Elements of Stealth Games #
Good Examples to borrow from #
Arkham Predator Sequences
- Enemies become alert as their allies disappear
- Taking out bad guys does not make the encounter easier or less dynamic
Thief
- Combat has to be bad or less than ideal
Mark of the Ninja
- As much time as you want to analyze patterns and come up with a plan
- Planning is very hard though with the 5e philosophy of “Rulings not Rules”
- Planning is the fun part of stealth
Trek’s Insights
- Give players the necessary knowledge they’ll need to come up with a plan
- I want to pickpocket the guard
- Okay that’ll be a DC 18 Sleight of Hand check. If you fail, we’ll have to roll initiative, no surprise. Does that sound good?
Bad Examples and things to avoid #
Far Cry
- Kill all the guards one by one
- Oh and they also won’t notice their allies being killed
Skyrim
- Stealth Archer Syndrome
- Players look for the path of least resistance, in this case stealth is optimal for risk, cost, and time