Chocolate Frosting in Dungeon Encounters

Let's pause the game design discussion for a moment, and talk about refereeing. This is brought up by the thoughts on toy-box designs we just had, and I felt it was an interesting discussion tangentially related to all that.

I had this discussion with George last night, and it seems like a lost point on many published modules and adventures. If you are playing a fantasy game, and enter a crypt of undead- sealed off for 500 years. Let's say the first room is a trap where the doors seal and a flood of skeletons surge into the chamber, weapons ready, and the dust of tombs floating in the air.

I asked George, "Shouldn't those weapons be rusted to nothingness, and the skeletons fragile and their bones snap if tested?" George agreed, and I called the concept the "chocolate frosting" on the encounter - that extra special detail you normally wouldn't have thought of, that when added, makes sense and actually enhances the experience.

Sure, having the skeleton's weapons break when they hit the characters' weapons and armor sure reduces the difficulty of the encounter, and snapping arms off of the undead during grapple attempts kinda defeats the purpose of the skeletons grabbing for the characters in the first place - but it is cool, and it fits the encounter. If you need to, increase the difficulty with a hazard, trap, or more skeletons - but keep the chocolate frosting on the encounter to maintain the unique and memorable quality.

Let's take the opposite approach, and equip the skeletons with brand-new weapons, give them full hit points, and normal grapple attempt chances - book standard stuff. Boring stuff actually, without special flavor and this certainly won't be remembered like the previous version. There is something about the ferocity of an undead creation attacking as it breaks up and crumbles away that is so horrifying, it will stick in the player's minds for a long time. This is the stuff legends are made of, and great storytelling.

You can put chocolate frosting on any encounter with a little thought and imagination. Lizardmen in a swamp? Let's make them hunters, with spears coated in paralyzing poison, bolas, and hooked nets. Coat their skin in a slippery slime, either natural or applied before the hunt, and give them a couple archers with arrows that explode into a pungent skunk-like tracking scent that lasts for days. What was once ordinary is now cool and unique, and will stick in you player's minds (and their character's nostrils) for a long time.

Craft your encounters and situations like you would make a cake, don't just stop with the book-standard creatures and opponents - put that extra layer of detail and super-specialness on them that fits who they are and what they are doing. Your players will love your work, and you will get that extra-special feeling of satisfaction that a master chef gets with a perfectly-crafted dish.