On Tabletop Boss Battles

Recently (by which I mean, like, months ago), a game dev I follow on Twitter, Kai Tave (whose work you should absolutely go and check out and whose Patreon you should support if you're a Lancer fan) discussed the difficulties of putting quality boss fights into tabletop games. I had never really thought about it before, despite the fact that I insert bosses into my games all the damn time, so, after reading the brief thread they posted, I went back and looked at my own fights.

My boss fights were, to put it lightly, fucking terrible. The vast majority of the bosses I had pitted my players against in my campaign were incredibly easy, missed most of their attacks, and often had some incredibly lame gimmicks in their movesets. The ones that did turn out fun were basically just extended setpieces, during which I had players primarily make non-combat rolls with some brief fighting sprinkled in. My boss battles sucked, and I'm upset at myself for making my players do them.

Now thoroughly unimpressed with myself, I went back to the drawing board. This is where I am now as you read this--back at the start, looking for ways to make tabletop boss fights fun, challenging, and interesting. Let's begin.

Just as Good as You

First, we need to go back to video games and answer an important question: what makes a good video game boss fight?

To put it simply, a boss has to be strong. The whole point of a boss fight is to put a hard roadblock in the player's way that can only be taken down with the application of all the tricks the player learned up to that point in the game. Normal enemy encounters are your run-of-the-mill classroom activities, while a boss is a test. As a result, bosses often have large, sophisticated movesets--moves designed to keep the player on their toes, but moves which still have hard counters the player can utilize if they're smart enough. Mechanically, when a player faces down a boss, they have to have a higher-than-normal chance of losing, a chance that can be mitigated if they show that boss all that they've learned.

That's only the mechanical half of the equation, though; equally as important is the storytelling opportunities the boss presents. When I say "storytelling," I'm referring to both the game's actual, designed narrative and the emergent storytelling present in the fight. The boss might be an important character in the plot or, perhaps, have an impact on the lore and worldbuilding of the game. Just as important, though, is the emotions that boss elicits from you, the specific player, during the fight, and how those emotions impact your perception of the game going forward.

Let's take a look at a specific example of a great boss fight. It's from a Dark Souls game. Act surprised.

The Souls games generally have outstanding fights, but we don't need to look super far into the games for a fight done right. The Souls games all have very good first bosses, and one of the best among them is our case study: Iudex Gundyr, the fight that caps off the Cemetary of Ash tutorial level in Dark Souls 3.

Dark Souls 3 (2016)

Gundyr is, to my knowledge, the most mechanically-complex tutorial boss in the series. He has up close swings, ranged thrusts, a charge attack, and even a sidestep move that keeps the player in a constant state of movement and dodging. All of his attacks present very clear windows of opportunity for you to get some good hits in before you're reduced to mashing the B or circle button like a madperson again. Storywise, he's got some great lore, being a recent Chosen Undead who failed at his job, thus necessitating your character's awakening, which, in turn, creates some fun emergent storytelling. You're essentially fighting a character who (prior to phase 2) behaves like a player character would a bit later in the game: you're fighting who you could have been and showing the game that you're stronger than that. Finally, he has a kickass imposing design and is much larger than you, giving you a classic David vs. Goliath narrative to tell yourself as you fight him.

Okay, good video game boss design discussed, obligatory Dark Souls gush complete. Let's translate all of that garbage onto the tabletop.

The Hard Part

It seems like I kind of know what I'm talking about when discussing the game design of bosses--neat! Why do my tabletop bosses suck so bad then?

The answer, I've found, is simple and a bit silly: we are not computers. Video game bosses operate using a complex web of if, then statements, responding to player input before anything else--hell, Iudex Gundyr is a fight that doesn't start until a player input is made the first time you fight him. I do not always think in if, then statements. I am big stupid. No matter how complex my fight's movesets are, it'll still be me, a human, controlling which ones get made when. And I'll be up against a full party of human-controlled characters, most of whom's controllers are much smarter than me. 

And there is the problem. Video games have taught me that boss fights are, at their core, fair. Tabletop games are not video games. When you fight as a boss in a tabletop game... you fight dirty.

Here, then, are some brainstormed findings on how to make tabletop boss fights fun:

• Play fair, but not too fair. Give yourself a stat block that allows for ample damage per round. Remember, you're dealing with multiple enemies and they'll only be dealing with you unless you introduce some extenuating circumstances, so make sure the fight you've made can do something to multiple party members over a round of combat. If this means giving the boss two or more turns per round, a la Darkest Dungeon, go right ahead and do it.
• Keep damage numbers high. Generally, combat encounters in roleplaying games kind of suck if they go on for too long. Unless you and your fellow players are huge turbonerds, keeping a fight going for over, say, an hour is pushing the threshold of sanity (and ADHD). As a result, you should make sure both the boss and the players are consistently dealing high damage to one another--as a rule of thumb, I'd argue that going over ten rounds of combat is the time to call it quiets and just let the players kill the boss already.
• Utilize ads or environmental hazards. In a tabletop setting, having the whole party fight a single enemy can get a bit dull after a while, even if you've taken one or both of the previous bullet points into account. Introducing ads (that is, additional enemies) with much lower health than the boss, then, can give players a nice wakeup call. Ads can add additional variables to the fight, more obstacles to make the players hustle, or provide an opportunity to get some "free refills." By "free refills," I mean some extra ammo or gear that will aid the players in managing dwindling resources (thank you, Doom Eternal, for inspiring this line of thinking) as well as allowing the players to duck away from the boss and breathe for a moment. That last part has the added bonus of potentially opening up players for some hurt if they're not careful. Environmental hazards, such as changing terrain or traps, can be used to similar effect and add a new layer of strategy to combat.

Doom Eternal (2020) and the enemies-as-refills mechanic in action.

• Make the boss important. Tabletop games are role-playing games, and that means you should take every opportunity available to immerse the players in the world you're creating together. Make the boss an already-introduced antagonist menacing the players, an important figure in the backstory of one or several players, or someone integral to the lore of the setting. Make the boss's role as "guy who is much stronger than anyone else in the zone" feel earned not just mechanically, but narratively. To facilitate this, throwing in some chatter between the boss and the players during the fight would work well if the boss is capable of speech--if not, what are you doing.
• Evolve. Single-phase fights are fun sometimes, but multi-phase boss fights, I've found, are almost invariably better. Throwing the party a curveball in the form of new variables, be they moveset changes or the introduction of new environmental effects, keeps them on their toes and keeps them invested in the battle. If your boss fight is static, single-phase, you'd best be sure it's a memorable one.

Alright, ramble over. Hope this helps y'all make your games not suck as much as it does mine.