We are back with another post about my favorite Iconic Encounters of RPG adventures! Some of them are still a staple in most of them, others have become a rare occurrence that deserve a comeback with style, like the one we’re looking into today.
I like to call this one “The Moving Barrier” because it essentially makes a powerful and almost unbeatable creature a barrier the PCs can’t pass through, and it moves around the location, effectively changing how they explore the place every time they bump into the creature. As usual, the encounter has a few characteristics that I will list below and then explore in detail.
- There’s a very powerful creature in the location PCs probably won’t be able to defeat.
- The creature roams around the location seeking the PCs, but it’s slow.
- The location has multiple possible paths to reach various places within it.
- There’s something that keeps the creature at bay, which can be discovered in the location.
An unbeatable enemy…
The characters will, at some point, run into a really powerful enemy/monster that has no direct link to their objective (meaning they don’t really NEED to kill it). One which they can’t really defeat easily (maybe not at all). And the Referee will need to make this very clear to avoid a quick TPK, and they can do this in many different ways. Danger like this should be clearly telegraphed using NPCs, who are quickly and gruesomely killed by the creature; the presence of the remains of past victims with clear signs of what caused their death (the creature’s attacks); and so on.
Even if the PCs try to face the monster head on, the Referee should try to go all out in the first round of combat. They should still demonstrate how fatal this could be though. However, if the players insist on just trying to beat it to death, the Referee should show no mercy. This will quickly demonstrate that the surviving PCs should get the hell away from it.
These almost unbeatable monsters are a staple in old-school style adventures and they serve the purpose of demonstrating that not everything that exists in the game is there to be defeated by the characters. They can’t win everytime. Yes, this is a fictional world created for a game, but it still has its own logic, history and verisimilitude. The players need to realize they are not the center of the universe.
That can be out-passed!
Even though the monster can’t quite be defeated, it can be out-passed. The player-characters can’t beat them, but they can run from them, and leave them behind if they act quickly and intelligently. The monster, however, won’t stay behind. It will pursue the PCs, tracking them, or wandering randomly through the location.
This will make things even more interesting. This impassable barrier is now a moving deadly barrier. They can outrun it for a while, but sooner or later they will bump into it again, and they are back into running mode. Tension will rise on the table, and will get really high every time they see the monster again. If they can sense the creature approaching too, this will be even more effective (maybe they hear its heavy steps, its gibbering sounds, its overpowering stench, and so on).
A labyrinthine place…
But for this to work properly, and for the players to have a chance, the location must have many different paths to follow. If this encounter happens in a mostly linear location, the players won’t have many options to choose from and will become quickly frustrated, and the game will become boring. They need to have ways to bypass the monster, to take some lateral passages and avoid it. One of the main characteristics that make RPGs so great is the possibility of significant choices, so this is a very important point.
This will also allow the monster to appear from almost anywhere, as long as some time passes between each appearance (the creature is supposed to be slow, remember). This will help keep the players on their toes for the whole adventure. Will prevent it from becoming stale and not going anywhere, and will for them to make choices that matter!
Which hides a repellent!
A cool twist is to hide somewhere in the dungeon something that will work as a repellent to the creature. And in other places within the same location some tips on how to use that to repel it. Maybe it’s a psalm that must be continuously spoke out loud, and the lyrics to it can be found in the ruined altar in chappel, while there’s a diary of a priest describing how the bishop controlled the creature with it, and in one of murals around the temple they see a cleric singing something while the creature was retreating.
The point of this is to reward players for their creativity and clever observation. If they investigate the place and pay attention to the clues, they may find a way to bypass the great moving barrier that is probably their biggest threat in the adventure. If they manage to do that, the encounter will become one of the most memorable they have ever had.
So that’s the fourth type of Iconic Encounters discussed in the series. We will be back for more soon. If you missed the previous ones, click here and check them out!