Nerd Watching: Learning From Acquisitions Incorporated!

For those poor lost souls who are unaware of Acquisitions Incorporated, I shall briefly summarize. Acq Inc is the D&D group comprised of the Penny Arcade duo, Scott Kurtz of PVP and actor/geek icon Wil Wheaton. The exploits of the group are recorded and released in sections on the official D&D website, typically to promote the release of a specific book. The series is right in the middle of its third season with new sections coming out each Friday. You can find new and old here or on itunes (but make sure to check out the corresponding comics on the website!).

Now I think this third series is the best one yet. Partially it is to do with a new bag of tricks from Dungeon Master Chris Perkins. Listening intently I’ve picked some tricks and techniques from this session that I think could benefit those of us not DMing for internet celebrities.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the third podcast series.

DMG2 in Action

This series corresponds to the release of the DMG2 and you can see its influence on the session. Chris makes use of alternate combat goals. In the first combat of the session, the players need to get their opponent to open a magic door for them. Although he is using lethal force against the group, they need to measure their attacks and keep the objective in mind. It also allows them to cut the combat short before it can drag on.

He also takes from the alternate rewards section of the book. In what I assume is a boon, the spirit of a dead thief has entered the body of one of the character. The spirit’s presence confers a bonus to stealth and thievery skills, gives the DM an entertaining voice in the game and reveals a lot about the nature of the enemy. Can a pair of magical boots on the ground do that?

Enticement

The adventure is based around a clan that has wronged the fighter’s family in the past. The clan owns an artifact of great interest to the magic. They also have great stores of mundane riches which are very appealing to the group’s cleric/CEO. Right in the setup Chris has engaged three of four players. Almost the whole group wants something that speaks to their personalities. It makes things more interesting and eliminates the meta-gaming idea that the party just stays together because it makes the game work.

The Endless Fight

It is a frequent criticism of D&D that the game is all combat. Well Chris Perkins apparently takes that as a challenge. The party spends more than an hour interacting with a broad range of NPCs before their first combat of the session. Despite it likely being irrelevant to the game, the NPCs all have distinct quirks, voices and mannerisms. Even when the group engages in combat, the enemy has a name, background and personality. He banters with the party and has clear objections and emotions in the combat. He is a real character that they fight, not just a bundle of hit points and attacks.  Even if your group loves combat, you can still put the RP in RPG. Who doesn’t love some good trash talk?

The Visibility of a Skill Challenge

This session has the first skill challenge of the entire series. The party is sneaking past a sleeping dire boar mount. While I didn’t find it a very engaging skill challenge in context, it answers a question. One of the most common debates about skill challenges is if you tell your players that they are in one. Chris does not. Just like a DM does not go around saying the hitpoints or attack bonuses of his monsters, why should you tell the players how the mechanical underlay of a non-combat encounter. That is for the DM to worry about. In my opinion the DM should be like a magician. You never reveal your secrets. As soon as the player knows how it was done then the whimsy is lost.

Do you listen to the exploits of Acq Inc? What dio you think of the DMing? Have you ever pulled a rabbit from your hat during the game?

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