Defence

This Bastionland Editorial was originally sent as a reward to all Patreon supporters, and is released freely on this site a week after its original publication.

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ITO and EB have three types of defence. Pretty bloated system, right?

I wanted to talk briefly about how to use them both alone and in combination with each other.

Hit Protection (HP)
A guaranteed buffer of "safe" damage that can be taken before getting wounded. Easy to recover once the fight is over. It's the most abstract of the defences, but usually represents a general sense of skill and stamina. 

Strength (STR)
Raw physical endurance. Both the mass to soak up hits and the vigour to keep on fighting when wounded. More debilitating and difficult to recover, losing STR is always painful in comparison to losing HP. 

Armour (A)
Anything that lessens the effect of an attack against you and give a chance to shrug it off altogether. 

Now things get more interesting when you use them together. What does that look like?

For these examples, assume that the defences not mentioned are unremarkable. 

High HP, High STR: If you want to make something tough, this is probably the safest way to go. They're going to stick around, but gradually get worn down. I'd use this for most typical scary monsters that you want to pose a real threat and not be easily taken down. 

High HP, High A: I've seen discussions around whether something fast and small should use Armour to represent their ability to dodge. In general, I'd save that sort of thing for another category, but I can see the temptation to put them here. Instead, I'd use this category for the skilled, armoured opponent that frustrates the characters until they can land one decisive blow on them.

High STR, High A: The classic big monster profile here. In general terms, before considering actual armour-like protection, I give +1 armour to big stuff, and +2 to REALLY BIG stuff (maintaining the maximum of 3). Just be aware that this profile is vulnerable to a lucky one-shot if the players roll high and you roll badly. 

High HP, Low STR: THIS is the fast, small monster profile. They can duck and dodge safely until you land that blow which will likely take them straight down to instant death at STR 0. 

Low HP, High STR: Just a dumb brute. Good for your orc-likes. 

Low HP, High A: I've used this for both untrained-armoured-grunts and automaton-like monsters. It's interesting in that it can feel a little more like the classic D&D combat with lots of swinging and missing, with one or two decisive blows. It has a use, but I wouldn't make this the standard. 

Low STR, High A: I like this for skeletons and the like. Fragile enemies that can be shattered with a good hit but are surprisingly difficult to land a good blow on.

High Everything: Use with caution! I mean, you can use it, but just make sure it's something that you're prepared to have stick around for a long time. In particular, make sure it has interesting things to do while it's out there surviving for so long. 

Starter Packages

I'm obliged to remind you that there are just a few days left to back Into the Odd Remastered on Kickstarter.

And I can get away with such rampant marketing, as today's post is actually connected to the work I've been doing on one of the stretch goals.

Starter packages are one of the features that people really enjoy about Into the Odd. The initial inspiration came from this post by Brendan, where he creates a selection of equipment packs for the big four OD&D classes based on the starting wealth roll. 

I loved the quickness of that method, and thought there was potential to evoke a world through these entries, much in the same way that people had recognised in equipment tables. Keen readers that spot garlic in the D&D equipment list will assume that this is a world with known vampires. I wanted to give every player a little nugget of world knowledge just with the gear they get handed for free.

So you end up with this.

And I've done a whole new table as one of the ITO Remastered stretch goals, which really forced me to evaluate what makes a good starter package. 

Really you want to look at each of the (generally) three pieces of equipment individually, and then consider the package as a whole. And guess what? You're looking to hit three different notes.

• Useful
• Exciting
• Informative

Useful Equipment

It's easy to think of Into the Odd characters as down on their luck losers, scaping together whatever bits and pieces they can, and some of the starting equipment certainly points in that direction. In spite of this, we're still playing a game about exploration and problem solving, so no matter how humble the equipment, you're still presenting your players with tools that they can put to use. Some require more creativity than others, but that's just another thing we want to encourage.  

Exciting Equipment

Now maybe this is just me, but I get excited when I see my character starts the game with a pot of glue, or a pigeon, or a net. Of course the big flashy Arcana are exciting, but a lot of the gear in this table thrives on novelty, with Electric Bastionland going even harder in this direction. For those used to more typical D&D-style equipment, it's refreshing to get something weird or even just weirdly mundane. We want items that players will light up when they see, even if its laughing at the absurdity. Useful items are those that the players will find a use for; exciting items are those that the players will enjoy finding a use for. 

Informative Equipment

Good equipment tells you something about the world, and suggests things about your character. At the simplest level, weapons like muskets and bombs nudge you toward a certain set of assumptions, muddied by sitting alongside maces and shields. Weirder entries like "Glowing Eyes" and "Dreams show your undiscovered surroundings" set some of the tone for oddity existing everywhere. Some items imply something about your history, but I've avoided being too prescriptive here. Owning a set of manacles could imply wildly different things about your character's background, but the specific interpretation is up to you. 

The Complete Package

Now the real trick here is that not every part of the package needs to hit all three notes. Instead, you should aim for a package that hits them all when viewed as a whole. Sometimes it's all in the combinations. A dagger isn't that interesting alongside a spear, but it raises more questions next to a bag of sweets or syringe. 

Examples

So let's see how some of these new secret Starter Packages hold up under scrutiny. 

Useful: Your first weapon is always useful, so everybody generally gets one. Poison also fits, but the Bell is less obviously useful. 
Exciting: Poison is always exciting, and tying it to mushrooms gives it a twist on the classic vial with skull and crossbones. I guarantee the player that rolls this will try to get somebody to eat these within the first session. Again, the bell feels like a weak link, but it's all part of the plan. 
Informative: This one is really focused on asking questions about your character. The axe carries certain implications, but the bell is the real spark here. Despite being a super mundane item, it subtly nudges you toward a few different backgrounds. Town crier, of course, or perhaps some religious significance. It's wide open to anybody that would need to make a racket though, perhaps the classic "Bring Out Your Dead!" person. 

Useful: The weapon and Arcanum give this a solid 2/3, but I'll talk about the usefulness of the perfume in the next section. 
Exciting: Arcana are always exciting, so here we let it be the star of the show. Perfume might feel like a purely cosmetic item, but I think creative players will relish the challenge of finding a use for it down in some awful hellhole. 
Informative: In previous starter packages I've tried to avoid overly arcane words. If you're reading this blog then of course we know what a jezzail is, but never forget that we're not normal. For the Alternative Starter Packages I allowed myself a few words that might send players over to Wikipedia. With muskets appearing to be the standard, what does it mean that your character owns a more bespoke, uncommon type of gun? Combined with the perfume and Arcanum it implies a certain worldliness, or perhaps vanity. Lots of ways you could go with this one. 

Useful: Their weapon is bad, although does at least have some secondary function. The worms are certainly challenging and the odour is generally the opposite of useful. However, it's worth noting that this is a Starter Package for a character that has a stat of 18, so their usefulness is already innate in whatever natural talent they happen to possess. 
Exciting: Now maybe I'm strange, but I do enjoy getting this sort of entry. It's designed to prompt some laughter at the table, but again I think the jar of worms is simultaneously bad, but has just enough potential to be useful if you're clever about it. 
Informative: Not so much informative of the world, but there's no shortage of implication about your character here. Gardener? Fisher? Worm farmer? Just somebody that really likes worms?

To get your hands on the full game with the new Alternative Starter Packages, go and back Into the Odd Remastered on Kickstarter before the campaign closes this week!

Stretch Goal Teases

So now that Into the Odd Remastered has hit all of its stretch goals I've been working away at getting them finished up to go into the final book.

Thought now would be a good time to give a little preview of my plan for each of them. Obviously this will all get polished up by me and presented beautifully by Johan, but for now you'll just have to endure them in raw, coarse text.

For Hopesend I didn't want to just add more buildings and people to the town. Instead, as you'll see with all of the stretch goals, I wanted to add more content that would allow for a longer visit to the Fallen Marsh area, perhaps more of a self contained little campaign in itself rather than just a preface to getting to Bastion. But, I can't ignore the fact that Hopesend does exist, at least in part, to get the players over to the big city itself. 

The approach I'm taking, which should please both purposes is, a selection of ships that you'll find docked up in Hopesend each time you visit. They all offer the promise of passage to Bastion, but their crew and passengers spill out into Hopesend itself, giving it a slightly different flavour each time. 

As with so much of the content in this adventure location, things are painted in somewhat broad strokes to provide inspiration while leaving the fine details up to the Referee. Plenty of tables in the Oddpendium to help with that sort of thing. 

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HOPESEND - Arrivals from Bastion

At any given time at least two ships from Bastion will be docked here. They don’t stay long. 

Roll d12 for each. 

1: Wavebreaker - Black ironclad waging a one ship war against the sea itself. Press-ganging new crew for its labyrinthine engine decks. 

2: Ever Autumn - Wealthy tourists terminally affected by plague enjoy a scenic tour of the Northern Waters. They look out through sealed windows, their nurses out seeking souvenirs. 

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The Fallen Marsh already got a fair bit of expansion in the remaster, so for the extra spread I wanted to inject extra flavour and try to tie some of the more disparate elements together slightly. I realise this is dangerously close to adding canonical explanations for some of the stranger encounters, but I'm always prattling on about giving more information aren't I? This also doubles up as a way of giving some of the regular people you'll encounter on the marsh a bit of extra flavour and utility. In my experience, the Fallen Marsh really shines when you let the hex contents and random encounters really play off each other in unexpected ways, and this should help to encourage that. 

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FALLEN MARSH - Marsh Myths

Anybody you meet in the Fallen Marsh knows at least a few myths, and will share them if they like you or want to scare you. They speak in fragments and riddles, but it’s all true, and they’ll even point you in the right direction. 

Roll d12 for each person you meet.

1: The White Sanctuary, taken by a thing from the depths of the night sky. They tried fire, acid, guns, but it always grew back, taking our brothers and sisters out of spite. (see Hex 24)

2: The Metal Man fell from the night sky into the ocean. Dragging itself to land it carried the carcass of a great Leviathan, leaving it as a trophy of its power. (see Hex 18 and Encounter 11)

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And finally the Iron Coral itself obviously this is the one part that got a huge amount of extra stuff already, so I know I didn't just want to add more of the same. 

With the extra depths to explore, and more reason to dwell in the Fallen Marsh, I wanted to put something there for players that dare to return to the coral after their initial expedition. A little twist to make each visit slightly different and disorienting without being utter chaos. 

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IRON CORAL - Echoes of the Iron Coral

The Coral changes with each passing day. When you enter the coral for the first time on any day after the first roll a d6. The Slope down from Room 0 on Level 1 leads to this Echo instead of Room 1.

Any other passages leading to Room 1, Level 1 take you there as normal, and you can still exit via the slope up to Room 0.  

Echo 1: Whispering Water

Vast Lake (comfortably warm, salty, incomprehensible whispering)
Dark Ceiling (faint star-like lights, disappear if you get too close)
North: Slope (up to 0)
East: Sound of waves lapping against stone (to Level 2, Room 20)
Special: Passing through the lake allows you to speak with any water-dwelling creatures for the rest of the day. 

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Hope that gives a good sense of where this extra content is headed. If you haven't already then you can check out the full Kickstarter here.

Into the Odd Remastered is LIVE

And we're LIVE!

Click just about anywhere on this post to go to the Kickstarter page and get your copy of Into the Odd Remastered.

Born to Play, Doomed to Die

When a rule is born into one of my games it cries out as it draws first breath, and I look down with contempt. 

I do love the pathetic little thing, and I can't help but think of all the deeds it might accomplish, all the fun we could have together. 

Then I stop myself, lean to its ear, and whisper.

Tell me why I should let you live.

Going back to Into the Odd after Electric Bastionland has pushed me face-first into examining my rules. After so long explaining the changes in EB, I'm catapulted backwards to the ITO rules page, examining it with old eyes. Like Merlin living life in reverse, I can't unsee the future of this game. 

At least I thought Electric Bastionland was the future.

Into the Odd wouldn't sit back and retire. I kept hearing people talk about it, making hacks, choosing to play it over the new gigantic hardback. Just a scrappy underdog? No, people were actually explaining why they preferred this old game. They even preferred WIL to CHA!

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed the process of exhuming it and sending it to the tailor to be swaddled in finery. The plan was always for ITO to stick around as a smaller, quieter relative to EB, but I hadn't fully expected it to survive.

So approaching this project from a necromantic angle, the plan soon became to do a Remaster rather than a revision. Paying tribute to the original and presenting it in as authentic a revivification as possible, rather than trying to fix anything about it. A shimmering ghost representing their ideal form, rather than a monstrous marvel of forbidden engineering.

Of course there were genuine problems. Wordings could be improved, and I was never fully happy with the included Arcana, so they all got some attention. I knew I wanted to put some extra content in there, so brand new Arcana were added to the heap, the Oddpendium got beefed up slightly, and the Iron Coral exploded into rampant growth, now a fully blown dungeon worthy of your expedition. 

Then I looked to Electric Bastionland, its neon lights always tempting me. I could add in the Scars table but... then I'd have to change the advancement rules and... NO, show some respect! I throw my EB book out of the window and I hear paving slabs shattering. 

But I do indulge a little. Rules that have fought hard for their place are granted access. Deprived is my golden child, ushered fawningly to the table. They're so well behaved, always there when you need them but never in the way. Bulky comes with them. Sure, they're not quite as well-groomed, and sometimes I even forget their birthday, but we've got room for one more.

Wait. Do we have enough room at the table? 

We do, but isn't it always nice to be able to stretch your legs? I sharpen my axe.

I see some misshapen figures tucked on the far corner. They look comfortable, but I've been watching them for a while.

Swap any two Ability Scores after rolling gets it first. I suspect they knew this was coming, as I never really spoke to them for long after they arrived.

Make a WIL Save to bend an Arcanum to your will gets the second chop. Where their sibling was forgettable, they were rowdy and disruptive, and not in the good way. I had to re-engineer my bone magnet because of them.

Two in, two out.

I put my axe away. Now we can play. 

Into the Odd Remastered

WATCH THIS then come back

Into the Odd is reborn. 

The remastered version of the 2014 TTRPG revisits Industrial Bastionland, giving the original Into the Odd a lavish hardback, full-colour restoration with expanded content. 

The book is written by Chris McDowall (Electric Bastionland) with graphic design by Johan Nohr (MÖRK BORG) and will be printed and distributed by Free League Publishing (Tales from the Loop, The One Ring, Forbidden Lands).

More details to be revealed over the next few weeks.

FOLLOW on Kickstarter

Launching 21st September 2021

Into the Odd Announcement

UPDATE: Find out what's happening with Into the Odd here.

After August 31st, the current version of Into the Odd will no longer be available to buy in print or pdf, so this is your last opportunity to pick it up!

There will be an announcement here on bastionland.com on September 1st regarding the future of Into the Odd. 

Monster Design from Classics - The Lich

The Cocktail Codex makes the bold claim that there are only six cocktails, with all recipes able to be linked at least tangentially to one of these root recipes. So a Martini is defined by the relationship between spirit (gin) and aromatised wine (vermouth), so a Manhattan is simply a relative that uses whiskey instead of gin, sweet vermouth in place of dry, and bitters added for seasoning the added sweetness. 

So what’s the point of all this beyond theory and list-making? It’s really an exercise to demonstrate how new recipes can be created around classic structures, and understanding how to make changes without screwing up what makes the classic work.

Can we do the same for Monsters? It’s not a perfect fit, but let’s try one.

The Lich

The Classic
While dark wizards might seem like the true root, Liches feel much more iconic to me.

Lich
STR 7, DEX 7, CHA 18, 15hp. Ceremonial Dagger (d6), Lots of Spells.

The Orthodoxy

• Great magical powers
• Physically weak
• Themes of greed and immortality

Experimenting with the Core

In this case the core of the Lich is its magical powers, which contrast its physical weakness.

We can move the focus to Psionics we get the Mind Flayer.

We can tighten down the magic powers to single extraordinary ability to give us the Medusa, Doppleganger, Dryad, and even the Rust Monster.

We can keep things closer to arcane magic and focus on a particular school to get classics like the evil Necromancer.

You can tip the balance slightly, giving them more modest magical powers in exchange for appearing in greater numbers and being a touch more hardy to get Drow and Gnomes that still rely on magic and trickery over their swords.

And of course the point of this is to help us create new monsters, so what if we focused on Summoning Magic?

The Elemental Conduit
STR 7, DEX 7, CHA 18. 12hp.

• An elemental cultist that has given up their sapience to become a channel for elemental beings to enter our plane. 
• They are humanoid but clearly made up of chunks of raw elements barely held together.
• They want everything to return to raw elemental chaos, and can summon elementals at will. 

Experimenting with the Balance

The Lich's power is balanced by its weak physical form, classically a skeleton but sometimes taken to the demilich extreme of just a skull.

Another extreme take is going for the Brain in a Jar.

Giving the Lich a ghost form keeps them unable to have much physical impact, but gives them the added power of being immaterial, so you should pull back on their magical powers if you go in this direction.

The balance doesn’t have to be physical weakness, but could be other forms of physical restriction. An Aboleth is physically large but bound to water, and limited on where it can move. Some types of Demon or Devil can fit into the Lich mould but they can be banished to their home or otherwise controlled by magic. Vampires have a similar combination of physical power with serious weaknesses to balance their magical abilities.

So let’s make a new creation where the physical weakness is replaced with stupidity and a vulnerability.

Tome Golem
STR 15, DEX 5, CHA 5. D8 Smash. Lots of Spells.

• Literally made out of spellbooks but doesn’t really understand them. Throws a random spell out in anger if provoked.
• Drawn to absorb more spell tomes into its form.
• Extremely flammable (any fire attacks get +d12). 

Experimenting with the Seasoning

The Seasoning is what binds the core and the balance together. A Lich that knows lots of spells but is physically weak isn’t interesting enough to throw into your game, but if they’re the last devotee of an ancient religion or the vain Prince of a ruined kingdom then you’ve got something to grip onto, a reason why they’re the way they are.

Most of the variants above change the seasoning from the classic, but let’s see if we can keep everything else the same.

Eternal Apprentice
STR 7, DEX 7, CHA 18. 16hp. Dagger (d6), Lots of Spells.

• Doomed to eternally wander the tomb of their truly dead master, tidying up, checking everything is in order, sweeping the floor.
• Can channel the power of their master if needed, but is woefully lacking in confidence and constantly scared of using the wrong spell.
• Their spirit is released if the master’s corpse is destroyed.

A Stocking of Oddities

Work continues on Electric Bastionland layout, editing, and same as every year I face an avalanche of work and social commitments in buildup to Christmas.

Expect a return to more frequent posts in the New Year, including a full update on the state of the upcoming Electric Bastionland crowdfunding campaign.

In the meantime, if you ever wanted a book built on Into the Odd's rules, but replacing my peasant-words with Patrick Stuart's artfully crafted prose, with some of the most fascinating art I've seen in any RPG product, you should go and back SILENT TITANS on Kickstarter right now.

Let's do some loosely Festive Oddities for your stocking to tide you over until January.

 Reindeer Bone

A shard of red bone carved into a spike (d6 damage). By using a mental trigger the wielder can have the spike fly forward at high speed, carrying them with it (d8 to anybody in the path) but it only stops when it hits something solid (d8 damage to the wielder). The wielder cannot let go once it is flying and cannot change the direction.

The Darkest Wolf
8hp, Two d6 Claws or d8 Bite. 

• An almost entirely black wolf roaming on its hind legs and howling out challenges. 
• Hates all traditionally "good" animals such as dogs, eagles, and deer. 
• Compelled to obey spiders, ravens, snakes, or other animals that are considered evil or dark in character.

The Number Song

An effectively infinite song with nonsense lyrics that everybody subconsciously knows the words to. Once you start you can't stop until somebody willingly joins in and takes over the song from you.

Flesh Gorger

A red, cucumber sized leech that sleeps if left in a bag or pocket. Can be violently shaken to rouse it into a feeding rage. It will latch onto the next thing it can (targets get a DEX save, if they pass it latches onto you instead) and start to devour them for d8 damage each turn until removed (STR save). Easily removed by fire, ignores all other physical harm, regenerating itself while it is attached.

Mercy Hawk
6hp, STR 5, d6 Claws.

• Trained hunting bird, skilfully catches its prey without leaving lasting damage. 
• Will show the prey to their owner before releasing them. 
• Turns on its owner if they refuse to show mercy. 

Wishing Star

A large white flower that blooms for just a few days each year. When made into a tea it works as a powerful hallucinogen, showing the drinker's most desired wishes coming true. When they return to normal they will find a small object on their person that they dragged out of the fantasy.

Repeater Globe

A room-sized glass dome filled with artificial snow. When powered up, anybody inside is covered in a blizzard and transported back to one day in their life. They relive this day as a passenger in their consciousness, unable to change the past, but can view every detail of the day.

The Poverty Prayer

A sickly-sweet rhyme about how being poor and hungry lets you truly appreciate your family and faith. A victim's name is invoked at the end of the prayer, and over the next three days they lose all of their wealth. However, if the victim embraces their poverty with good spirit the praying-individual will be stricken with disease in return.

See you all in January!

Ritualising D&D Spells

I like the idea of spells that draw upon more concrete requirements than "Wizard, Level 4" or "3 uses per day".

Imagine Spells that any character can attempt, provided they learn about it and jump through the required in-world hoops.

I'm taking the spell list from Swords & Wizardry (from here because it's the easiest for me to work through) and seeing how they could be turned into Rituals.

The main consideration here is that this changes the spell by:

• Making it usable by any person, no level restrictions.
• Giving it a method or other means of restricting its use.
• Keeping things system agnostic.
• Making the spell more outright interesting while we're in there.

Here are some examples. I'm drawing on with spells beginning with A, but this is in no way a commitment to me re-writing every spell this way. 

Waking the Servant (Aerial Servant)

• Ring bell of pure silver in the smoke of plants grown on a grave
• Whisper a passage from a tome dependent on the current phase of the moon.
• Command the bound spirit to fetch one thing up to the weight of a Horse. 
• If the spirit cannot bring the object, the object is not the commander's legal property, or a command is not given within a few seconds, it goes insane and attacks whoever rang the bell until they are incapacitated (d10 crushing grasp, 5hp, immune to physical attacks). 

Feral Rebirth (Animal Growth)

• Gather a number of creatures of the same breed equal to twice the normal litter size.
• Pack the creatures into a wicker cage with no space left.
• Cry out to the creatures in their own tongue. 
• Shower the creatures in the blood of their predator or prey. 
• Light the cage on fire.
• The creatures will spring forth twice as strong and resilient and utterly feral until death. 

Invasive Species (Animal Summoning)

• Wear the skin of a creature native to this area.
• Use the blood of this creature to draw a symbolic representation of another animal on a natural surface (tree, cave wall etc).
• The ritual calls forth a chosen creature not native to this area. The limit is one creature larger than a man, or three animals smaller than a man.
• They burst out of the surface marked with the symbols. The animals obey the caster’s commands and nothing else, having lost all their natural instinct.

Death Spirits (Animate Dead)

• In a graveyard, or site of a massacre or battle, perform an hour long poem and dance, remaining hooded and uninterrupted throughout.
• Note that the site need not actually contain corpses.
• After the initial hour, d12 Skeletons burst from the ground, and another d6 every hour left uninterrupted. If a 1 is rolled then no more corpses will appear and the site is dry of death energy. 
• These creatures are minor spirits of death, not actual reanimated corpses, so they will serve you as long as it involves death.

Imbue with Soul (Animate Object)

• Take one inanimate object that serves a function in a house, ie a chair, rug, or grandfather clock. 
• Combine the entire hair of a crafts-person skilled in making that object into the wax of a candle. 
• Light the candle and loudly chastise the object for not serving well. 
• The animated object follows any commands as long as the candle burns, after which they return to inanimate. 

Stone Child (Animate Rock)

• An area of natural, unshapen rock must be cleared of any loose stone, debris, gravel. 
• A stone formed in the last day (commonly from magma) is ground to dust, formed into a paste with milk and spread over the area. 
• The name of one of the Stone Children (there are twelve, guarded by druids) is called out repeatedly, then the ground struck with a pick to form a crack.
• A shambling, 10ft tall stone elemental is born out of the ground. The elemental acts like a confused toddler, but has great strength. They can be easily influenced, but you have no real control over them. 

Scare-Circle (Anti-Animal Ward)

• Lay out a 10ft circle of copper sticks during daylight and splash with clove-steeped alcohol. 
• No animal (normal or giant) can enter the circle unless being carried by a human or similar. 
• Animals within the circle cower and submit, and cannot leave without being carried. 
• Non-animals can pass through the circle without effect, and removing even a single stick breaks its power. 

Three Step Dungeons

I recently ran a group through the start of the Tomb of the Serpent King, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My dungeons often end up as ultra-non-linear piles of weird toys with a notable lack of anything that's an outright hazard or reward, and definite lack of a climax.

Sometimes it's nice to pull yourself a little closer to sanity, so I'm going to write a small dungeon that teaches players about its more unusual concepts as they are introduced, with a focus on leading towards a challenge for a reward, and multiple opportunities for an end-of-session climax.

In doing that I created a sort of procedure, because of course I did.

The Three Step Process:

1. Introduce First Concept
2. Introduce Second Concept
3. Challenge involving both concepts and an additional twist, typically with a reward. 

Concepts

First think of a bunch of interesting concepts you want to include in your dungeon. They can be monsters, items, hazards, or anything between.

You don’t really need to include things that are dead simple like “skeleton warriors” or “pit traps” but if you plan on putting a twist on them then add them in too. You can also skip out anything that has no real element of danger, say a crystal ball that lets you see other areas of the dungeon.

For this example let’s steal some fun stuff from other dungeons. Forget making a coherent theme for this, we’re just looking at how we would introduce these concepts.

• The Green Devil Face
• Wraiths
• Portal Gun
• Crossbow Snipers
• Smoke Elementals
• Reserve-Gravity
• Quicksand

And we’ll be introducing them two at a time. This could be a small dungeon that only introduces two new concepts, or a sprawling dungeon comprised of smaller sections that each focus on two concepts.

The Introductions

Ideally this is an opportunity for the players to get information about the concept in a mostly safe way before it really challenges them. It needn't even be a direct encounter, the common example being a statuary that introduces the presence of a Medusa.

For the Reverse Gravity example you’d have a Reverse-Gravity room with one majorly obvious hazard so that they can get used to how it works, and the Sniper would be introduced as a lone sniper in an area with plenty of cover, and make them immediately visible (even if not immediately accessible). The Intro and the Challenge could even feature the same individual monster encountered in two separate environments, if the Intro leans towards a non-hostile introduction.

I lean pretty heavily into giving lots of information, so you may find that less works for your group.

The Challenge
Sometimes just combining the two concepts is enough, but usually it’s better to add something else in. Some ideas could be:

• A beefed up version of the regular concept. 
• Adding an “opposite” element to the monster, such as a hyper-intelligent variant of a previously dumb monster, or a pacifist version of a hostile monster. 
• Adding a load of basic monsters.
• An environment that makes things more difficult for the players. 
• A restriction on how the players can act.
• Removing a safety net that was previously in place.
• Remember to put a reward in there, Treasure being the most obvious but even just passage to a new area would work. 

Adding Extra Stuff

If you go straight from concept one to concept two to a combination of both it can end up feeling quite game-y, like you're playing a Megaman level that's built around new enemies rather than a real place you're exploring. This isn’t a bad thing if that’s what you want, but if you want things to feel more organic then consider that a Three Step Dungeon need not be a Three Room Dungeon:

• You can have simpler areas in between that don’t require introductions or just give some clues for the larger dungeon. 
• You can include basic elements that don’t require explanation or previously introduced concepts. 
• You can have nonlinear layout but keep the Introductions on the “main path” as best you can. 

Example- Wraiths in the Quickbog

We’ll assume this is a branch off a larger dungeon, linear except room 4 which branches off from room 3 as a dead end.

1. Wraith (Intro 1) patrolling a hedge maze. 
2. Precarious ladder. 
3. Ghouls (let’s say these are civilised Ghouls, so more NPC than monster) hanging around Quickbog Patch (Intro 2). It's quicksand but gross and boggy. 
4. Ghoul shrine (mostly just some fluff and to give the Ghouls a bit more territory to roam)
5. Flooded cavern
6. Treasure being guarded by three Wraiths, surrounded by Quickbog (Challenge)

This is all very vanilla so go back through and add another layer of detail on top. A nice trick is to add an unexpected or opposite element, rather than just adding another layer of the same coloured paint.

1. Wraith patrolling a hedge maze is a pathetic lonely outcast looking for friends, but can’t help inflicting its chill touch. 
2. Precarious ladder leads down a shaft, Ghoul Graffiti covers the walls and it’s mostly terrible poetry. 
3. Ghouls hanging around Quickbog patch. They’re having a banquet, half sunk in the bog themselves, and arguing over which of them is going to give themselves up as the main course. 
4. Ghoul shrine. The altar has a valuable crystal skull and the Ghouls say anybody that takes it is cursed. 
5. Flooded cavern. A ghoul is chained to the bottom, doomed to drown forever. If rescued they reveal themselves to be a life-worshipping Ghoul-Heretic. 
6. Treasure being guarded by three Wraiths, surrounded by Quickbog. The treasure is a helmet being worn by one of the Wraiths, the other two are jealous. 

Now what's happened is the Ghouls have almost ended up being too interesting to count as a basic element, but I figure they're fine if they're mostly interested in their own affairs, not hostile to the characters. 

Knock out a handful of these Three-Step Dungeons, have them branch off a hub area or lead into each other, and you've got yourself a decently sized dungeon ready for your next game.

It might look like this:

I messed up some of the labels in that diagram, but you get the point.

Each boxed-off section represents a Three Step Dungeon, with our example being D2. The hubs and "fluff" sections in between can still be fun, but they should either be safer areas or deal with simpler concepts that don't need introduction.

Oh and I should write up those monsters at least:

Wraith
10hp (immune to physical damage). Chilling Touch (d10, ignores Armour)

• Repelled by light or fire. 
• Mostly want their tombs to be left alone. 
• When a victim takes Critical Damage they will continue to drain them until they reach STR 0 and become a Wraith.

Civilised Ghoul

3hp, Claws (d6. Critical Damage: Bite to paralyse and drag away), Surprisingly Fancy Clothes. 

• Revel in the macabre.
• Fetishise death but have no appetite for killing. 
• Try to maintain their humanity in spite of their horrible lives. 

Encouraging Scheming

Planning and preparing can be fun parts of the game, but how do you encourage that with a loosey-goosey system like Into the Odd?

Necessity to Plan

If you can take on any problem head-on then there's little need to plan.

Brand new characters vs a thug with a club? It's probably just a fight.

Same characters vs a Giant? Planning is the only way to succeed.

The most straightforward way to do this to throw in one huge, seemingly impassible obstacle to the most obvious solution, and announce it in plenty of time to react.

Examples: 

• A dungeon where a force-field blocks all non-organic matter.
• A big metal monster, completely impervious to physical harm.  
• You need to get past a field but it's patrolled by jerky guards riding giant birds. They'll just hover and shoot at you if you try to get through. 

Opportunity to Plan

If you can't observe the bank or get hold of floorplans then it's difficult to have an exciting heist. Keep the difficulty high but give them as much information as they can take. Most importantly, for things that are really difficult, consider how much time pressure you're applying. If the only chance to rob the bank is right now then planning won't be an option. If the ideal window is in a week's time then you can really dig into the scheme.

Examples:

• This terrible monster attacks every other night. 
• Your assassination target recently sacked a huge number of staff. They have information and grudges. 
• You have the travel diary of the last explorer to visit a distant island full of Treasure. 

Ingredients for the Plan

I'm obviously biased towards interesting equipment over interesting character abilities, but both work here. If your wizard spell list is "Fireball, Magic Missile, Lightning Bolt, Sleep" then you could have an okay heist, but it's probably going to be more of a head-on assault.
If it's "Charm Person, Floating Disc, Summon Toads, Change Weather" then you're going to have to get clever, but the result will be more fun.

Likewise, if you're running Into the Odd then make sure the players have access to weird, non-obvious tools. Oddities are great here, but make sure you've got shops selling all sorts of specialist items.

Examples: 

• The players get a voucher worth £100, but it can only be used at an elaborate pet shop.
• A wealthy benefactor offers the complete service of his staff on your expedition, but they're mostly just house servants. 
• A gifted inventor can create any electrical device you can imagine, but the more useful it is the more bulky and unreliable. 

The ICI Doctrine: Information, Choice, Impact

Doctrine might be a bit strong.

Still, I'm trying to keep these three words in my head whenever I'm planning or running a game. They're the three-beat tempo of a game, even if you aren't thinking about it. Slacking on any one of them can result in a worse game. Get them all spot on and things will feel just right.

They're everything that's great about tabletop RPGs. Everything that sets them apart from video games, board games, novels, can be found in this, the spine of gameplay.

It all comes back to Player Agency, but I find it useful to break things down into threes.

Information

In RPGs, questions are gameplay.

I guess this is the hill I want to die on. I've written about it in relation to traps before, but it's applicable to the rest of the game too. *clears throat*

Players cannot make a proper choice unless they have enough information!

Knowledge and Perception Rolls are the worst offenders of not understanding the importance of Information. When I see them in use I just wonder what could be lost by just giving the players the information?

I want players to imagine the situation their characters are in and think of a clever solution. Asking for more information should be rewarded! If they ask smart questions I give them great answers.

Whatever you're planning, think in advance about how you're going to present it to the players, and how you're going to give them enough information to make a proper choice.

Choice

No easy decisions.

This one is the most difficult to just insert directly. For there to be a proper Choice, there have to be multiple actions the players can choose between, and deciding between them shouldn't be easy.

This is really the glue between Information and Impact. Get those two right and this will often fall into place, but you still need to make sure your world supports multiple solutions to problems.

Look at your prep and try to identify the decision points the players will come across. Left or right at this junction? How do we get past this broken guard robot? How can we trust these shady mercenaries? If any of them have one really obvious solution then you need to make the situation more interesting!

One always-hostile orc guarding a chest isn't a decision point. You kill the orc and take the Treasure. Give the Orc a death ray, make him sympathetic just trying to hold down a job, or give him an alarm he can pull to bring the whole army down on you. Now you've got a Choice.

Impact

Everything you do matters.

I used to call this section Consequences but it felt negative-leaning, and Impact fits so well after reading Arnold's post on the topic.

Essentially, when your players have made a choice, things should happen so that they look back and think "huh, we did that!".

Maybe they regret it, maybe they're proud of themselves, maybe they just wonder how things could have been different.

My vice is making players feel guilty for killing some innocent monster or screwing over an NPC, so I ham it up real good. They always remember that, because it's over-the-top emotional silliness, but they know that they did it. I've seen players feel more strongly about killing an NPC than losing their own character to death.

This is the payoff for everything before this point, and without it your game is going to feel flat.

The Referee is a Game Designer

From the Oddendum of Electric Bastionland

This game does not have rules for everything. You can use normal conversation in combinations with the rules of the game to adjudicate most situations, but eventually you’re going to want to create a new mechanic for your game. It might be for a particularly unusual monster, or a situation beyond the general scope of Treasure Hunting.

This is inevitable. When running the game, you’re also taking on the role of game designer.

First, think whether you need to create something new. Could this be handled as a Dilemma? Could you use a Luck Roll or a Save? Maybe you can just let it happen based on common sense?

If you definitely want to create a new mechanic or rule, try to make it:

• Simple
• Transparent
• Decisive

Simplicity

Into the Odd was created out of a desire for simplicity. I wanted to strip back as many rules as I could without damaging the core of gameplay. It’s easy to look at the system and decide to add in a few house-rules here, a class system there, maybe tweak something you think is unrealistic, and before you know it the whole table is spending more time interacting with the rules than the situation the characters are in.

I like the game to be playable by somebody that hasn’t read a word of the rules. You can explain Saves to them, and how Damage works, then you’re good to go five minutes after they sat down.

Try and keep this level of simplicity. Keep the following in mind:

• The players should be able to carry on playing without learning your new rule.
• Consider if multiple rolls can be made into one roll.
• Consider if a single roll needs to exist at all. Could it be a decision instead?
• Will this rule end up taking more time than we want to spend resolving the situation at hand?

Transparency

A great rule should have results that the players expect without them having to learn anything new. If it feels like it should be a 50/50 shot, then a good rule will reflect this. If your rule ends up giving a 10% chance of success instead, it’s going to feel off.

If the players are expecting a 50/50 shot, and you feel it should only be a 10% chance, make sure they know that going in. They can only make an informed decision if they understand what sort of chances of success they have.

Decisiveness

You’ve gone to the effort of creating a new mechanic, so it should have clear and decisive results. Don’t make your work all for nothing!

Most mechanics come down to Risk vs Reward. Make both more impactful than you’d imagine.

Example

For whatever reason, the characters have entered a Cocktail Mixing Contest.

A straight dilemma doesn’t feel quite right here.

Saves don’t really work on their own, or even Luck Rolls. You want it to be a bit more involved.

Let’s make something new, aiming for Simplicity, Transparency, and Decisiveness.

Because the characters’ Ability Scores don’t really factor into this (arguably DEX, but I don’t want it to just come down to who has the highest score) I’m going to base this around the Luck Roll and a choice of how risky to go with the recipe.

Adding more dice to a roll and keeping the highest or lowest single die is a nice safe way of shifting chance of success without shifting the range of results, so let's use that here. 

The contest has three rounds. For each round the contestants can choose to mix:

• A Classic – Roll 2d6 and keep the highest.
• A Twist on a Classic – Roll 1d6.
• Something Crazy – Roll 1d4.

If they have an extra trick up their sleeve like a secret ingredient, add another die to their roll but only keep the highest single die. If they specifically have a background in this sort of thing then add another die.

Cocktail Contest

1: Blunder This thing is beyond saving. Zero stars!

2-3: Something’s Wrong Do you have an emergency fix? If so, you can still make it Good (see below) otherwise you just get 1 star this round.

4-6: It’s Good! It came out well! Score 3 Stars for a Classic, 4 for a Twist, 5 for Something Crazy.

Highest total stars after 3 rounds wins. On a tie break come up with a dramatic showdown.

Dragons for You, Not Me

Bastionland is essentially built on a single infinite dungeon, but Dragons have never been a part of it.

In Electric Bastionland there's the implication that some alien beings have settled in Deep Country as petty gods or monsters of legend, but I don't think I'd ever put a straight up Dragon into that slot.

Which is a shame, because Dragons embody a lot of what makes for a great fight.

• Mobility: Usually flight.
• Ability to take on groups: Multiple melee attacks and an area-effect breath weapon.
• Environmental links: Even the standard D&D colours mostly have something that takes them beyond being a big dumb monster disconnected from its surroundings.

Roll d6 three times to get a Dragon that might not make much sense in Bastionland. Assign it an Environment based on where you need it to be. Mountaintop, dungeon, jungle, ocean, they all work. 

Basic Dragon Template

STR 18, 15hp, Armour 2. 

Claws and Tail (d10, targets all surrounding opponents) or Bite (d12). 

Mobility

1. Glide on giant bat wings, but can only crawl clumsily on land.
2. Burrow through ground like a landshark.
3. Slither into shadows, popping out from any other shadow large enough.
4. Charge around like a juggernaut, smashing through anything.
5. Float gracefully through the air with perfect control.
6. Climb and leap great distances.

Breath Weapon

1. FIRE but roll again because that's not enough.
1. Green fire that can be manipulated into shapes and illusions.
2. Black fire that only harms living matter.
3. Blue fire that holds you in place while it burns you (STR Save to escape)
4. Pink fire that sticks to you and cannot be extinguished unless the dragon wills it. 
5. White fire that only burns non-living matter.
6. Golden fire that causes all the pain of burning, but no physical damage.
2. Choking smoke that makes the air unbreathable. Lost d6 STR each turn you stay in.
3. Clouds that stick around and flash with lightning (d10, ignore Armour)
4. Dirt, mountains of it. No damage but you're buried.
5. Sonic blasts that throw things away (d8 damage) and shatter hard objects. 
6. Lava that pools around (d12 damage)

Environmental Link

1. Animates the bulk matter of its environment into animated servitors. 
2. Devours its environment, always seeking its next home. 
3. Literally made out of its environment, born out of nature as its avatar.  
4. Trapped in it. Everything about its environment will fight to keep the dragon there. 
5. Worships it, despite its indifference, and fiercely fights any perceived threat. 
6. It was all created by the dragon. In addition to its normal breath it can conjure up whatever matter is needed to make more of its environment.

A Player's Handbook

A brief player's strategy guide for Into the Odd, specifically Electric Bastionland.

Welcome to Electric Bastionland.

Your Character
Ability scores are secondary to your choices. A good player with an awful character will succeed more often than a poor player with a great character.

Your character will have certain things to work with. They might not even appear as obvious strengths, but they're your tools to make the most of. If you rolled a character with a knack for impersonations and a bucket of glue, start thinking of how you can put them to use.

Exploring
While exploring a dangerous environment, the most important tool you have is Asking Questions. Using this tool well is the key to survival and finding Treasure.

When the Referee describes something to you, it's safe to assume that there is more useful information waiting to be found. Ask specific questions to try and get to information you need.

Sooner or later you'll hit an obstacle that stands between you and the Treasure you crave.

Talking
If it's an option, talking your way through an obstacle is usually the safest option. Use the conversation as a means to mine the non-player character for information, find out how you can help each other, and potentially identify weaknesses for if things turn sour.

Sneaking
If you can't talk your way past, sneaking or other ways of bypassing the obstacle are a good second choice. You might need to distract watching eyes, steal a key, or come back later, but you might not have to even draw your sword if you plan things correctly.

Fighting
Combat is always a choice, and if you want to survive it will usually be your last-choice.

If you have the choice whether or not to initiate combat, consider whether the reward outweighs the the risk. Even if the combat was thrust upon you, there is rarely a necessity to fight to the death.

If you're determined to go through with a combat, you can make sure it's on your terms by:

• Gathering as much information on your opponent as possible, ensuring you aren't underestimating them.
• Gain the numerical advantage by isolating a target, or dividing large groups, while ensuring you have as many allies as possible.
• Seize the initiative by striking first or from a position where the opponent cannot easily fight back.
• Focus on the actual objective of the combat. Are you just trying to drive a target away, steal something from them, or do they absolutely have to die? Once that objective is complete, you might be best off withdrawing.

Weapons
Understanding the different weapons at your disposal will help you weigh up your chances of victory.

Don't underestimate the difference between d6 and d8 damage. Stepping up the die by one size is roughly equivalent to getting +1 to your roll. If you add in multiple allies attacking the same target over multiple rounds then the difference is even more significant.

Ranged Weapons are ideal if you can keep your target at a distance, but you can find yourself in trouble if your opponent engages you in melee and all you have is a rifle.

Blast weapons are incredibly potent, able to take out multiple opponents in a way that normal weapons simply cannot. It's expensive to get a Blast weapon you can use regularly, but Bombs are useful to keep for the times you really need them. Use them as often as you can and watch out for opponents using them.

The best weapon you can use is one that bypasses the combat entirely. Poison their water, set fires, or trap them in cave-ins.

Armour
Wearing Armour 1 is roughly equivalent to reducing your attacker's damage by one die type (ie d8 to d6). There's very little argument against wearing Armour if you can afford it!

Risk vs Reward
The Treasure you're currently looking for isn't the only Treasure in the world. Is it really worth this level of risk? Remember, heading in a different direction is always an option. Or maybe you can just try an entirely different approach. Get a loan and hire some help? Come at the Treasure from another direction? Create a forgery?

The Core of the Game
Remember that there is a three-part sequence at the heart of the game.

INFORMATION: Gather as much of it as you can. Always be asking questions.

CHOICE: Remember there are always more options than are immediately apparrent.

CONSEQUENCES: After you've made your choice, make the most of the consequences.

Good luck!

34 Good Traps

My measure of a good trap:

At least one part of it is immediately visible. 

It allows interaction and investigation.

it has impactful consequences for the victim. 

I've gone on before about the three pillars of running a good game (Information, Choice, Consequences) and you'll notice they match up with these three points.

In short, your trap should have room for interesting interaction between "oh, a trap!" and "I'm dead". The trap doesn't have to announce itself immediately, it can even "trap" the players before announcing itself as long as there's still room for interaction beyond that.

You can break the rules if it's connected to the theme of your specific scenario. Like your Tomb of Horrors style deathtrap dungeon might be full of hidden traps that don't announce themselves, but you're breaking that rule as a specific exception for this particular dungeon. If you're going to do this, make sure the payoff is worth breaking the rule for.

Context is also important. You don't just stick a trap in a corridor and call it a day. Connect the trap to its location, most typically a passageway to somewhere desirable, a piece of treasure, or link it in with a monster. You wouldn't just drop a monster into an empty room, so give trap placement the same level of consideration.

I blur the line between Puzzles and Traps a lot, but here I'm sticking to things that are placed deliberately to impair intruders, with nasty consequences.

So here are 34 good, simple traps. Some classics that meet the benchmark, some new stuff I just made up, some lodged in my brain but originally stolen. 

1. Open pit onto deadly spikes. Both sides of the pit are sloped into it and greased up.
2. Concealed pit into piranha-filled water.
3. Metal sword audibly humming, hooked up to electric charge.
4. Green Devil Face with gaping mouth. Anything going into the mouth is annihilated. 
5. A fishing rod propped up and cast into a lake. The rod is covered in fast-acting glue and tension on the line triggers a springboard beneath the victim, casting them into the lake.
6. A column of light. When a being enters they are frozen, and an evil duplicate of them is conjured. The victim is only freed when the duplicate is killed.
7. Walls dotted with arrow-slots. Any movement in front of them fires the arrow, but each hole only has one arrow.
8. Upside-down spiked pit on the ceiling. Gravity is reversed under the pit. 
9. Clusters of bright orange fungus growing on one or more corpses. Any disturbance triggers a deadly spore explosion. 
10. Glass vials of green slime hung from a ceiling, a guard with a crossbow watching from behind a barricade.
11. Two panes of glass blocking passage, filled with deadly bugs. 
12. Shimmering, thick air that slows all movement down to a quarter of normal. Guards with missile weapons waiting around the corner.
13. Glossy, friction-less floor and spiked walls.
14. A metal room filled with crushed remains, visible moving parts to floor, and a sealed door leading forward. Two buttons. One opens the door, the other seals all doors and commences the crushing process.
15. A peephole blocked up with glass fragments. Breaking the fragments releases a toxic gas.
16. Giant chomping blade that must be passed through to progress. Visible pressure plate on either side. Blades are triggered when a pressure plate is released, unless the other plate is also depressed. Going slow poses no risk. 
17. Stuck door with a gold snake-head handle. The handle will bite and poison anybody putting their hand near, unless they slip a coin into its mouth, allowing safe passage through the door.
18. Disguised springboard, launching the victim straight up into the air. There is a hanging bar they can grab to avoid the fall, but weight on the bar triggers the release of giant spiders onto it, and rained down onto anyone below.
19. Room dusted with a deadly white powder. Any rapid movement disturbs the powder, sending it into the air and then the lungs of anybody breathing nearby. Hidden pressure plate in the center of the room triggers a loud siren, alerting any nearby threats.
20. Locked door, key visible in a stinky fountain. The liquid is fast-acting acid, the key made from a special resistant ceramic.
21. Rope bridge primed to split in the middle when the majority of the crossing weight has passed the mid-point. The characters can grab their half of the bridge and climb back up easily enough.
22. Damp, underwater tunnel with glowing treasure at a visible dead end. A pressure plate halfway through triggers flooding of the tunnel. A normal human could get back to the tunnel exit with breath to spare, but not if they try to grab the treasure first. 
23. Two doors in sequence. First sprays anybody passing through with highly flammable liquid. Second spits out a flash of flame, harmless on its own but enough to ignite the liquid.
24. Sloped walkway in a freezing cold room. Pressure plate halfway up releases a flood of water down the slope, freezing near instantly. 
25. Haunted pots, audible screaming within, placed on wobbly plinths on an uneven floor. Any sort of weight on the floor is sure to release at least one angry wraith.
26. Pool of lava, a metal idol partially submerged in the center. It's glowing hot, but valuable.
27. Big metal skull with a gem in its open, toothy mouth. Obviously it bites anything put inside.
28. Quicksand, just like in cartoons. 
29. Giant spider lair, huge boulders suspended in the highest webs. Too much disturbance might release a boulder, fire will definitely release them all.
30. Bear trap.
31. Sealed door with two identical handles on the adjacent wall. One releases snakes from above, the other opens the door. 
32. Hidden jet spraying you with disgusting smelling liquid. Not harmful in itself, but might attract scent-based creatures or warn inhabitants that you've been poking around where you shouldn't have.
33. Pressure plate triggers part of the floor to move down, slowly transporting the victim into the now-visible lair of a horrible monster. 
34. Giant cauldron filled with treasure. Any weight added to the cauldron causes the lid to slam shut and a fire to spark to life underneath it.

Expose your Prep

You've probably heard the phrase "attack every part of the character sheet" from Arnold K. Let's flip that and see how the players can capitalise on every bit of your prep.

I find that the crime of giving too much information is minor in comparison to the heinous crime of giving too little information. I lead with a good chunk of info, give good answers to good questions, and I want to give even more if the players are crafty.

So what should you do to reward these exceptional player actions?

Expose the Map
I like giving the group a blank map anyway. For the most part I don't consider mapping a strong part of the challenge of my games, so I'd rather the players be tested other ways. It cuts down on a lot of time spent describing the spatial relationship between doors or sketching out rough drawings on paper.

But if the players find somebody that knows their stuff, let them have a partial or full map! If your environments are so lame that having the map negates all challenge then it's time to crank up your adventure location design.

Expose the NPCs
If they go to the effort of finding out about an NPC before engaging them, let them see their info. Show them the HP, their moves, their relationships with other NPCs.

Expose the Future
Somebody has probably worked out what's most likely to happen if the players do nothing. If they do their research then show them that timeline you've planned out. Of course, it takes a lot of time to get to that point...

Expose the Tables
Switched-on locals know the encounter table of their area. Of course there's a 50% chance of a rabid cat attack here, that's just how we live. The blister beast? Oh that thing doesn't come around all that often.

Expose the Mechanics
You're going to be making rulings when you run Into the Odd. Be transparent about it, and reward information gathering with full access to the sub-system you've thrown together for conker games or debate contests.