curtain to see how the DMG has made it quite easy to build encounters and get them thinking more about terrain. I also wanted a few of the player's, who had shown interest in DM'ing, to be able to see what goes into combat setup and how a random set up can still be very fun.
That's it, more later when I have time to take from my work day to recount other battles & gaming tops I have set up for you all to utilize.
bishopkoko
* We have created a house rule that makes life very easy and works fairly for both mosters and the PCs. Any doorway is considered an open space or a hole in the wall. Rather then do the metrics onhow large the door is, how it blocks or doesn't block line of site and line of effect, etc...we just leave it wide open now and it allows both sides of the combat to target properly between their turns and on their turns without the math bogging them own. I suggest utilizing this same house rule if you haven't already. We have found that conbats take time and all elements that go into cutting this time down are highly recommended. Lastly here, I would love to take the credit on this call but the wizard PC came up with it and I want to publicly give him his props here.


bishopkoko
bishopkoko 		Latest page update: made by bishopkoko , Nov 20 2008, 11:25 AM EST (about this update About This Update bishopkoko Plyer created combat elements - bishopkoko

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