I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it.

I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it.

I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it. Maybe this will be my first draft.

I had an idea for a Dungeon Front for those having trouble with Adventure Fronts. It’s one level lower than an Adventure Front and breaks down a danger into the front format for play.

Just recently I was describing a small dungeon I created as a first session for a Hangouts group. The dungeon was a Goblin Lair. There was a false lair with a hidden door to a chasm with the bridge on the wrong side. Then was the real lair with a bunch of goblins.

Describing it as a front I’d come up with my Dangers. For example: The Chasm. The players have to cross it against a small force of hostiles defending it. There’s a bottom but it’s “protected” by the Otyugh sleeping in the goblin’s trash heap.

Another Danger would be the Goblins, who want to protect their king and their lair.

Stakes would be: How will the party cross the chasm? What happens if the Goblin King surrenders? What item of value brought the party to the lair?

Grim Portents would be how the dungeon reacts to being threatened.

Chasm Guards alerted

Word sent to Goblin King of intruders

I thought of this because I have trouble coming up with adventure fronts. My ideas are always very local and very immediate. However, when I design dungeon’s I’m always thinking: Why is that here? How do they defend themselves. What happens when they are attacked, etc. I thought I would leverage that into a Dungeon Front.

8 thoughts on “I should probably save this for my blog, but I want to dump the idea out before I forget it.”

  1. That sounds like an Adventure Front to me. Exploring a dungeon is an appropriate scope for an adventure, so it should be an appropriate scope for an Adventure Front, right?

    The stuff that ISN’T local and immediate should be going on your Campaign Front, right?

    It doesn’t actually sound like you’re doing anything WRONG. It sounds like you’re designing a cool front, but running into some cognitive dissonance about scope.

  2. I think the example is an Adventure Front, but I’m not looking at the book right now.

    I think the confusion stems from the fact that an “adventure” is of variable scope. It’s just “the set of problems that are on our plate right now”.

    The example Front could easily be an Adventure OR a Campaign Front, depending on the scope of the game you were running.

    I get the impression that “opening the gate” is something that’s happening immediately and locally, therefore it’s an Adventure Front. However, it could be a long term thing that’s going on behind the scenes, which could make it a Campaign Front.

    There’s no mechanical difference really. An Adventure Front is just a front that’s local and immediate.

  3. I think the Campaign front has a couple more Grim Portents than Adventure Fronts, though they can cross over.

    I kind of like to think that the Grim Portents on the Campaign Front happen more rarely and slowly, softer moves up front (a zombie is fought) and harder moves later (the zombie army marches on the city).

  4. I’m struggling to get my head around fronts and reading this has clarified things somewhat just by the scope of the front.

    Perhaps it would have been better to include an example in the core rulebook for a dungeon, similar to this one to clarify things for non lateral thinkers such as myself.

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