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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
The "twenty questions" nature of the /commune/ spell bothers me a bit.
My players have often used it to conduct a binary search:
Is the bad guy on this plane?
Is he on the western continent?
Is he in the Holy Empire?
Is he in the Province of Foo?
Is he in a major city?
.... et cetera. You can locate stuff pretty easily that way. However, I
don't particularly like this mini-game. It's too easy for the players to
screw up when there characters would not, and vice versa. Plus, it's a
big waste of time, as the players carefully plan out their binary search
pattern in advance.
Instead, I thought of an alternative approach: In addition to yes or no
questions, you can ask for a location or an identity. Examples: "Where
is the Legendary Amulet of Power?" "Who killed Abbot Costello?" These
open-ended questions use up one yes-or-no question per level of the
subject. If the Legendary Amulet is a CL 20 item, it uses up 20
questions. If the abbot's murderer is a 3rd-level character, it uses up
three questions.
I'd need to tighten it up a bit (i.e., should you use character level,
effective character level, or challenge rating for NPCs), but what do
you think of the basic idea?
--
Bradd W. Szonye
http://www.szonye.com/bradd
The "twenty questions" nature of the /commune/ spell bothers me a bit.
My players have often used it to conduct a binary search:
Is the bad guy on this plane?
Is he on the western continent?
Is he in the Holy Empire?
Is he in the Province of Foo?
Is he in a major city?
.... et cetera. You can locate stuff pretty easily that way. However, I
don't particularly like this mini-game. It's too easy for the players to
screw up when there characters would not, and vice versa. Plus, it's a
big waste of time, as the players carefully plan out their binary search
pattern in advance.
Instead, I thought of an alternative approach: In addition to yes or no
questions, you can ask for a location or an identity. Examples: "Where
is the Legendary Amulet of Power?" "Who killed Abbot Costello?" These
open-ended questions use up one yes-or-no question per level of the
subject. If the Legendary Amulet is a CL 20 item, it uses up 20
questions. If the abbot's murderer is a 3rd-level character, it uses up
three questions.
I'd need to tighten it up a bit (i.e., should you use character level,
effective character level, or challenge rating for NPCs), but what do
you think of the basic idea?
--
Bradd W. Szonye
http://www.szonye.com/bradd