Welcome back once again to Experience Points, the column that follows the fortunes of my weekly D&D campaign Dark Legacy.  This week found our heroes exploring a part of the Seven Bridges Valley unfamiliar to them in search of Dayereth’s long-lost business partner and mentor, the half-orc Garm.  Several important things occurred while gaming but the thing that helped make the session dynamic and exciting was the pacing. 

I think the pacing of both an adventure and the campaign is critical to telling a good story.  Pacing can build tension and excitement.  It can be used to catch the characters with their guards down, or build the characters up to a dramatic climax.  In many ways the players in a group will dictate the pace of the adventure; they are usually the ones deciding when to rest, when to proceed, and when and where to go.  For the most part the DM contributes to pacing by making certain quests or adventures more urgent than others or sometimes even giving the heroes a timeline to follow or deadline to meet. 

Pacing came into play big-time this past Friday.  Let me set the stage for you.  At the close of the previous session the party leader Dayereth, had received a message (via animal messenger) from the mentor he hasn’t seen for 18 years.  It indicated that Garm (the mentor) had been captured by brigands and needed help.  Although the party suspected the possibility of a trap the message also eluded to Garm having information the party desired.  The heroes struck off toward the location Garm indicated.

The first stage of the session was steady but unrushed.  The heroes proceeded to Blackthorn House (an inn east of Cornerstone) and inquired about a guide to the ruins they sought.  Having arrived at the inn after midnight the party spent the night and struck out before dawn with a gnome scout who knew where the ruins were located.  From the inn to the swampy pond where the ruined manor was the heroes made several stealth checks, perception checks, and a couple of athletics and acrobatics checks as well.  Although the heroes knew time was important they didn’t want to alert Garm’s captors of their approach.  The scene played out slow and steady and managed to build up a certain urgent tension. 

In the next scene the party arrived at the ruins that lay crumbling in a murky pond / swamp.  They meticulously reconnoitered the area but tension grew even higher as they failed to see any signs of activity.  Finally they ventured toward a crumbling, domed tower to get a better view of the old manor house.  Failing to enter the tower stealthily the pacing of the scene suddenly and radically shifted gears.  Mercenaries within the tower engaged the heroes and a battle played out across the tower’s three floors.  Although the mercs were dealt with quickly by the heroes, one of them managed to launch a flaming signal arrow toward the manor.  As the adrenaline from the combat wore off it was replaced by the dread of possible reinforcements from across the pond.

Here I let time drag on a bit.  I allowed a dozen or so minutes (in game) to pass without any activity.  The lack of enemy response, heighten both the paranoia and urgency of the situation.  The players were aching for the next fight to break out but didn’t want to give up a strong tactical advantage in the tower they occupied.  I let they debate the wisdom of rushing the manor for a bit then had the enemy mercs call out to them for parley.  A couple of the mercenaries agreed to meet the party in the open courtyard between the tower and the manor.

In the courtyard pacing once again came into play.  Half the party met with mercs while the other half snuck around looking for good ambush points.  As the dialogue between groups played out it became apparent to the heroes that the mercs were buying time, most likely to do the same thing the heroes were.  Suddenly the characters seized the initiative and launched an assault on the mercs.  As they fought in the courtyard archer fired from the manor.  I had the unseen mercs yell back and forth from their area something the heroes couldn’t quite make out.  Of course it didn’t matter what they said it had the desired effect; the heroes though Garm was in immediate danger and began rushing the encounter.

For the heroes this became the point where things began to go south.  Feeling the urgency of the hostage situation the three characters in the courtyard fought the mercenary leaders pushing them back toward the manor.  The other three characters became bogged down (no pun intended) crossing the marsh and taking arrow fire.  When the mercenary leaders were killed in the courtyard the archers fled.  This of course completely panicked the heroes so half of them rushed into the ruin to search for Garm while the other half attempted to catch up.  I asked about a short rest but the party insisted that time was of the essence so they drove on. 

Looking around the ruin the first three heroes saw the archers fleeing away from the building but no sign of Garm on what was left of the upper floor.  The second three entered and found a basement stairwell.  The heroes charged down the stairs while I asked once again if they were taking a 5-minute rest to which they replied; “We gotta save Garm, there could be someone down here that will kill him!”

Let’s review.  The evening began with a sense of urgency but a calculated, rational approach to the challenge of rescuing someone.  As events began to unfold the heroes kept pushing, their feeling of paranoia and impending doom forcing them on somewhat recklessly (in their DM’s opinion anyway).  They made the decision to continue down into the cellars based on two factors;

• In-game: Garm was in trouble and as a captive they’ll probably kill him since things are going south for the mercenaries. 
• Meta-gaming: the players felt that there was most likely just one more “small” encounter before they could rescue Garm. [author’s note: meta-gaming generates bad karma]

This brings us to the final encounter of the evening in the cellars beneath the ruin, the cellars currently occupied by several members of the Flaming Skull orc tribe and their ally a night haunter oni name Lugra.  By the time initiative was rolled the heroes realized they were in deep trouble.  Not only had they decided to rush into an area without any intelligence or reconnaissance, but they went in without most of their encounter powers, their second wind, or even being fully healed.  The entire nature of the final encounter (I actually planned this as two individual encounters) completely changed due to the player driven pacing. 

As they attempted to extricate themselves from the cellar and the situation become increasingly bleak I began to really enjoy the encounter.  It wasn’t because I’m a sadistic DM looking for a TPK (not Friday night anyway), but because the characters were faced with overwhelming odds and they were in that position as a direct result of their decisions, their choices, and their actions and they knew it.  What drove all this and made it possible? adventure pace and pacing.  It’s a powerful tool that can really affect the story. 

I know that was a fairly long story to make a relatively simple point; pace affects your game.  But remember that it does and use it to your advantage.  Oftentimes you don’t even need to force pacing just set things in motion and let the players take the ball and run.  When you want to manipulate pace don’t make decisions for your players instead simply set up conditions and parameters and let them take fate into their own hands.

I almost forgot.  You may be wondering what happened to our intrepid, if somewhat hasty, adventurers.  It turns out that the oni, disguised as Garm, betrayed the orcs and activated a trap collapsing the entire cellar.  Worse, the entire lake/pond came crashing through the foundation wall as the ruins above came falling through the ceiling.  As we concluded the session tens of thousands of gallons of swamp water was blasting through the cellar sweeping away the orcs, and ogre, the real Garm, and our heroes.  The last thing the heroes were aware of was being swept into the caverns below the ruins.

Join me next week when I discuss the upcoming skills challenge that faces the players as their characters attempt to survive being flushed through a dangerous cavern system…