Encounter Design part I - White Wolf

So, over the last couple of days I've been working on a arc for my Pathfinder: Council of Thieves game and this process entails a lot of encounter design. For obvious reasons, I've had encounter design on my mind, really to such an extent that a couple of nights ago I actually dreamed that one of my players was confounding me by insisting on converting a 3.5 prestige class into Pathfinder (Aberrant Acid Mage: not real).

But I digress.

I thought I'd share some of my thoughts today about encounter design in Pathfinder but as I was organizing my ideas, I realized that you can't really discuss the present without a clear understanding of the past.

I used to play a lot of White Wolf. If you're reading this blog and you remember those halcyon days, please do chime in. Really, when I say "used to" I mean, right up until a few months ago I ran White Wolf games almost exclusively. This was for a number of reasons that I'm sure I'll touch on later, but for the time being I'll say that I have a pretty poor track record with anything outside of Vampire specifically.

That having been said, I'm pretty well known in my various friendship groups for my Vampire games. Vampire (Masquerade, Dark Ages, Requiem)is one of the few things that I'm willing to openly admit that I do pretty well. I've played with a lot of people over the years, and for the most part, they continue to come back to the table.

Now, the title of this article is encounter design, and that's something of a misnomer within the context of White Wolf games in general. Until very recently, White Wolf products didn't really have what you would call "encounters". In a White Wolf game you have a "scene". Now scene design doesn't really take a whole lot of explanation. In terms of advice for running a successful scene I guess I'd have two points of advice:

1.) Set the Scene. I couldn't tell you how many games I've played in where there was really no sense of place. You need to get across the impression of the scene very quickly, but in a way that is indelible in the minds of the players. I went through a phase where this meant exacting description, but I'll tell you now, that can lead to some very bored players and doesn't really translate well into other games that you'll eventually want to run.

When I create an impression of a place, I like to try and impart a feeling. Here's the thing: any player who's seen Blade or an Underworld flick or a David Fincher movie knows what the World of Darkness looks like. The novelty has really sort of worn off. Every so often I'll throw something in to remind the players like guttering florescent lights or rust encrusted exposed piping or something like that, but for the most part the players already get it. As a hint, I like to throw in impressions of smell. This may seem like one of those "Storyteller's Guide to X" type suggestions, but I've found that it can really move things forward. In terms of inspiration I recommend reading Dune by Frank Herbert. Herbert creates intensely detailed and alien landscapes without cudgeling the reader with excessive description.

2.)Create Dramatic Tension. I don't think that the PC's should ever enter an environment where they exist unopposed. Please don't take this to mean that I'm one of these guys who gets his sadism kicks through beating up your character. That's not my bag.

I do believe very strongly however, that the essence of drama is tension. Because White Wolf games trend against encounters, we have to push ourselves forward toward drama. This means that there should always be some adversary or obstical which the players must overcome in order to achieve their objectives within a given scene. This hindrance need not always be overwhelming. If a scene were like the melody of a song, and the level of difficulty were the notes, a pattern of rising and falling creates complexity for the mind and a sense of satisfaction in the participant. No one listens to music in which a single tone is repeated in the high register ad nausiem. Likewise with notes in the low register. Instead, juxtaposition creates feelings of tension, dread, elation, exhileration and melancholy.

Now that we've covered some of my concerns when addressing a scene in a White Wolf game we have set our selves up next time to discuss the structure of the chronicle as a whole.