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haggardclint · 3 months

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Storytelling in Combat

What Professional Wrestling Can Teach Us About Running Combat Encounters

In the world of professional wrestling, where every slam, suplex, grapple, and high-flying maneuver tells a story designed to captivate its audience, lies an unexpected trove of inspiration for game masters seeking to better craft their combat encounters. Like a well-choreographed wrestling match, combat encounters are an artful blend of pacing, tension, and dramatic moments. In this quest to unravel the secrets behind crafting epic encounters, let’s step inside the ropes and explore how the structured chaos of a wrestling match can teach us how to orchestrate a dynamic, unforgettable battle for your tabletop game.

While not a hard and fast rule, traditionally, any professional wrestling match will follow the Seven Stage Structure. These stages are designed to raise the audience up and lower them down. If done well, tease and twist their emotions into a fever pitch until they explode. Any tabletop combat encounter can follow a similar rhythm. The initial lock-up between wrestlers mirrors the roll of initiative. Characters assess their adversary, position themselves accordingly, stalk the combat space, size each other up, and then go! From there, the narrative evolves into a series of turns, just like the back-and-forth in the squared circle. Tension escalates, reaching a boiling point and then BAM! 1-2-3! The climatic finish and a winner declared! Such pacing, stakes, and pivotal beats transform the mere skirmish into an epic tale of heroism and villainy.

Stage 1: The Stakes

In wrestling, a match has two defined roles: heels (Villains) and faces (Heroes). Start your combat by clarifying to the Heroes how tough and nasty the Villain is. The Villain antagonises the players through trash talk or monologing or, without hesitation, kills a minion or an innocent NPC. Alternatively, or along with, you can have the Villain unleash their most devastating attack, potentially as a surprise, like a chair shot to the head! The more damage you deal at the start of combat, the higher the chances of their hit points being high enough that you won’t completely kill them, but you’ll also be sending a message.

Stage 2: The Shine

The opening moves of your Heroes that’ll allow them to answer back. This stage invites the back-and-forth where the Heroes retaliate, and you have the Villain answer back with equal attacks, allowing them to remain a threat but ultimately be bested. This is the fun part for the Heroes, and by the end of the round, your Villain should be feeling the need to get a little dirty or creative.

Stage 3: The Heat

The Villain has been injured by the players, pushed too far, and will now do just about anything to survive or win. They go for the low blow, use an illegal weapon, or some other underhanded tactic to establish that they’re “the bad guy” and do what it takes if they have to. Like all good heels, the Villain should be arrogant in their one-up-manship. This is a great time to have a few pre-prepared taunts or actions designed to get under the Heroes’ skin. They take turns attacking one of their beloved NPCs instead of them or attempt to entrap them behind a wall, keeping them annoyed and in pain.

Stage 4: The Comeback

With the stakes never higher, the Heroes, too, must find the fire inside them they need to survive. They scramble around the environment, maximise their spell use, and let loose with whatever they have left to solve the puzzle that the Villain has become. The Villain gets hurt and shakes it off as best they can, but is clearly getting hurt and sending the message that the Heroes might just have them licked!

Stage 5: The Shut Down

Just when we think the Heroes will win, the Villain unleashes an unexpected maneuver that changes the encounter into a puzzle needing to be solved. This is the part where the Villain explores (and changes) the environment in some dramatic way that temporarily nullifies the Heroes. The dragon flies into the air out of reach, the wicked wizard teleports to higher ground and unleashes a flood, the rogue general calls down a rain of fire from their warships, or the mad scientist activates the machine and unleashes a devastating earthquake in the area. Whatever it is, it’s a big, environment and stakes-changing moment that creates a puzzle for the Heroes to solve.

Stage 6: The Final Moves of Doom

The Villain makes a mistake the Heroes can capitalise on, or the Heroes somehow get the upper hand, overcoming the Shut Down. In wrestling terms, this is where John Cena says, “You Can’t See Me!” and shakes his hand in their opponent’s face before unleashing their biggest and best attacks in quick succession. This combat stage is quick and loud, like an explosion, putting the Villain on his last legs.

Stage 7: The Finish

With a mighty crescendo, the Villain is beaten, escapes or brings the whole environment down on the Heroes, sending them into an escape scenario. Should Villain find a chance to win, this can happen in various ways. They call minions in to shield their escape. They straight-up cheat and flick a lever, revealing a trap door or self-destruct button. Whatever it is, if the Villain loses, then ok, everyone goes home happy. However, should the Villain win, the previous stages have set the tone to ensure the Heroes may be disappointed but hungry to chase them down and get a second chance.

That seems like a lot of stages? Won’t combat drag on forever?

GOOD QUESTION! Here’s the good news! At any point, if the Heroes kill the Villain or the Villain needs to get away, you can always “go home” and cut to Stage 7: The Finish. While the previous stages raise the stakes and emotions throughout the combat, the Finish can always take place and do its job satisfactorily.

In my experience, though, no combat should last longer than 3 rounds. You can streamline the Seven Stage Structure into 3 rounds using only 3 stages, as follows:

Initiative - Stage 1: The Stakes

Round 1 - Stage 2: The Shine

Round 2 - Stage 3: The Heat/Stage 4: The Comeback

Round 3 - Stage 5: The Shut Down/Stage 7: The Finish

Embracing the narrative flair of professional wrestling, game masters can enhance combat encounters using a formula designed to entertain due to wrestling’s ability to evoke emotions and escalate tension to craft epic battles. The stages, mirroring the back-and-forth dynamics of wrestling matches, provide a rhythmic approach to combat, transforming a skirmish into a captivating saga of heroism and villainy.

Your friend in time, Haggard Clint

#dungeons and dragons #ttrpg community #game masters #dungeon masters #dungeon master advice #game master advice #professional wrestling #prowrestling #dnd 5e #dnd #d&d

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haggardclint · 9 months

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The Quokkaburra

Aboard the Spinning Wheel is a bizarre little creature known as a Quokkaburra. It is the pet of the head of the Infinite Wardrobe, Abigael Jones. Its name is Juki. Juki is a jerk that steals things. The Quokkaburra was first discovered in an alternate timeline where [REDACTED], a strange island continent to the southern hemisphere, would be the emergent point of a great magical fissure connecting the planes of the Prime Material and Magix. In this timeline, the wizard that once would have merged an owl with a bear would begin their magical experimentations by combining two local fauna into what we now know as the Quokkaburra. The Quokkaburra is an annoying little thing. Too cute to kill, too fatty to eat, and just mischievous enough to make you want to throw a rock at it.

Quokkaburras cannot fly, but their fatty bodies and clawed wings allow them to glide out from their treetops and drop to the ground, allowing them to scare passersby into dropping food and shiny things. Quokkaburra nests are frequently adorned with shiny trinkets and baubles, most notably of the gold and blue variety. ------------------------- The Quokkaburra is one of many new creatures you'll discover in my new book, The Chronomancer's Guide to the Future: Part 2. Coming soon to Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haggardclint/the-chronomancers-guide-to-the-future-part-2-5th-edition

#illustration #dnd art #art #drawing #sketch #cgttf2 #quokka #kookaburra #austalia #drop bears #time travel #cyberpunk #future

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haggardclint · 9 months

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Cephaloid: Vampiric Time Snakes

The Cephaloid are an ancient species of creature from "The Far Side of Deep Space". In their culture, the discovery of the mystic mineral Timestone would irreparably warp their people, making them wholly dependent on it as a food source. With their ghastly, gaunt appearance and aversion to bright lights, they've earned the deserved reputation as "Time Vampires". The Cephaloid Empire are one of the main antagonists in my upcoming setting, The Chronomancer's Guide to the Future: Part 2. Launching a Kickstarter soon, you can find out more here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haggardclint/the-chronomancers-guide-to-the-future-part-2-5th-edition

#cephaloid #dnd5e #dnd #art #cartoon #character design #dungeons and dragons #cgttf2

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haggardclint · 9 months

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The Wyrd

A new playable class for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition

The Wyrd is a brand new class from Haggard Time Games centred around fate and destiny. Using these elements, the Wyrd sews chaos through themselves to evoke powerful transformations. In the vein of Venom, The Incredible Hulk, Sailor Moon, He-Man, Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate, The Shadow, All Might, Power Rangers, and many more, the Wyrd is the comic book superhero/supervillain class you've been waiting for!

What is the Wyrd?

There is a force in our universe, unknowable to most, that is influencing every aspect of our lives. It makes us late for work, causes us to hold our tongues, inspires us to take the leap, and ultimately presents itself as the standard flow of cause and effect in our universe. The Wyrd is a violation of this natural flow. For the Wyrd, the ordered force guiding our universe is an obstacle that, with enough will and determination, can be overcome, even transformed. Where most are content to be mere puppets upon fate’s strings, the Wyrd frees themselves to unleash their true potential.

Wyrds are once ordinary creatures transformed by an impossible fate. Survivors of near-death experiences, lightning strikes, alien infection, demonic possession, divine selection, alchemical experimentation and more! These “quirks of fate” challenge the Wyrd in ways no ordinary creature would likely survive. Such challenges require the Wyrd to mine the very depths of their will to not only survive fate’s quirk, but in time, learn to control it!

Grab the FREE version today!

#ttrpg #dnd #dnd5e #dnd class #homebrew #ttrpg homebrew #cgttf2 #ttrpgs #ttrpg community #dnd art #dungeons and dragons #haggard time games

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haggardclint · 9 months

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UNKNOWN: Cosmic Time Machine

I watched a documentary last night called UNKNOWN: Cosmic Time Machine. It's only about an hour long. It's all about the James Webb Space Telescope.

As I watched it (at the insistence of my partner (I'm not a big documentary guy most of the time)), I was reminded how stupid I've been about avoiding learning. I am harsh in this phrasing because I should be. Learning has felt too hard, too much like work. It felt like a distraction from creating, something I'd much rather spend my time doing.

As I watched over a decade and 10 billion dollars launch beyond our atmosphere, I was struck by the ridiculous poison of laziness and hopelessness I've allowed to invade me. I can't pinpoint exactly what or how much poison crept in. All I know is that it's there, infecting me.

As the sails unfurled on the JWST, I couldn't help but smile and creep forward in my chair, letting its animated recreation and the joy of its creators wash away the past few years of mind-numbing, soul-crushing despair I've fought against every day.

In any case, this is all to say that I'm glad I watched it. I'm glad to have found joy in something I had no part in other than being a part of the human race. I'm glad to see humanity do something for the greater good of generations to come, most of which we'll never know.

Space is awesome.

As to how this relates to my work? It means I woke up eager to tackle the day (yesterday was rubbish). This attitude has translated into this post and is a reminder that we are all energy, positive and negative. This energy is amplified by our actions, and so, simply put, I'm tackling my work positively and am excited to see the return on investment.

Your friend in time, Clint

#blog #blogs #musings #space #james webb space telescope #jwst #nasa #netflix #documentary #unknown cosmic time machine #time travel

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