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An Inventory of Situations
by Adrian Martinez and Dariel QuiogueDifferent situations place different requirements on the characters which they in turn try to meet using their abilities. It therefore useful to inventory the various situations that may arise in a campaign for from this the particular abilities that the situation demands may be determined and compared to what the milieu offers.
After inventorying the general situations, it will be useful to detail these situations in the context of the game milieu as this will provide clues as to how these abilities will be expressed. Likewise, the objects that these abilities will most likely be applied on will also become clear.
Using this analysis, encounters become the root or the set up from which particular situations may arise depending on the actions of the characters. An inventory of situations will therefore aid the GM in anticipating what situations may be likely to arise and thus make sure that the components for the satisfactory resolution of these situations are available.
The inventory of situations that follow describes each situation according to how the characters are most likely to successfully resolve it.
The following situations require the characters to...
Combat
... render their adversaries either senseless, dead or otherwise unwilling or unable to physically oppose them.
Compassion
... show mercy, compassion and empathy for the plight of the beings in the situation. This covers situations where healing is required. - not just healing; acts of generosity also fall under this and form a vital part of a chivalric campaign - drq.
Diplomacy
... entice or convince the ones they are interacting with to agree with their proposals or to be otherwise be receptive to them.
Dominance
... take command of the situation and compel all the beings in the situation to take direction from them.
Embarrassment
... either save or recover dignity and face either for themselves or the people with them in the situation.
Escape
... find and successfully apply a means of escaping their confinement. Flight comes after.
Exposition
... present their points in the most forceful and convincing manner possible without offense. - doesn’t this fall under diplomacy? Exposition is generally something done by the GM for the elucidation of the players re: the milieu and NPC’s -drq
Flight
... elude pursuers by keeping themselves separated from them in time and space using any means available.
Investigation
... gather information by various means and to collate and analyze what they have gathered in order to gain clarity about their next course of action. If the investigation also requires them to deal with the emotions of fear, horror, wonder and awe, then it may be said that the characters are dealing with a mystery.
Merry-making
... contribute to and enhance the mood of merry-making of the situation they are in. - in other words, GET DRUNK!!! AND SING!!!!!
Politics
... discern who the power-wielders of the situation are, to ascertain the basis of that power and how it is applied and to use this information to set-up or otherwise manipulate situations that will benefit them and advance their agenda.
Protection
... ensure that who or what they are protecting comes to no harm. This includes standing guard, keeping watch and preparing defenses and wards.
Romance
... entice the object of their attention to become emotionally or even physically intimate with them, or at the very least affectionate towards them.
Surprise
... resist being surprised by detecting its source beforehand and, failing that, recover from surprise in the soonest possible time. - I think this is not a situation in itself, but a means of springing a situation on a character - drq
Survival
... gather what they need to survive the current situation [in a hostile environment] they are in at the moment and keep themselves in the best possible condition.
Travel
... get from point A to point B in the best possible condition under the best of possible circumstances (e.g., timing). - again, this is not really a situation in itself, but a means of setting up a situation - drq
Wealth
... either generate or otherwise amass material wealth.
Wits
... outwit an opponent or obstacle.
Worship
... pay homage to the object of worship, or at least display the appropriate amount of respect.
Adrian Martinez
Commentaries - Dariel
This promises to be a useful GM tool. However, at this point you’re concentrating on the details, some of which I find not to be situations in themselves, but leads to or means of entering or introducing a situation. However, this is a good schematic that GM’s can use to frame their plots. This falls in very nicely with my theory that running a game actually involves setting up a stepladder or chain of issues and goals which are presented to the players for their characters to solve or achieve, based on the definition of those characters.
I believe that all these situations actually fall under four broad categories: Conflict, Puzzles/Obstacles, Trials, and Social Interaction. A fifth, Strategic Action, may be posited to cover the laying of long-term plans and the acquisition and/or management of resources.
There are many specific situations which overlap into two or more categories. It is up to the GM, and after he’s done with exposition, to the players, which aspect/s to focus on. For example, I set up an encounter that is potentially hostile. But the PC’s successfully intimidate the opposition, and the encounter is resolved through interaction rather than combat. Is it valid? Of course!
A GM must allow multiple "escape hatches" whenever possible, since after all this simulates real life rather more closely. Players make their choices based on what their characters are (and on the tactically sound alternative); this in itself is a good enough delimiting device for the GM to rely on when trying to predict what PC’s will do. This is yet another sticking point of AD&D, since a character whipped up straight from the books will have no such "leads" for the GM to pick up and use. (One of these days TSR will sue my butt off.)
Conflicts are situations in which a character or some person, object or idea he values is endangered by some active agent - villains or monsters - which they must physically overcome or elude in order to accomplish their own ends (in a military or combat-oriented adventure, overcoming or eluding the opposition can be an end in itself). In your scheme, this would include the Combat, Flight and Protection situations. In such situations it is most important to know the characters’ a) combat abilities/skills; b) movement abilities/skills; c) hardware carried (wpns, armor, etc); d) sensory or perceptive abilities/skills; and e) tactical abilities/skills.
Puzzles/Obstacles present the characters with a problem to solve (in the sense that they must "figure it out"). The puzzle is either a passive physical agent (traps, natural barriers, etc) or a circumstance or chain of circumstances (an unsolved murder). Escape, Investigation and Survival fall under this category. In such situations we must know the characters a) knowledge of the situation and its background; b) knowledge of how to deal with the situation; c) resources that the character may use to solve the situation.
Trials are tests of a specific character quality, knowledge or ability. Passing the test either gives the character something that is desirable or allows him to continue passage through a gauntlet. This ranges from situations like picking a lock in AD&D to the very mythic and chivalric tests of a character’s integrity such as we hold in Pendragon and Red Branch (pat, pat, pat …hey, my back feels really good!). This covers, in your scheme, the Worship and Compassion situations (among others, but categorizing them here is a bit difficult). Situations like these require that we know the character’s a) knowledge and personal background; b) personal traits; c) personal motivations.
Social Interaction covers situations in which the character must maneuver, using purely social means - i.e. by communicating - to gain a desired end. This ranges from Making Mushy Stuff ™ to setting up a Scorpion Clan noble for a fall, to getting drunk in style (I’m too sexy for this cow, too sexy and how …). In your scheme, this covers Merrymaking, Romance, Politics and Diplomacy. Situations like these require us to know a) the character’s relevant social abilities/skills; b) the character’s overt personality traits; c) the character’s motivation and goals; and d) the character’s planned method.
Actually, merrymaking is not an end in itself, gamewise; I use it as a device to establish identities and relationships, or to showcase the personalities of NPC’s, while letting players also blow off steam by having a good laugh or two. Same with politics and investigation; I treat them as devices used to give "hooks" for action, and gloss over them unless they’re very important to the story.
Dariel Quiogue
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