I've been noticing an odd phenomenon in my
D&D Campaign. The group's at a pretty low level, but with increased XP rewards, so as to experience relatively quick growth and an array of power levels. We started at Level "2 1/2" (4500 EX), and the party's now level 3.
So what I'm noticing is this: the PCs nearly
always make their saving throws, but often fail on attack rolls or skill checks. Like, I'll be poring through the Monster Manual for interesting encounters, and going, "Cool! the Satyr charms travelers with his pipes, that'll be a fun and interesting event." And then the Satyr uses the Charm Person effect on the pipes (the one that the MM thinks is worth doubling the CR for), and EVERYONE saves. Hell, it's only DC 13, so not surprising. Then ditto the Ghost's devastating gaze or whatever, ditto the Dryad's Deep Slumber and Suggestion, and so on, and so on.
Then on the other side of things, the players often miss on their attack rolls. Which is, y'know, they're level 3 and a, sure, but it doesn't feel too heroic when ocer and over again it's whiff, whiff. I tryto describe it well, like "You and the wolf are a tangle of blade and fur and claws, and you just can't land a solid blow." But it starts to wear. And then when someone has a plan, like "I'll try to talk to them and get them on our side!" and they fail their Diplomacycheck, it's once again deflating.
All this has the effect that we're telling a story of
cool things that almost happened. The cool thing inherent in the PC's action or the monster's power doesn't actually manifest itself in the fiction. Nobody's going to tell the story of "that time when the Satyress totally charmed Hung out into the forest for a frenzied love tryst and we had to get him back." Instead it's "That Satyress who, I guess, in theory, COULD have charmed someone, but it didn't work on us." Or "That time when our Druid might just have manifested his awesome Nature Powers to calm down the wolves that were attacking us, but it didn't work." Which just feels kinda lame.
In a "real" story, this would never happen. Obi-Wan would never fail to mypnotize the Stormtroopers. Han Solo would never fail to get the Hyperdrive kicked in in time to ditch the Imperials. At least, not the first time. In Empire, Han does indeed have
quite some difficilty losing his pursuers, and indeed keeping his ship flying at all. That's fine. Tension, Setbacks, Complications. . .these are all great storytelling tools. But it strikes me that the
first time a cool and defining thing happens in a story, it generally
works. It
has to. Or else that first impression is gonna stick and you're gonna be telling "The story about that Smuggler Guy who can't even outrun a bunch of Imperial Cruisers."*
I can only think of a couple of games that address this. Wushu, from what I've heard, employs a system of "everything you say happens, you just don't win the fight until the pacing mechanics tell you so." And Capes does this as well: Not only doyou not narrate the resolution of a conflict ("Kill Spider-Man") until the mechanics tell you it's decidin' time, but when you narrate individual actionsyou're free to describe your super-cool awesome maneuver in full and triumphant detail--only, if you're not ahead on the conflict, your opponent gets to narrate a reversal. So like: "Dr. Doom throws the switch and Reed is bathed in black energy. 'All your simplistic planning did not account for the effect of my Quantum Nega-Ray, Richards!'" THEN: "As the beam saps his strenght, Reed simply mouths, 'now, Sue.' The invisible Mrs. Richards hits the shutdown switch and surrounds Doom in a force bubble. 'As always, Victor, you forget the Fantastic Four are a
team,' Reed replies."
See, it's fine if the effect is countered or dispelled. But it's a crappy story if the effect doesn't
exist in the first place, is negated right out of the gate. Of cours that's exactly what you would
want as a real person. But it's death for a story. When your opposition's powers are impotent, they start to look like incompetents, no real threat. And when the heroes' efforts consistently fail, they start to feel like bumbling fools themselves.
Thoughts? Objections? Solutions?
Peace,
-Joel