More adventures are on the drawing table as we speak!
But as I work my way through my pile of ideas and start fleshing them out I started to think how others may run these games.
Specifically where they would include actual roleplaying, you know, as in talking to other people or even people in the party.
It may seem from reading the materials as they are that there is no Roleplaying in Lair, and that's my fault for not specifically pointing out where it occurs.
The people I've played Lair with are pretty good roleplayers. They ask questions, interact with the world, and generally pick their own times to roleplay.
For example, in the Witch scenario, I outline the town in a couple of lines saying the heroes arrive and find the place deserted except for one or two people and leave it at that in the read aloud text.
But when we actually played it 75% of the game happened in that village. The one or two people turned out to be One miner and the innkeepers wife.
After hearing the story about villagers turning evil the party became pretty paranoid and barricaded the inn, and began a house to house sweep of the village.
In one of the houses I decided to put in a basement full of kids but with the doors securely barricaded.
Now they may have been put there for safety, or they may have been locked there by the villagers because they had fallen under the spell of the witch.
Turns out they were evil but the players had to let them out just in case.
They also did some risky scouting in the woods and found a way around the witches encampment directly to her inner sanctum, again, not published in the adventure.
So you can see what seems like a cut and dry attack the witch in her cabin skirmish can turn into a full blown dawn of the dead, fortify the inn kind of game.
This was because the players were interested in Roleplaying that particular event, the entering of the town.
If they had wanted to get right down the business and head for the cabin then I would have skipped all that and just told them they talk to the villagers and get the info.
The only thing that is necessary to create "roleplaying opportunities" is to have someone be in the characters line of sight but not actively attacking them yet.
For example in the adventure I'm working on now,
The hereos are hired to go on a mission by the a local Targ member. Now they could just head on in under the cover of night and get the job done, but they may want to investigate their target first.
They may want to meet them, or look into their past, or talk to other people who know them. If they decide to do that then it's just fine. There is enough backstory provided to give the heroes if they look for it but it's not necessary to write up every possibly npc that the heroes would talk to.
In Lair I feel that it's enough to have the background story for the Demonlord and they can decide how it comes out. Having each piece of information linked to a specific person means that if they don't talk to that person, they don't get the info.
The only parts I specifically plot and map out is any area where combat is definitely going to occur.
Other things are laid out very simply, like "the hereos arrive in town, the meet the innkeeper in the road, he tells them the town is attacked.
When I actually run this I describe them entering the town and tell them there is a man in the road, they then talk to him, learn he is the innkeeper and that the town was attacked.
But if they wished they could just hand wave the whole thing and get to the adventure. Talking to him however may reveal more of the story depending on what they ask. Or they may make a friend or find a person to help them.
The important thing is the players. Anytime they are not actively on the Demonboard in a Lair they are free to go and do what they like, possibly to improve their odds of defeating the Lair, possibly their hero has some things to do to complete their own goals. Just try to include times between each Lair for them to do something.
~Ripley
Story designs in Lair for Roleplaying
The hereos are hired to go on a mission by the a local Targ member. Now they could just head on in under the cover of night and get the job done, but they may want to investigate their target first.
They may want to meet them, or look into their past, or talk to other people who know them. If they decide to do that then it's just fine. There is enough backstory provided to give the heroes if they look for it but it's not necessary to write up every possibly npc that the heroes would talk to.
In Lair I feel that it's enough to have the background story for the Demonlord and they can decide how it comes out. Having each piece of information linked to a specific person means that if they don't talk to that person, they don't get the info.
The only parts I specifically plot and map out is any area where combat is definitely going to occur.
Other things are laid out very simply, like "the hereos arrive in town, the meet the innkeeper in the road, he tells them the town is attacked.
When I actually run this I describe them entering the town and tell them there is a man in the road, they then talk to him, learn he is the innkeeper and that the town was attacked.
But if they wished they could just hand wave the whole thing and get to the adventure. Talking to him however may reveal more of the story depending on what they ask. Or they may make a friend or find a person to help them.
The important thing is the players. Anytime they are not actively on the Demonboard in a Lair they are free to go and do what they like, possibly to improve their odds of defeating the Lair, possibly their hero has some things to do to complete their own goals. Just try to include times between each Lair for them to do something.
~Ripley
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