Day 25 Prompt: Familiarity
Week 5 Prompt: Emotion
Weekday Prompt: Full of Grace
On the 25th Day of the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge we have the prompt of “Familiarity”. This is also the last prompt for “Full of Grace”. Well let’s see where the muse takes us as my fingers start tickling the keyboard. One of the first ideas that came to mind was the sporting concept of “Home Court Advantage.”
Have you ever heard of the sporting term “Home Court Advantage”? The way it was first explained to me was in regard to high school basketball gyms. Unlike the professional level floors that we see in the NBA or high college leagues, a gym in high school might be on a lower quality level. But by practicing on it every day the player got used to how the ball bounced in certain spots. This “insider knowledge” would help when playing on a team’s home court. I’m not a gambling man, but I understand that the oddsmakers would give a home team a few extra points when setting up the betting line.
How does this apply to roleplaying games? Think of the advantages that would be gained by familiarity by certain opponents within the scenario. A tribe of Kobolds would know which tunnels were the best for defending their home. Outlaws knowing which slot canyons to avoid in the badlands. Pirates sailing the waters around their hunting grounds would know where the shallow waters and reefs were located. Interstellar smugglers would know which gas giants to hide in or which nebulas they could use for short-cuts. Even the dreaded dragon in his lair would present a formidable challenge due to his innate knowledge of his domain.
Players would be wise to acknowledge these advantages when making their plans. A clever party doesn’t always attack the villain where the villain is strongest. Sometimes the adventure becomes finding a way to lure the enemy away from the ground they know intimately.
Gamemasters would factor in the difficulty numbers of an attempted raid on an opponent’s home turf. Would it be tactically advantageous to get the dragon out of the lair that he is familiar with? How would the characters do this? How big of an advantage would it give them? Familiarity can also create an emotional attachment. Defenders fighting for their home, lair, fortress, or favorite starport may be far more motivated than they would be on neutral ground.
Sometimes players will come up with plans specifically designed to deny an opponent that familiarity advantage. A GM might allow this under the “rule of cool,” or simply out of curiosity to see whether the plan actually works. “You want to set the forest on fire to drive the bandits out of hiding? Well how do you plan to do that?” You never know what the imaginations of the players are going to come up with to gain or deny the familiarity of a home court advantage.
What examples have you seen or played where familiarity has altered the course of the gaming session? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
