Building Bhakashal – Letting it Ride – Spell Casting Edition

Something happened in our Thursday game that got me thinking. We had a new player start three sessions ago. He created a spellcaster (a conjuror) and was stoked to use his new powers. 

In the first session he played in, he decided to cast a summoning spell. Now, these spells are his bread and butter, his primary class ability, like illusions are for illusionists and fireballs are for regular magic-users. Unfortunately, the action ended before the monsters showed up. In the second session, he tried casting a long casting time spell in melee and was struck by a crossbow bolt, disrupting the spell.  By the time he figured out what to cast next the fight had ended. 

Last session he and the party were on a ship (I will be typing up a session report soon), and they encountered a horde of 80 sahuagin. The sea-devils were approaching their ship, and everyone knew that if they got on board it would be a bloodbath

Missile fire (crossbows and ballistae) met the approaching creatures and took out a few, but not many. The new PC decided to cast Emyar the Ashen’s Ebony Coils, Bhakashal’s version of Evard’s Black Tentacles. It took a while to cast, so he had his henchmen shield him

The sahuagin started climbing the sides of the ship, and the black tentacles of the spell emerged from the water and started to strike/coil around the sea-devils. Some were crushed to death, some were damaged. An 8^th level conjuror casts all conjuration spells as if 10^th level

So, there were 10 tentacles, and the saving throws of the sahuagin were high enough that many failed and were coiled up and crushed. A lightning bolt from the party warlock took out a few, as did a stinking cloud from the ships caster (a Cavaral, specialist in evocation magic)

When the sahuagin came up over the sides the crew were ready and managed to take out a few, the party tanks got multiple attacks and took out a few each. Even the crew got lucky, I rolled well and they slayed a number of the attackers

But he writhing tendrils of the Emyar’s spell were the most effective, and our new player was a badass.

Now, here’s the thing.

It took 3 sessions until he got to “shine” and really show off at the table.

I regularly see advice on socials that suggests that each character should get a chance to shine in each session, that the referee should be tweaking things, so change a roll to ensure that the new player’s PC casts their spell, or that their monsters arrive sooner. And this was a new player, wasn’t I risking their interest in the game if their PC struck out several times in their first few gaming sessions? "No one wants to be useless in the game, particularly a new player", I see advice like this all the time, bemoaning sleep and paralyzation effects as they take out PCs, or complaining about the spell casting rules as they allow interruption. 

I also see lots of advice about retaining player interest and giving them “wins”, particularly for new players. Why would I let him fail so often when he was just starting to play the game?

Thing is, I know a secret. In AD&D 1e things are swingy. Yes, he missed the mark a few times, but he also learned from his mistakes. Between sessions he read his spells, he figured out that long casting time spells were a problem.

He realized that AOE mattered to the spell (a Fireball in the situation where he used Emyar’s would have been disastrous), and so did range. He had his henchmen protect him so he would improve his odds of casting. In short, he learned from his failures. So, by session 4, he could move all the pieces together to pull off a badass spell casting win. I could have given him that win in his first session, and the temptation is always there, particularly with new players. But instead, I didn't interfere and eventually he pulled it off WITHOUT MY HELP.

And that, dear readers, is the difference. 

He struggled for several sessions but eventually figured out the system well enough to pull of a spectacular win. And he felt both the struggle and the win. The win felt significant as he knew how hard it was to pull it off. 

He EARNED it, and he KNEW that he earned it, without any help from me.

When we were wrapping up, I asked him how it felt to have kicked some ass, and he didn’t hesitate, he told me that it was sweet, he had struggled for a few sessions, but finally he figured it out, and it felt amazing. He admitted he was worried about 1e AD&D as opposed to 5e (he had played a few sessions of 5e), and that AD&D would be harder, but he preferred the old-school experience, as it felt like an achievement to pull it off.

Never cheapen victory by tweaking results.

Let them fail, let them struggle, because this will make their successes so much sweeter. The new player was over the moon when he left yesterday, and the party did a lot of back-slapping and hooting and hollering about it. He was the big shot that day, and it felt amazing. I heard them talking as they left, he asked one of the other players if he thought I had “helped” him to succeed with the spell, they pointed out that all rolls were in public and the fight was outlined on the map so I couldn't tweak things, and they added that, "Ian NEVER helps us to win, we win on our own."

That’s the stuff.

Full session report to follow.