The world can be a dangerous place and the environment might pose a deadly threat all by itself. In addition to their inherent danger, encounter elements offer ways to enhance the perils of exploration challenges or combat to make both more satisfying. A duel atop a bridge or traversing a narrow crossing is all the more exciting when deadly lava runs below rather than rushing water, and a hallway fight or dungeon trap with a plethora of green slime is a different kind of challenge altogether!

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Challenge Rating Increase

The challenge rating of a combat encounter or exploration challenge can be increased when an encounter element is included so long as it poses an active threat—a cage match near a volcanic pit is more dramatic, but no more dangerous than usual.

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Acid (+2)

A creature that touches acid takes 5 (2d4) acid damage. When a creature first enters into an area of acid or starts its turn there, it takes 10 (4d4) ongoing acid damage. A creature submerged in acid takes 25 (10d4) ongoing acid damage. This damage persists for 3 rounds after the creature leaves the acid. A creature ends all ongoing damage from mundane acid by using its action to wipe away the corrosive liquid.

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Brown Mold (+2)

Brown mold subsists on heat, drawing away warmth from the environment and creatures around it. Most patches of brown mold have only a 10-foot radius, but the temperature in a 30-foot radius around it is unnaturally cold.

When a creature moves within 5 feet of the brown mold for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw , taking 22 (4d10) cold damage on a failure, or half damage on a success.

Brown mold is not only immune to fire damage but rapidly grows when exposed to flames. When any source of fire—the effects of a spell like fire bolt , a lit torch, and so on—happens within 5 feet of a patch of brown mold, the brown mold rapidly expands to surround it in a 10-foot radius. However, any amount of cold damage instantly destroys a patch of brown mold. 

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Crowd (+1)

Throngs of humanoids are difficult terrain , and a creature surrounded by a crowd has disadvantage on hearing- and sight-based checks to perceive outside of it. 

In addition, making attacks in a crowd risks collateral damage and the wrath of the throng. When a creature attacks from within a crowd or attacks a target within a crowd, on a miss by 10 or more the attack hits a crowd member and the creature makes a Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion check (DC 13 + 2 per previous check) to convince the crowd not to attack it. On a failure, the crowd transforms into a commoner mob and attacks, fighting until the creature is reduced to 0 hit points or the commoner mob is bloodied .

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Darkness (+½)

Darkness comes in two varieties: magical and nonmagical. In nonmagical darkness, creatures with darkvision can see out to the range specified by that trait as if it were dim light . In magical darkness, all vision is blocked. Creatures without darkvision cannot see in mundane or magical darkness. In addition, a frightened creature unable to see because of magical darkness is rattled . 

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Dense Smoke (+1)

Creatures and objects in an area of dense smoke are heavily obscured. When a creature that needs to breathe starts its turn in an area of dense smoke, if it is not holding its breath it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + 1 per round previous turn in the dense smoke, maximum DC 20) or it begins to suffocate. A creature that covers its mouth and nose with a damp cloth has advantage on this save. Finally, smell-based checks to perceive or track creatures that have spent more than 1 round in an area of dense smoke have advantage until the creature finishes a long rest or takes at least 10 minutes to clean the smoke from itself.

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Extreme Cold (+1)

At the end of every hour a creature is exposed to temperatures at or below 0° Fahrenheit (–18° Celsius), it makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance to cold damage, immunity to cold damage, or wearing cold weather gear grants an automatic success on this save. Creatures native to an extreme cold environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

Saving throws made against effects or spells that deal cold damage have disadvantage .

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Extreme Heat (+1)

At the end of every hour a creature is exposed to temperatures at or above 100° Fahrenheit (38° Celsius), it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 4 + 1 per hour spent in extreme heat) or suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance to fire damage, immunity to fire damage, or keeping a light pack (less than half carrying capacity) grants an automatic success on this save, whereas a creature wearing medium armor, heavy armor, or heavy clothing has disadvantage . Creatures native to an extreme heat environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

Saving throws made against effects or spells that deal fire damage have disadvantage .

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Falling (+1 per 30 feet; maximum +4)

The quickest way to severe harm (or even death) is from falling. Whether from a rooftop, cliff’s edge, treetop, or flying mount, falling can deal a devastating amount of damage. When a creature falls, it takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it falls (maximum 20d6) and lands prone .

A creature that falls into water takes half damage, or no damage if it dives with a successful Athletics check (DC equal to the distance it falls divided by 5).

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Fire (+2)

An area of fire sheds bright light to 10 feet beyond its edges and dim light an additional 10 feet. A creature that touches fire takes 7 (2d6) ongoing fire damage. A creature may end ongoing damage from mundane fire by spending an action to extinguish the flames. Smoke and heat shimmer lightly obscure anything within or on the other side of an area of fire. 

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Frigid Water (+1)

After being in frigid water for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score, a creature makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each minute or it suffers a level of fatigue . Resistance or immunity to cold damage grants an automatic success on this save. Creatures native to an extreme cold environment also automatically succeed on their saving throw.

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Green Slime (+1)

This sticky, vibrantly green, slopping slime clings to and mercilessly eats away at flesh, plants, and even metal. 

Green slime covers a 5-foot square area or larger, though rarely greater in size than a 20-foot radius. Although it is alive and able to sense with blindsight to a range of 30 feet, green slime has no Intelligence or other ability scores. When green slime senses movement underneath it, it drops towards the ground. A creature in the green slime’s area makes a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw , becoming slimed on a failure.

A slimed creature takes 5 (1d10) ongoing acid damage until the green slime is scraped off with an action. Green slime is destroyed by sunlight, any feature, spell, or trait that cures disease, or any amount of cold, fire, or radiant damage. Wood or metal exposed to green slime instead takes 11 (2d10) acid damage.

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Heavy Precipitation (+½)

Heavy snowfall makes an area lightly obscured, and Perception checks relying on sight are made with disadvantage . Heavy rain has the same effects, also affecting Perception checks that rely on hearing and extinguishing any open flames.

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High Gravity (+2)

The ranges of ranged weapons are halved, as are all jump distances. When a creature makes its first attack in a round using a weapon that does not have the dual-wielding property, it makes a DC 12 Athletics check or subtracts 1d4 from its attack rolls for 1 round. Falling damage is treated as twice the distance in the area and there is no maximum amount of damage that can be taken from a fall. For every hour spent in the area, a creature not acclimated to it makes a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + the number of hours spent in the area) or gain a level of fatigue (maximum 4 levels of fatigue).

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Lava (+4)

A creature that touches lava takes 16 (3d10) ongoing fire damage. When a creature first enters into an area of lava or starts its turn there, it takes 33 (6d10) ongoing fire damage. A creature submerged in lava takes 55 (10d10) ongoing fire damage. This damage persists for 4 rounds after the creature leaves the lava. A creature ends all ongoing damage from lava by using its action to wipe away the molten rock.

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Low Gravity (-1)

The ranges of ranged weapons are doubled, as are all jump distances. Falling damage is treated as half the distance in the area. In addition, damage from bludgeoning weapons is reduced by half. 

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Magnetized Ore (+½)

Magnetized ore wreaks havoc on the use of compasses or any natural sense of direction, making both useless within 500 feet.

While within 50 feet of magnetized ore, a creature wearing heavy armor made from metal or attacking with a metal weapon has disadvantage on its attack rolls , Strength and Dexterity, and saving throws made against fatigue .

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Memory Crystals (+½)

Recognizing a memory crystal for what it is requires a DC 20 Arcana check. When a creature with prepared spells is within 30 feet of a memory crystal, at the start of its turn it must make a DC 15 spellcasting ability check or lose one randomly determined prepared spell. 

When destroyed (DC 17 Strength check, AC 7, 2 hit points) a memory crystal explodes with dangerous magic in a 10-foot radius. Each creature in the area makes a DC 20 Charisma saving throw , taking 14 (4d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. 

An area filled with memory crystals requires a creature to succeed on a DC 8 Acrobatics check at the end of each of its turns to avoid breaking any of the dangerous gemstones.

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Miring Ground (+3)

Sludge, tar, or sufficiently deep and sticky mud can provide real danger to creatures caught in them. 

Miring ground is difficult terrain . In addition, when a creature starts its turn in miring ground, it begins to sink and makes an Athletics check (DC 12 + 2 per round spent in the area) to continue moving. On a failure, its Speed is reduced by 10 feet. When this reduces a creature’s Speed to 5 feet or less it begins sinking 1 foot deeper into the miring ground at the end of each of its turns. A sinking creature can be freed with an Athletics check equal to the DC of its last failed check against the miring ground. A sinking creature that becomes submerged begins suffocating if it is unable to hold its breath. Any creature trying to aid a sinking creature must have a solid surface to stand on or a fly speed, but can use ropes or similar means to do so at a distance.
 

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Poisonous Plants (+1)

Spotting the telltale signs of vegetation dangerous to touch requires requires a DC 15 Nature check. Poisonous plants can be as sparse as a few shrubs or as pervasive as fields of harmful groundcover.

When a creature starts its turn within the area or enters the area for the first time on a turn, it makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw , taking 3 (1d6) poison damage on a failure, or half damage on a success.

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Rushing Liquid (+2)

Standing in rushing liquid halves the speed of a creature moving against the current and doubles the speed of creatures moving with it. At the start of each of its turns, a creature in knee-high rushing liquid makes an Acrobatics or Athletics check to keep its footing. On a failure, it is knocked prone and moves a number of feet in the direction of the current equal to the amount it failed the check by (rounded up to the nearest 5 feet). The check is DC 11 if the rushing liquid is knee-high, DC 14 if waist-high, DC 17 if chest-high, and DC 20 if the creature’s feet cannot touch the bottom. A creature moving with the current has disadvantage on this check. A creature driven into a solid object by the current (such as a rock) takes damage as if it had fallen a number of feet equal to the distance it was moved by the current (minimum 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage). Standing up from prone in rushing liquid requires an Acrobatics or Athletics check with a DC equal to the DC to keep footing. A creature that loses its footing is considered underwater (see below) until it regains its footing. 

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Strong Winds (+½)

Ranged weapon attacks and Perception checks that rely on hearing have disadvantage in high winds. In addition, it extinguishes any open flames, disperses fogs and smoke, and forces any flying creature to land before the end of its turn or fall.

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Underwater (+1)

A creature that cannot breathe water begins to suffocate underwater once it cannot hold its breath. In addition, creatures without swim speeds have disadvantage on attacks made using any weapon other than a dagger, dueling dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear, or trident. Ranged weapon attacks automatically miss beyond their normal range underwater, and bludgeoning and fire damage are halved. A creature that takes damage while holding its breath underwater must succeed on a concentration check or immediately begin suffocating as if its breath had run out. 

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Vacuum (+3)

An area of vacuum has no air, so creatures that need to breathe must use another source of air or begin to suffocate once they cannot hold their breath. In addition, the area carries no sound, so hearing-based checks made to perceive automatically fail and spells with vocalized components cannot be cast. A creature with its own air supply may cast spells with vocalized components, but still cannot hear. Vacuum is also utterly chilling, dealing 11 (3d6) cold damage to a creature at the start of each of its turns in the area.

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Webs (+½)

Whether created by massive insects or swarms of smaller creatures, these sticky strands ensnare and capture creatures that fall afoul of them. An area of webs is difficult terrain, and when a creature starts its turn within the area or enters the area for the first time on a turn, it makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or becomes restrained . Restrained creatures can use an action to make a DC 12 Acrobatics or Athletics check, escaping on a success. 

A 10-foot cube of webs has AC 10, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage. 

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Yellow Mold (+2)

This sickeningly yellow mold only grows in dark places and is extremely sensitive to movement nearby. 

Yellow mold covers a 10-foot radius area. When a creature moves within 30 feet of a patch of yellow mold, at the start of its turn spores are released and it makes a DC 15 Constitution saving throw . On a failure, the creature takes 11 (2d10) ongoing poison damage and becomes poisoned for 1 minute, continuing to take ongoing damage until it is no longer poisoned. At the end of each of its turns, the poisoned creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the effect on itself on a success. 

Yellow mold is destroyed by sunlight or any amount of fire damage.
 

Creating a world for a campaign might mean putting a castle in the Crawley Hills between Northminster and Holdenshire, including a new settlement or region in another existing setting, or building an entire world for the adventurers to discover and explore. Whether the scope of the undertaking is small or grand, clarifying the goals of worldbuilding and the approach being taken makes the task much more manageable.

Guiding Principle: Player Experience First

Like creating a campaign, keep the player experience at the forefront of the worldbuilding process. This focuses development on elements that players will interact with and enjoy rather than on tangential or superfluous details. 

Approaches to Worldbuilding

Level Up presents two approaches to worldbuilding but there’s no single right way to go about it, and these aren’t the only methods. In practice, most worldbuilders do a mix of two or more approaches, depending upon their time and preferences. When deciding upon the functionalist and simulationist approaches, consider the workload that they both require before making a decision. 

Functionalist Approach

A functionalist approach is only concerned with the elements necessary for the story or set of stories that will be told inside the setting. The narrative of a campaign identifies aspects of the world that need definition—if it doesn’t appear ‘on stage’ or ‘on screen’, there’s no need for it to exist. History is important only insofar as it serves setting and character motivation (whether an adventurer’s or NPC’s). Geography and current events exist to support the plot by creating conflict or highlighting characters.

A functionalist approach to worldbuilding is similar to setting a stage. History, lore, culture, and politics are backdrops. Adventure sites and geography are stage props, and NPCs only matter if they ever make it on stage.

The functionalist approach works well when it is able to draw on broader genre conventions. Many fantasy authors take this approach because it’s flexible and efficient. Do you need a mountain range filled with ruins? Make it. Unless he’s going to play a significant role in the campaign, who cares how the Queen’s cousin impacts her rule? The challenge to a functionalist approach is verisimilitude, particularly if a group of players is prone to sudden turns. Consider adding rumors or stories that imply events from beyond the scope of the game without actually detailing them until it becomes important to do so.

Simulationist Approach

The simulationist approach looks to create a vibrant world that exists independently of a particular narrative or story. Instead, worldbuilders create or adapt cultures, civilizations, economic systems, cosmologies, and histories. 

If a functionalist approach to worldbuilding sets a stage, a simulationist approach seeks to build the house that a stage is trying to depict. Often, a simulation approach attempts to model economics, social systems, politics, and history as accurately as possible. Great attention is given to details that underpin the campaign setting, even if they don’t always have a direct impact on characters directly. 

Time and complexity are the challenges to this method. Building a setting in this fashion often requires research as well as creating a great deal of material that may never be used at the table. While certainly a more daunting and involved task, Narrators that use this approach usually have an answer, NPC, or locale prepared wherever the party’s story might take them. 

Collaborative Worldbuilding

Another strategy involves harnessing the creative power of players. As players develop their characters, consider asking them to provide details about the towns, regions, or nations that their adventurers hail from. This can be a great way to engage players with their characters and the campaign setting. It also adds depth by going beyond the Narrator’s own conceptual framework. 

Another way to work collaboratively is during session zero or at another time prior to the campaign. Create worldbuilding exercises or shared activities around cultures, myths, gods, or any other aspect of the campaign setting.

Collaborative worldbuilding can also be used after a campaign has started. If the party ventures to a new town, ask them to name taverns or a location. If the adventurers have already been to a place, ask them to share details. The Narrator can encourage players to create details during the course of their roleplay with one another or with NPCs. Unless there is a compelling reason not to, incorporate the events, locations, and characters into the tapestry of the world!

Create a Concept

A campaign setting is a foundation upon which we tell stories. The types of stories that we want to tell should inform the world that we create. As with building a campaign, consider the types of adventures that might be run within that world. For example, a Narrator intending to run light and whimsical games that explore the secrets of a wondrous feywood are in for a tough time if playing in a campaign setting in which the gods have been devoured by elder evils that now raise mortals like cattle. Similarly, a game of gothic horror isn’t going to work in a setting where the adventurers are literal demigods. 

When thinking about a campaign setting concept, consider its defining or iconic elements. Is it a duchy holding to an uncertain peace or a world recently ravaged by a demonic invasion? Is it a continent that once hosted an ancient civilization whose secrets are now being plundered? What does the campaign setting look like at the beginning of play—and how will it change? 

Here are some example setting concepts:

• A world being rediscovered after an extraplanar invasion forced the few remaining survivors to hide underground for centuries.
• A recently discovered continent that holds the secret to an ancient magical catastrophe.
• A post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by demonic overlords.
• A conventional fantasy kingdom at the precipice of a civil war due to a conflict between the church and the royal wizards academy.
• A recently annexed city in the midst of an industrial revolution where the body of a dead god is harvested to fuel ghastly new technologies.

Work Backwards & Outwards

Start with the world state informed by the concept’s premise and work backwards. While the present is predicated upon the past, often the past is unclear to the present. History becomes increasingly unclear as we move backwards. Events and individuals lose definition, are transformed into myth, or are forgotten entirely. When worldbuilding, this historical process provides the freedom to focus on the present and its immediate precursors.

Similarly, start with the location of the adventurers and work outward. Pay attention to the immediate setting and allow details to blur as distance grows from the campaign’s lens. There is no need to exhaustively detail the geography of a mountain chain on the other side of the world.

Remember Conflict

As the name implies, a campaign setting serves to inform a campaign, and all campaigns need conflict. How does the setting assist this? What are the key conflicts?

Creating a New World

Regardless of which approach to worldbuilding is taken, creating a new campaign setting is an undertaking. These questions can help define some key characteristics. 

• Cosmogony: How was the world created? Was it literally forged by the gods or was it shaped by natural processes?
• Cosmology: What are the other planes like? Is there an afterlife? How is it reached or achieved? Where do the gods reside?
• Distinctive Environmental Characteristics: Is your world an arid husk? Does it experience extreme storms caused by magical or astronomical phenomena?
• Key Powers: Who holds power? Who is oppressed? What resources create conflict?
• Layout and Structure: Is your setting a spherical hunk of stone orbiting a star or does it exist entirely within the mind of a sleeping god?
• Mythology: Are myths an explanation for history or natural phenomena or were the seas truly created when Jamir spilled the blood of Kareth during the Dawnfire War? 
• Nature and Role of the Gods: Do the gods predate the setting, or are they manifestations of natural processes or metahuman thought and emotion?
• Nature of Magic: Is magic energy left over from the creation of the world or shaping the dreams of the Great Sleeper? Does power come within individuals or are they conduits?
• Prevalence of Magic: How prevalent is magic? How common are magical practitioners?
• Technology Level: What is the highest level of technology achieved? Do airships sail the skies, or have ruthless dragon overlords kept metahumanity in the dark ages?
• World’s Age: Have the gods just finished shaping it, or does the star above gutter a dim red as it approaches death? 

Worldbuilding in Established Settings

If the idea of building an entire world seems daunting, consider creating a smaller setting within a pre-existing campaign setting. Even the most well-developed campaign settings have gray spaces that the creators have not defined. This space can serve as a canvas for customized characters, locations, and stories. New Narrators in particular can make good use of these gray spaces as building in an established setting is an excellent way to manage the scope of new material. Additionally, being able to draw upon the cultures, history, and politics of the current campaign setting can save a lot of time and help keep these elements of the game feel cohesive with the rest.

Questions

Adventurers are usually curious so considering what they’ll be asking ahead of time is a reliable method for figuring out what things need to be addressed in new material when worldbuilding in an established campaign setting.

• What heritages and cultures from the established campaign setting are represented?
• What governmental system or economic systems are in place?
• What natural resources does this region have?
• What is the relationship with neighbors?
• What are its primary conflicts?
• What makes it distinct from other locations in the campaign setting?
• What differences need to be communicated to the players?

The Narrator’s job in Level Up is to guide the story and create the world for the other players to adventure in. This includes all of the elements required to create that adventure. The Narrator builds a world and populates it with monsters, people, treasure and traps. They create villains in their towers, allies met on the road, angry blacksmiths and bar staff in posh parlours. The Narrator also runs combat, acts as rules referee, lore repository, and of course improvises when the unexpected happens.

Level Up is a Game for the Narrator Too!

The Narrator is a player too, albeit one with many, ever-changing roles. If any part of the Narrator role isn’t fun, there’s no rule against changing it so it is. If a Narrator doesn’t enjoy doing voices, all NPCs can sound the same. If maps and miniatures don’t work for the Narrator, encounters can be designed that won’t rely on them. Some elements of the Narrator role—such as tracking initiative or double checking rules—can even be delegated entirely to players to make things easier and more fun for the Narrator.

The Narrator

The Narrator’s main role is to outline the adventures that the players will navigate. Usually this involves coming up with a problem for them to solve or a task to complete in order to get a predetermined reward. 

An adventure can be as short as a single session of a few hours, or it could involve many such sessions over a span of weeks or months. A longer running adventure such as this is called a campaign, and is generally a big adventure made with building blocks of smaller adventures each session. For example, a single adventure may involve solving the mystery of a string of violent break-ins in a small village. That adventure could be the start of a campaign to take down a dangerous organized crime network that puts an entire realm in jeopardy.

To prepare an adventure, the Narrator usually outlines locations, monsters and enemies, treasure, traps, and notable NPCs (non-player characters), as well as the overall mission for the players. How the players interact with all of these things will be unpredictable, and so a Narrator’s job is to guide players towards their end goal, adapting and changing the environment in response to their actions. 

Scheduling Your Campaign

Getting player schedules to line up for regular gaming sessions is magic far beyond anything described in the Level Up rules. However, some best practices include:

• Maintain the same day and times for game sessions—when everyone knows to keep Wednesday night from 7 PM to 11 PM open, it’s easier to schedule time away from other activities.
• If the group is social with one another, plan an appropriate amount of time for people to catch up before the session starts to better anticipate how much material will be needed with that in mind.
• When it becomes clear that a player will often be late, plan in some padding time for the sessions they aren’t punctual.
• Keep a group discussion going with texts or chat between sessions to keep everyone engaged, and use it to remind the players when the game is coming up.

Is Planning Even Possible When Player Actions Are Unpredictable?

Yes! With a good session zero the Narrator can let the players know the rough aims and outline of the campaign or adventure (without spoilers) so they can make appropriate characters, and air any concerns they have about any topics or activities that may come up in the adventure (see Safety Tools ).

In the example campaign centered around taking down an organized crime network, without a session zero uninformed players could well create criminal or shady characters who would have no problem allying with and joining the network. A lot of the Narrator’s planning around making enemies of the network would be wasted, leaving them scrambling to improvise new scenarios for their party of ne’er-do-well adventurers each session.

Conversely, a campaign designed to aid and grow the criminal network would be cut short if a largely good and law-abiding group slaughter their criminal contacts in the first session. 

A productive session zero allows the Narrator and the players to play along with each other’s expectations and make sure that everybody has fun. 

How to Run a Game

Most of the Narrator’s adventure or campaign planning will happen away from the gaming table. So are things handled while at the table? The Narrator is the player whose job it is to get things going and keep them on track, so other players will look to them for guidance and structure.

Most rules expectations and table-specific rules can be ironed out in session zero, but here’s some insight into the most vital parts of a Narrator’s role.

Setting Up

Setting the players up so they can decide how to react is the fundamental part of the Narrator’s job. Here’s an example of how to begin a gaming session.

"Okay everyone. If you remember you’d gone down to the basement to investigate possible escape routes for the thief, because Oswin the innkeep said she’d heard a door slam downstairs on the night of the theft. The stairs down to the basement are narrow and made of stone. Cold air along with the smell of stagnant water and mold greet you as you descend in single file. 

What’s your marching order please?... 

Okay, Naivara and Whisper, if you’re at the front, you’re the first to see the basement. Water runs down the stone brick walls, they’re about ten feet high. The water has flooded the space up to about three or four feet. It doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, it’s stagnant. You hear the occasional drip echo as the water descends, but nothing else. 

Rotting, broken furniture floats in the murk. With your passive perception and the light from Whisper’s torch you can see that it used to be much finer and more ornate than any of the furniture in the inn upstairs... 

So what are you two doing? Remember Nia and Gregor, you can’t see this yet."

Here the Narrator has: 

• reminded the players of their actions last session.
• described the next scene in their adventure.
• used a few sensory cues in their description to create an immersive experience.
• asked an open-ended question to give players a chance to act or ask clarifying questions.

All in just a few sentences that take only a couple of minutes to run through.

Dice Rolling

Every table will have slightly different rules for dice rolling, and each player will have different expectations based on their previous gaming experiences. The Narrator can determine what everyone expects during session zero. It’s important that everybody is on the same page so miscommunications and tension don’t interrupt the adventure once it begins.

  Some good dice-specific questions for a Narrator to ask at session zero are:

• Who will roll openly and who can roll in secret?
  • Some tables welcome the Narrator or sometimes players rolling in secret, while others may feel cheated.
• Can players roll skill checks when they see fit, or should they wait for the Narrator to ask for a specific check?
  • Some Narrators welcome players who take the initiative, while others find it difficult to keep track of the outcomes of rolls they weren’t expecting.
• Can players roll to attack without the Narrator calling for an initiative roll?
  • Again, some Narrators would enjoy the chaos, while others might prefer to keep a tighter handle on combat.
• Can the Narrator ever make rolls on a player’s behalf?
  • Sometimes tension and immersion for players can be enhanced if the Narrator rolls a check on their behalf. For example, being uncertain whether a character has rolled high or low on a Stealth check in a high risk situation could make things more exciting for some players. Other players may not enjoy this, or feel as though their agency has been taken away.

  None of the options in the above list are right or wrong, but they’re variations that should be discussed for each table before the adventure begins, and as the person taking charge the Narrator leads these discussions.

Ability Scores

Another of the Narrator’s key roles is to set the Difficulty Class (DC) for skill checks, as well as deciding which skill check should be made in a given situation to move the adventure along.

  A player’s basic ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom, Intelligence, Charisma) affect their ability to perform the many possible skill checks a Narrator can call for. For all of the rules around skills and ability checks, see Chapter 6: Ability Scores.

Example Skill Check

Gregor: Can I see any signs that a thief has come through this way?

Narrator: Let’s see! Make a Survival or Investigation check for me.

Gregor: I’m trying to rely on my experience with hunting, but instead of using my intuition I’m focused on keeping an eye out for clues and deducing what they could mean. Can I make an Intelligence check with Survival?

Narrator: That sounds reasonable—roll it!

Gregor: Can do! Got a 17.

Narrator: You notice some moss on the wall to your left has been disturbed, as though someone had grabbed it to keep their balance.

In some situations, more than one check may make sense, and ultimately it’s the Narrator’s decision which ability check and skills are used and how high the DC is. However the Narrator may also give a player options of which ability check or skill they use in a particular situation. Which ability score can be used with each skill depends on the circumstances and how an adventurer is trying to achieve an objective. In this case, Gregor wanted to use Intelligence with his Survival check because it’s his highest ability score, and his reasoning for it made good sense.

 

Narrators in Level Up are tasked with providing a whole world for the group to play in and all that entails—dungeons to explore, intrigues and subterfuge, monsters to slay, treasure to find—and though it can be difficult, there are few more rewarding things than a solid session of tabletop roleplaying so the burden is worth it. While there are plenty of campaign settings and modules to make the work of the Narrator easier, even someone making up everything on the fly can use a little help and that’s what this chapter is about. 

Running the Game . What does it mean to be the Narrator? This section covers the basics—what the Narrator does, what the Narrator needs to know, and how to do it.

Player Archetypes . This section offers ways for the Narrator to better understand what the members of their group are really enthusiastic about and looking to get out of a campaign, allowing for the story and gameplay to better suit their player’s passions.

Safety Tools . Cooperative games like Level Up are just that: cooperative. Whether the campaign is gripping with mature themes or much more light-hearted quests, safety tools are an essential part of keeping everyone at the table happy and coming back for more.

Creating a Campaign . The telling of epic tales at the table is a fine goal but where does a Narrator start this process? This section offers guidance on how to build a campaign from session zero to finish. 

Worldbuilding . Whether the Narrator is designing a castle for the party’s next session or planning out an entire world, they are worldbuilding. These pages are all about the process and choosing the right approach for the campaign or game session a Narrator is preparing for.

Designing Encounters . Campaigns in Level Up have three basic kinds of encounters (combat, exploration, social) that are largely concerned with other sections of this book (like the Critters and NPC appendices, Chapter 9: Exploration, and Chapter 6: Using Ability Scores), but the thinking behind how to construct them and their purpose in a game are detailed here. 

Encounter Elements . When the Narrator wants to offer a greater challenge for the adventurers or put a spin on an exploration challenge or fight there are a plethora of ways to make things more exciting. There are more than two dozen encounter elements to introduce onto the field of battle or in a dungeon, ranging from green slime to lava and yellow mold.

Experience and Other Rewards . Most adventurers increase their class levels by accruing experience points, but the Narrator has a variety of ways to employ them or advance the game through entirely different means! So too are there different ways to reward the party than new magic items or heaps of gold.

Treasure . When the battle is ended and the day won, what do the adventurers find amongst the spoils? This section is all about artwork, coin, gems, jewelry, magic items, and how to create unique hoards of treasure for the party to find in the aftermath of successful encounters.

Diseases  and Poisons . The Narrator needs options when adventurers have spent too much time in the sewers or are facing a cult of assassins, and this section of the chapter provides dozens of afflictions to choose from.

Mental Stress Effects . Often faced with horrors from beyond the mortal pale or forces of nature given form with scaled wings and fiery breath, many an adventurer has felt the effects of stress weigh heavily upon them. This section of the chapter provides short-term, long-term, and indefinite mental stress effects for campaigns interested in that aspect of play.