Aspects and Monsters

If you haven't at least read the FATE RPG, I highly recommend it. Reading new RPGs is like having a deep conversation with another DM about how they run games. Someone ran RPGs and decided to encode their approach to the game in a book. The insights and ideas can help shape your own techniques and approaches.

There's even an online SRD you can use to read the game for free.

Aspects are my favorite part of FATE. I love that they provide a shorthand that lets you focus on what's important with an NPC, monster, or location.

For a game like D&D, it's easy for a designer to turn to mechanics as a tool to express something. The new PHB spends two paragraphs providing rules for a coil of rope. However, in play I have found that simpler, easier mechanics have a much bigger impact.

Why? Because a simpler mechanic is much more likely to come into play. In the heat of the moment, a mechanic I remember to apply is far more effective than the one I forget, or the one that I ignore because I don't want to pause the game and process a paragraph of material.

Aspects are great because they describe a thing. I weave them into my description and roleplay, and they become an organic part of the game.

I can then use them to grant advantage or disadvantage based on how an encounter plays out. For monsters, this can be as simple as tying their personality to an encounter.

Here's an example:

In an encounter I ran a couple weeks ago, the characters entered a dungeon searching for some stolen goods. They found them hidden away in a chamber guarded by two wererats and a mechanical spider with swords for legs.

I gave the spider and the wererats the greedy aspect. They were involved in this scheme to get filthy rich, and the stuff they were guarding was their ticket to wealth.

That meant two things:

• The chamber was filled with boxes and crates of goods. The monsters used them for cover. If a PC attacked a monster with cover and missed, I described the attack damaging the goods. I then narrated the monsters getting angry ("You oafs! Watch it!") and gave them advantage on attacks for their next turns.

• When the PCs interrogated a captured wererat, I gave them advantage on their checks when they offered the wererat a bribe for info.

That simple note allowed me to add a twist to the encounter with minimal mental overhead. I just riffed off my notes using the advantage mechanic.

In another encounter, I gave three bandits each different aspects. One was bloodthirsty, another was sneaky, and the third was cowardly. Those tags made it easier in the moment to roleplay them during a fight and informed my tactics. Bloodthirsty bandit charged in and got advantage for attacking recklessly, sneaky bandit crept around and sniped, with advantage on Stealth checks. Coward bandit made a run for it when bloodthirsty guy dropped. It added a lot of texture to an otherwise mundane encounter because I took the time to add one adjective to each NPC.

A few tips on using aspects in D&D:

• As a baseline, I use an aspect to grant a creature advantage on its attacks or checks for one of its turns in an encounter. I also allow my self one aspect per round unless the players do something that activates an NPC's aspect.

• Roleplay and storytelling are critical to make this work. Describe the NPC or monster's actions through the lens of the aspect, and make it clear that's why they gain advantage in a specific situation. Otherwise, randomly rolling with advantage just feels like you are powering up the monsters for no reason.

• Aim for granting advantage to a creature once per encounter. If you want an aspect to work more often, tie it to the players' actions. That creates a nice feedback loop. Players who pay attention can figure out how to avoid it.

• Use aspects to fuel suboptimal tactics. The bloodthirsty bandit dropped fast because he charged into the entire group, and attacking with advantage made him an immediate target. However, that also added some flavor to the encounter.

• Think about your three round structure and pace yourself. One monster's aspect might pop up in round one, another in round two, and a final one for round three. That gives you a nice way to vary the action across each round.