The Eternal Summer of Troika Tuesday
Every Troika Tuesday (or "Tuesday" for uncool people) I am in the London Library working on whatever I damn well please. Explicitly anything, not something. No plan. Here, every week, one day becomes like those endless childhood summer days where the world stops flowing through you for a bit. There is some kayfabe around it, so I hesitate to say it, but this day is my most productive day by a clear mile. Make it make sense, but by no means tell me about it.
A LIST OF THINGS THAT NEED TO BE MORE PERFECT IN MY MEGADUNGEON:
- Encounter checks. I've tried countdowns, count ups, 1-in-6s, roll and add, etc. and I'm still not sure. So far, 1-in-6 is the most usable since I don't need yet another number on another bit of paper to keep track of. If the party are loud I'll roll 2 or 3 dice to see, just following the general vibe.
- Random encounters. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something new happening, y'know? The problem is either that I need to accept it and just veto an encounter, or I need to strictly mechanicise it and remove myself from the equation.
- Restocking. Right now it's done when I feel like it's time or when something big is messed with by the players. While totally acceptable, I'd prefer to remove myself more.
- Dungeon initiative. I like it. The actions need to be more clearly communicated though. While it's great saying "tell me what you wanna do and I'll interpret" it can be a problem if bandwidth is at a premium at any given time. More "button I press" and less "let's have a chat".
- Downtime activities. Awesome, important, love them. Problem is they take up a lot of time and scare the shit out of new players. Like the dungeon turn, they are fairly loosey goosey. They are submitted between games, I decide the answers ahead of time and resolve them at the start of the next session that player is present. This works 'cos I don't use up time on players who aren't turning up this week. If there was a back and forth exchange between games it would unlock a potentially unlimited amount of work. FUN work, but there is a very limited amount of time when you work full time and also run a megadungeon of 30odd players. The goal of downtime activity is to do all the "boring" things that would eat up our play time and yet it now takes the first 30 minutes of most sessions. Right now I think the answer lies somewhere between making it more clearly defined in scope AND resolving it between games. The only thing I haven't got a plan for right now how downtime activities involving more than one PC will work remotely.
- Factions. I'd like to do faction clocks like all the cool kids are doing, but I need LESS paperwork, not more. Right now the factions respond to things going on in the dungeon, advancing their plans every time the players disturb the equilibrium (which is frequently). This is fine, and works for me, but as I've said elsewhere, this is a glorified Troika 2 playtest and I want all these pieces to be communicable and usable by people who aren't me, who have different tolerances of different aspects of running games. It is easier, I say, to remove things from a system than to add them.
SOME MEGADUNGEON OBSERVATIONS
- Lethality in Troika is wildly exaggerated. I think people in other campaigns must just be playing with players who act like 5e characters, which are effectively Doom Guy. Deaths in the campaign have only really happened in circumstances that are utterly unsurprising (at least from my perspective) or rather heroic. In conclusion, git gud.
- Food as healing is still awesome and I love it. Everyone loves it. Get excited to roll a free meal as treasure!
- No xp = no motivation. Again, not had this experience. People adventure for cash to buy henchmen and homes and identify magic stuff they found. Others adventure to fill out their map (maps are probably #2 on the most common motivations list). Some do jobs for NPC patrons in exchange for all the above plus pushing a little narrative all of their own. But most people seem to just enjoy poking the dungeon and seeing how it changes and reacts. This last one is my favourite thing to do in games and I'm glad that has been communicated to the players both experienced and totally new in the megadungeon.
- Troika initiative is way less disruptive to the flow than rolling for initiative. I just pick up by cards and start pointing at people, job done, game doesn't miss a beat. I can't stand that fade to battle music thing rolling for initiative does.
Ok that's all for now. I'm gonna go back to doing whatever I damn well please.
P.S I got a perfume sample on a whim 'cos it said I'd smell like a character from a Hogarth comic. It was 100% spot on, I am a gin soaked ruin. 10/10
P.P.S Oh yea, we're running a Troika & Pals convention in south london in June. If you wanna come GM for us lemme know in the comments and I'll give you the details. I'll compensate you in rare melsonia books!