Post by Ewen Macalister (Detyan/dtyn8) in Old School Runescape & Tabletop Quest Design comments

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Ewen Macalister (Detyan/dtyn8)1 year ago (1 edit) (+2)

Thanks so much, that means a lot!

I'm always slightly jealous of those who played before the GE. Seeing those old images of Falador park with each little "zone" for each type of good/service looks like it'd really heighten the social experience (for better or worse!). I do, vaguely, remember playing with the old quest guide forums and crappy 144p videos, alongside sketchy rumours of hidden locations or treasures, from back in the day however.

Your ideas here are brilliant; especially your points about Food and Culture (Gnome cooking comes to mind!) and reusing NPCs. Having familiar faces is really useful in a city or town setting especially, as it allows a sense of community and interconnectedness. When writing urban encounter tables I usually have "Familiar NPC, 1d3 chance they're in immediate trouble" and that always works well. Honing in on skills too, one thing that always impressed me was how interconnected they were.
Smithing is good to make armour for your Defence level, or Herblore to clean the herbs from Farming.

Again, thanks for your input - you should blog this if you get a chance, I'd love to read more!

𝕵𝖆𝖒𝖟𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖆4 days ago(+1)

I got one of my long-term Runescape friends into TTRPGs recently so recommended him this, it's still a good read!

Combat in Runescape is a very mixed bag, you write about the Prayer skill nullifying most combat encounters, and outside of PvP where combat really shines, combat in Runescape is overall quite uninteresting.

What I really like though is that a lot of Slayer monsters (and some quest monsters) can only be harmed or killed while using specific equipment. Count Draynor in Vampyre Slayer cannot be killed unless you have a hammer and stake, even if you're max level. Aberrant Spectres really stink, so unless you have nose pegs you're really gonna suffer!

This can be easily applied to TTRPGs, and can make for some more interesting bosses or combat encounters. Either have an enemy weak against a specific weapon, or give them attacks/abilities that can only be defended against with unique equipment. It's especially good if the party face the enemy without the specific equipment first, get their asses kicked, complete an adventure to get the necessary equipment, and then come back better prepared.

Of course Runescape didn't invent this, it's existed in games and folk stories for centuries (Beowulf requiring a shield of solid iron to defend against a dragon's breath comes to mind), but is still something that can really elevate things in a TTRPG.

Ewen Macalister (Detyan/dtyn8)2 days ago(+1)

Great to hear!! I'm happy that it's still useful; I'll confess I sometimes refer back to it myself when I'm prepping for the table!

That's an excellent point about slayer monsters. Using salt on Rock Slugs and hammers on Gargoyles is what I always think of! Wish I'd thought of that when I'd written this originally.

Zee Bashew made a video about "The Witcher-fying" monsters for 5e and that comes to mind. Basically, having a "knack" against the monster to defeat them more easily. As you said, I ADORE it when players get absolutely destroyed by monsters and then come back better prepared; especially if they go and do some research first. Sages and previous victims are great for this and really encourage creating secondary objectives with NPCs or scoping out lairs and habitats first. Good point with Beowulf and the iron shield also! I feel that the weirder and more specific the weakness the better up to a point.

itch.io

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