Monday Musings #86 🤬
Reverse engineering the Set Piece Battle
Good Monday, Gamer!
"Leeeroy Jennnkins!"—Leeroy Jenkins, Veteran of the One-shots
Both Black Sword Hack games have hit that sweet spot—the Set Piece Battle session. In The Cycles of Errazu (Sunday), the crew returned to the Blue Smoke Cathedral to finally uncover what's really going on. But surprise! The Broken Bell Mercenary Company already has the place locked down. And because barbarians gonna barbarian... well, the cathedral is now the centerpiece of an impending brawl.
Over in Malpha the Fallen (Monday), the party’s plotting to intercept the Dream Thief at a Red Lantern District tea house—one with a fighting pit as a subfloor because, of course, it does.
In both games, we hit that point where diving into a full-on fight would’ve pushed us way over session time. The upside? I get to prep bespoke set pieces after seeing exactly what the players care about instead of shoving them toward a pre-planned fight. The stakes are already baked in:
Sunday’s crew is neck-deep in merc trouble, hunting down their missing bounty.
Monday’s crew needs to reclaim a stolen dream, which could spiral into a showdown depending on how negotiations (or lack thereof) play out.
Reverse Engineering the Set Piece
I like to start old-school—sketching rough shapes and notes on paper. First, I jot down what’s already established: key details, NPCs, and questions I need to answer (like, what even is a traditional tea house layout?). I dig up maps and illustrations to capture the vibe, thinking about how they’ll translate to our VTT. The Black Sword Hack isn’t super tactical, but it does use distance bands, so I’ll keep that in mind while finding layouts.
Here’s the fun part: this is where all that nerd media we love sneaks in. I’ll mentally cast primary NPCs as actors or fictional characters for flavor. I’ll also sprinkle in side details—what else is happening in these spaces that has nothing to do with the PCs? It’s minor stuff, but it makes the world feel alive. And in longer games, those little details? They often turn into future plot hooks.
Honestly, this is one of my favorite parts of GMing. The creative prep hits different when I know I’ll get to use all of it in the next session. I’m here for it.
ICYMI:
🎲 RPG Design Zine Two – Nathan Paoletta is back with another dive into TTRPG design. If you love process breakdowns this one’s worth checking out. ( he’s also the Layout Hero on Lifted: Indomitable!)
📜 The Lost Pages – Jumpstart your next D&D campaign with this killer resource from Githyanki Diaspora. It’s an easy on-ramp for worldbuilding without getting bogged down.
📚 28 Collected – The legendary 28 Mag in print?! HOT DAMN. Go snag a copy before it disappears!
Catch ya next week!