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Working with Harvaxum's Helpful Edition

If you are a Dungeon Master in the Dungeons & Flaggins variety, you may find that Harvaxum's Helpful Edition can actually quickly become Harvaxum's Unhelpful Contribution. We have found that when playing a Harvaxum game, sometimes players are unsatisfied with the dungeon the DM has planned, but often the DM cannot pinpoint why. Well, spoilers, here is why:

Harvaxum's character classes are very specific.

Unlike the basic classes of the Dungeons & Flaggins trifold and the Dungeons & Flaggins: Three Point Bribe classes , Harvaxum's classes cannot be slotted into just any adventure [especially new players], whenever and wherever. Many of them are "Helpful" for flexible players and DMs, but otherwise are constricting in specific groups or specific scenarios. For example:

If you have a player using the Assassin class, likely, unless they get to assassinate someone, they are not going to have a great time playing the game. Similarly, an Archer who is only playing in a close-quarters dungeon with no open spaces is going to feel they wasted their time playing an Archer. So, what the heck?  How do I work with this? I have planned a dungeon and now my players have picked an Archer... what do I do? Experienced and flexible players often come up with creative solutions in these scenarios, but many players - especially new players - really want to do what their specific class normally does and that is why they are picking them. So how do you accomodate that?

Three "Helpful" suggestions for DMs:

1) Don't build the dungeon until after the players have picked their classes. Alternatively, add things to the dungeon or dungeon-table given what your players have selected for classes. This is the simple solution. 

2) Use Harvaxum's suggestions for randomly generated encounters and travel. Build the encounter table with encounters that specifically challenge your players' abilities. Don't plan so far in advance - think on your feet, have some fun, write the table after you see the kinds of characters you have to work with. Maybe don't even do a dungeon. Harvaxum's Helpful Edition is a total package, not just parts. You can come up with much more creative adventures to go on, with more wild tables, if you are staring at the collection of characters your players think would be fun to adventure with. 

3) This is the worst option, but - tell your players what kind of dungeon you are throwing them into so they can pick their classes appropriately. If you have no plans for an assassination to occur, let the players know so that they don't pick an Assassin, or at least modify their expectations of how they will be using this kind of character. 

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