The Combat Hack

 I've been doing some thinking about player choice/agency. Part of that is this Twitter post that I found as a meme that really encapsulates what a lot of people (myself included) would likely take thousands of words to express.

Another thought, somewhat related to the meme, is that combat is really all of this writ small. Especially in a system where there are a lot of rules and options centered on combat. In a combat scene, or even a combat round, these three criteria constantly come up. So combat is an area where players (seemingly) have constant agency.

But I think that stands in contrast to a lot of RPG plots/modules, which are typically very linear, if not railroads.

One thing that I'm surprised I haven't discussed here is the difference between "if" and "how" in RPG plot construction. When preparing a one-shot, as I have often been doing, you do wind up doing more railroading to make sure that the session reaches a satisfying conclusion in the time allotted. A lot of RPG mechanics are designed around the question of "if." For example, we often roll dice to determine "if" the character succeeds at an action.

But if you're writing a linear scenario, whether for a one-shot or for your corporate overlords, "ifs" create roadblocks, branching paths, and other extra work, which should be avoided whenever possible. The better option is "how." Rather than asking "if" something happens that the adventure needs in order to proceed, ask your players "how" they make it through the challenge.

This can be very freeform. I remember the Cthulhu-Trek scenarios that I played at DunDraCon all those years back were very linearly structured, but exactly how the group addressed the challenges was very much decided by the group. I remember looking back on those sessions and thinking that I had been tricked, because "if" was never the actual question. It was always "how."

Looking at RPG combat, I see a lot of the same thing. No matter how much it's framed as an "if" situation (Can Our Heroes win this battle?), all of the balancing mechanics and "Get Out Of Jail Free" cards and GMs just pulling their punches, the overriding question of a combat scene is actually "how" (What combination of powers, spells and dice results are going to let Our Heroes win?).

Circling back to what I hope was my original point, combat offers players agency within the confines of its mechanical structure. In a railroady adventure, this limited agency acts to paper over the lack of agency regarding the overarching plot. Especially now that it's part of my adventure writing toolkit, it becomes something that I can't unsee when I read a published adventure.

While my job did prevent me from attending the monthly gaming meetup for April, it was over by the time they got another large group event that I was able to attend.

This was pitched as a double version of our typical meetup. Instead of one "Pitch & Play," there would be two rounds. So prospective GMs would pitch their one-shot, play for 3-4 hours and then another round of GMs would pitch for the next round. And this was held at a condo development's rec center rather than a cafe, so food was pot luck.

I came prepared with 2 pitches (my pre-written adventures for Ashes Without Number and D20 Modern) and a pot of my Four Food Group Mac & Cheese.

First round game was Ashes Without Number. I hadn't taken the time since my last running to do much in the way of updates, so the rough patches were still there. Also, the room was louder, so I don't think I explained as much. Not as successful a run as previously, but we did get to try out the combat mechanics. And it pointed out some of the areas that needed more filling in should it ever result in a campaign. 

I pitched D20 Modern for the second round, but didn't get any players. I looked at the other games that were being pitched that round in case I might want to play, but nothing really appealed to me. I talked it over with my wife, who had attended with me, and we decided to call it a day.

Now that I'm not working anymore, I should be clear to attend the next regular meetup. Since it will be May, I'm thinking of running the old Star Wars d6 RPG (in honor of May The Fourth Be With You). 

Proof of Life

 I had intended to get back to taking care of this blog, even if it was fairly simple "Here I am" posts. But it looks like I've fallen off that particular wagon for the last month or so.

The job was part time and shouldn't have been such a big part of my life, but they stretched the 30 hours they could give me each week over 6 days, included a mix of morning and evening shifts which sometimes resulted in the dreaded "clopen" (closing in the evening, only to return the next morning to open).

But now the job is over. Tax day has come and gone and I am no longer needed. And I need to find something else. The unemployment claim that I opened after losing my last job is still open, so I do have some income for at least a little bit longer.

What comes next is still fairly open. I had a job interview this week, though it was the first in months. It might become something, or it might not.

I have gone ahead and applied for college in the fall and applied for financial aid. But because I'm waiting until the fall, that means that I have to wait for a while to get a proper picture of what that's going to look like. And my current estimate shows that my unemployment is likely to dry up before that.

 Scary times. 

A bit of good news this time.

My schedule at work finally allowed me to attend the monthly gaming meetups that I have been missing the last few months. As usual, I debated what I was going to run before settling on Fiasco. Though I did mix it up a bit and used the card-based version.

I typically use "Fiasco Classic" with notecards and dice for a couple of reasons.

1) Familiarity. I had been playing Fiasco Classic before it was classic and that's what got me excited about the new Fiasco when it came up on Kickstarter.

2) Convenience. I have a "portable gaming kit" in a small backpack. Fiasco, Fate Accelerated, Microscope and InSpectres all ready to go at a moment's notice. The notecards and dice that I have included in the kit can be used for the other games as well as Fiasco.

3) Saltiness. Here's the deal. During the Kickstarter, I was enthusiastic. A new version of something I already liked! The pre-printed cards would save on index cards (I hadn't upgraded to the reusable ones I have now). I quickly signed up for the maximum reward tier to get all of the stuff!

Then the stretch goal hit. One of the stretch goals was a new collection of playset decks beyond what had been planned for the initial set.Yay stretch goal, right? But that meant that the "maximum reward tier" I had signed up for suddenly wasn't the maximum anymore and I had to decide if I wanted to cough up extra in order to make sure I did in fact, get the maximum reward.

In practice, it was something like a $15 dollar difference, and it did get me more physical product. But having to re-assess my pledge in the middle of the campaign was something that I didn't enjoy. It's something that I look out for in all the Kickstarters I've backed since.

Someone in the meetup group suggested that since the new version only really needs the Engine Deck and whatever playset deck you're using, and not the whole box, it could fit easily into my portable gaming kit, either replacing or supplementing Fiasco Classic. Not a bad thought, necessarily, but it did mean confronting my feelings about that Kickstarter.

Though I'm now realizing that another part of my reticence is that I strongly dislike breaking up a set. I have all my Fiasco card decks in that box and taking them out for play is fine, but leaving the box at home and only taking a couple of deck with me makes me anxious. Might be a neurodivergence thing. Not diagnosed, but I feel like it fits a pattern.

Now that I've psychoanalyzed myself for all this time, the point of the story is that I decided to bring the card-based version of Fiasco (the whole box) to try to dilute some of that saltiness. We used the Poppleton Mall playset and had a wild ride of drug deals and potential extramarital affairs. All in all, a good time.

We'll see if I'm able to attend next month and if I'm able to prepare an actual one-shot.

For all that my goal for the year has been to game more, I'm actually gaming less. I've missed 2 monthly meetups of my local gaming club, which had been a ritual since they restarted after COVID. It's fair to say that I haven't been gaming at all this year.

It's easy to blame the job for scheduling me on those Saturdays. I could request the day off, but that's something that I'm terrible at. I still remember my first job and my boss, Shawn, telling me "The more time off you request, the more time off you're going to get." It typically takes me a while at a particular job before I'm comfortable requesting time off for gaming, and I've only been at this for 2 months now. Worse, I only have 2 months left. I'm working at a tax office that is only open for the tax season, so once April 15th rolls around, I'll be cut loose.

Which means that I'm still looking for other jobs. And I haven't gotten any significant nibbles. No emails, no phone calls, no interviews all year. I'm learning to spot the devilcorps: the unscrupulous people who send out armies of poor schlubs to knock on your door and plead for donations or sell you AT&T services. I worked at one of those for a week when I first arrived in San Diego 7 years ago. It's one of two experiences that tell me that I'm not a salesman.

If things don't start looking up, I'm planning to go back to school in the fall. I graduated high school and never moved on to college, even to drop out of it. But I have gotten suggestions for careers that would suit me well, but would require the education. Typically teacher, but I've also gotten theologian. I'm not particularly religious, so I don't know how that last one would work.

It would mean getting financial aid of varying types and navigating that whole process. Not student loans, of course. Just seeing everyone else having to deal with those is enough to put me off. As many grants and scholarships as can be managed, though. Starting at the local communnity college to keep my costs low, then transferring to a 4-year school. I hope there's a gaming club. That would be fun.

RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026 Day 28-Is there anything else we should know before we head home?

This month has been a great opportunity to flesh out pieces of my setting that I hadn't really thought about.

One thing that I thought was clever was my reference to "podcasts" as a sort of live public discussion back on Day 12.

This was inspired by a couple of social media posts.

So the idea of "podcasts" continuing older social and storytelling traditions seemed like a fun thing to bring to a post-apocalyptic society.

But as I was thinking about it, I remembered that there were local television and radio stations. And with radio and music turning up in Fallout 3 (which I recently completed), I think I want to take some time to develop and explore that.

One of the fun things about basing your setting on a real place is that you can do research and look things up. Which just puts the parts that are completely made up into perspective. Specifically, the Bigfoot rulers of Squatch-ville.

On top of the challenge of making up Sasquatch society from whole cloth, I know there are certain threads I clearly want to avoid. Mostly trying to avoid the sort of "Native American fetishism" that is easy to fall into when you're trying to build an "ancient culture that lives in balance with nature."

RPG CAMPAIGN TOUR CHALLENGE 2026 Day 27-Do you have any amusing anecdotes from the campaign?

Forget dramatic, tell us about a moment that made everyone laugh out loud.

I'm thinking about running that one-shot again, using it as a "pilot episode" of a campaign. And while I've talked previously on my blog about putting more effort into pushing the final encounter into violence to put the combat system through its paces, the other thing that happened that I feel like I should be more prepared for is when the party decides to take a slamon from the river.

I designed the encounter as a mini-game rather than a combat for a couple of reasons.

1) The slamon were not directly attacking the party. They were jumping out of the water and over the bridge, making making contact with the bridge before flopping off of it.
2) There was not a limited number of slamon to defeat. The objective was getting across the bridge.

On the fly, I ran it more or less as a simple combat encounter. There are B/X stats for giant fish, so that wasn't hard. But thinking about it, I think there should have been a process of grappling the fish to make sure that it stayed in one place in order to deplete its hit points.

Thankfully, the AWN grapple rules are not as onerous as the D&D 3e grapple rules, which are what ruined grappling for everyone.