How about this for a mechanic:

Players gain "Notice of the <<blank>>" in mods appropriate for <<blank>>. For each Notice that they have, the Chronicler rolls 1d20. If a Hero has 3 Notices, they would 'fail' on a 1, 2, or 3 and have to fight a group of <<blank>>.

As part of the campaign guide (or as a separate campaign guide), include a sampling of statblocks for <<blank>> which a Chronicler can throw into a Mod without requiring specific rewrites. The Chronicler on-scene is, of course, able to modify these stats as they feel necessary, but at least they'd have the basic stats kicking around.

So the problem that I can see with it being completely random like that is time. Many of us will have just a 4-hour convention slot to play an adventure. And some adventures run longer than others. So I think it would need to be constructed so that it fits in both the adventure's story and in the adventure's time slot.

Scott

Random slots add some 'threat', and they also means that if you don't have time you just go "oh. . . the roll worked in your favour " It is more of a home-play or "you have time" thing, but it adds some tension.

This isn't accurate. The 'regain everything' only applies if the group has time to recover (Around 5-10 minutes). Many modules (usually BI's) extend multiple encounters into 1 Scene, thereby making players ration out their Stamina, Per Scene Abilities, and Fate Chips. This is probably the easiest and best way to do it.

John

In the zombie/vampire example, why couldn't you just write it as a single combat in waves? They encounter the first zombies and then more show up every X ticks with the vampire showing up Y ticks after the final wave of zombies. You could use whatever rationale for the delay as seemed appropriate.

John, view the idea of constatnly running encounters together as poor design and if a GM does it often kinda a dick move.

However the my original idea was to figure out new way to challenge people instead of just piling more of the existing stuff up on people

Curses are one thought that occurs to me, though I don't know if this is necessarily fair since there is no good game mechanic. The two types that come to mind are a adventure only type, and a certed typed.

Adventure only possibly has someone in role play or in the first encounter curse the characters (last breath of the first encounter death curse type idea) and this limits what they can do after for the rest of the adventure. This is complicated by the rarity of death unless otherwise stated in Arcanis, though.

The other possibility is a certed curse that can affect an individual and limit their resources/abilities long term. In other campaigns I have often seen these add lots of character and depth to characters, and I think if done right they really help shape and flavor a campaign.

Something I heartily agree with. At least while I'm here reading the forum, rather than pulling my hair out mid mod. I wasn't even thinking about out of combat consequences, complications & costs but those are every bit as important for mood and atmosphere.



You absolutely could. But you couldn't do it with exploration or mysteries or interaction with NPCs in between. At that point its essentially a grind. Not a slow rise of tension/mood...which could also certainly be cool or great. But it would be different.



Yes that is true. I would not call it many modules, but I've seen it and enjoyed it in BIs. Perhaps it could have use as a prelude to the final fight. I'll add that trick to my list of wounds and exhaustion. But again, as above, its not a rise of tension over the course of a module.

You also have the option to say to the players after the minion fight " do you want to rest and get your breath back or push on to the main villain". If the players rest they get stamina back and reset many counters but at the cost of allowing the main villain to re-inforce (or even to retreat giving a different ending!) or to push on and face an easier scene but one in which they start out partially depleted. The players feel like they have a measure of control then but both end up having consequences.

This is essentially what I was talking about. Not necessarily 'waves' but just that you don't have time to sit on your butt, and spend a lot of time healing, etc.

John