BW PDF - Midnight Campaign

As a last tactic, magic can bring a character to groundvery quickly. Earth or Ice magics can weigh a targetdown, while air magics could be used to blow a characterdown with some force. If an existing spell does not seemto fit this purpose, the storyteller does have the right tocreate arcane effects to suit their purpose. Just rememberto justify the spell, and to be sure to include some spellpower check to make sure that there is the randomchance to resist such an effect.Invisibility presents a similar challenge. Invisible playersare hard to deal with consistently, but there are manymundane and arcane tricks to detect invisibility.Ropes and weights, standing water, thrown flour,or any number of other creative techniques canidentify invisibility fairly easily.Sneak skills function in a similar way, but since theyare tied directly to a skill check, they are necessarilyidentified by a Perception check. Just remember thatconditions stacked against the player imply conditionalpenalties, which may make checks more reasonable.Grapple can also be a frustrating mechanic, becauseit does not necessarily depend on a skill, but on anattribute. To counter this, just keep in mind that a playercan attack with a light weapon or unarmed attack withina grapple, and that some abilities even grant bonusesto these kinds of attacks. Once damage is being dealt,a character can gain a conditional bonus to escape agrapple, or simply resign themselves to dealing damagewithout escaping.TRACKING FEEDBACKAs a last tactical difficulty, it can be difficult to trackfeedback for multiple casters during combat. The easysolution to this is to not track it. So long as the characteris not abusing their casting, it shouldn’t be a problem.REWARD CREATIVITYOften, players can attempt to find a solution to a givencombat, puzzle, or other situation that fits well outsidethe boundaries of what the storyteller was looking for,and sometimes outside of the rules of the system.Roll with it. If the players are playing in a way that iscreative and fun to them, then chances are they aregoing to be running the game in a way that will seemmore dramatic and fun for everybody. In most cases,these solutions should be encouraged and rewarded.If this course of action completely undermines thestory and challenges that the storyteller has prepared,then they may want to tell the players that, and seeif they’re willing to work in a different direction.Otherwise, work with them. The creative processof this game depends on both the players and thestoryteller, so when some collaboration is involved,the best results can be found.COUNTER OVER-USED STRATEGIESIf a game should reward creativity, it should also punishcatch-all-solutions. There are many mechanics in thegame that have the capacity to circumvent many of thestandard challenges a player will fight. Using this kindof a solution once, to achieve a stunning victory in adramatic way is fun., but if they start to use the samegimmick in every combat and encounter, then it can getstale fairly quickly.In this situation, it becomes the storyteller’s job to beginto counter the player’s strategies, driving them to comeup with new creative options, keeping the game fresh andinteresting. This doesn’t mean shutting down the playersentirely, but it does mean strongly encouraging them tofind other tactics to add to their repertoire.KEEPING PLAYERS INVOLVEDOften, the situation arises where one player, who is alittle more socially aggressive or understands the combatrules a little better, comes to dominate the combat,dealing out bigger hits and making more impact thanothers. Conversely, it can also work out such that oneplayer ends up taking a lot more punishment thanothers. It is part of the storyteller’s responsibility in thesesituations to pay attention to the level of involvementof each player, and to skew combat in their favor. If aplayer has done less damage, let them have the final hit.If a player is soaking a lot of hits, steer damage towardsomeone else.193