Killing monsters and taking their stuff

I have known players who delight in role-playing, to whom a NPC with a dark secret can give many hours of fun.

I have known players who delight in problem-solving, to whom a murder mystery or a logic problem (chess puzzle) is the best type of experience, to be savoured and enjoyed.

Then I have my current players.

Give them monsters and some treasure (orc and pie!) and they're ready for hours upon hours of play. Plot? Why do you need plot? Just send in the monsters!

My players enjoy facing a variety of monsters, so that they can test their combat skills and their character-building skills. They enjoy getting treasure, because they can use it to get better stuff to kill monsters.

Every so often, they like to travel through the wilderness killing monsters rather than dungeon-delving.

However, the central theme is obvious: they enjoy combat.

And, you know what? We all have a lot of fun.

I do throw in role-playing encounters their way from time to time, or a puzzle, or a weird trick, and I do endeavour to give them reasons to kill the monsters...

...but, eventually, it boils down to something they enjoy.

Last week, I ran a RPGA module (Legacy of the Green Regent: "In Cold Blood") that played (at least for my players) as a bunch of combats with a plot that gave a reason for the combats to happen. There was opportunity for role-playing and investigation, but my players rushed past that into the combat.

They really, really loved the module.

There's such a wide range in playing types. I don't think some people have realised that, insisting that an adventure or supplement is bad because it emphasises one style of play.

Learn what your players like, and learn what companies make material suited for their style.

(Also, if your own DMing style is antithetical to what your players like, it's probably a very good idea to stop DMing them, rather than provoke the stylistic conflicts that can occur).

Me: I'm happy DMing in any one of several styles. I've run heavy role-playing games and heavy combat games.

As long as everyone is enjoying the game, I know I'm running it right.

Cheers!

HeroQuest™ the Roleplaying Game.

No, really, you said it all here...

As long as everyone is enjoying the game, I know I'm running it right.

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Bye
Thanee

See:

http://www.darkshire.net/~jhkim/rpg/theory/models/blacow.html

For those GMs who do have trouble pleasing players with different tastes, I highly recommend the Robin Laws book (by Steve Jackson Games) referred to on that page.

Merric, I would play in your game anytime.

Killing monsters and taking their stuff

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You rang?

Here, here! Well said, play the game you all want to play and enjoy it! As I've stated before, all the players and DM must be on the same page, however. Expectations need to be set before the first char is rolled up, and everyone needs to know what style of play will be the norm.

I find I have less difficulty with this kind of play as a DM than as a player.

As a DM, I run the world. It's up to the players to interact with it. If they choose combat, there are risks and rewards associated. If they choose problem-solving or role-play, they still get similar experience; but perhaps not as much other reward since there is not as much mortal risk. I think that my group has realized that I will reward non-combat solutions, so they don't try to slay & loot everything. But there is still a lot of combat. It's a rare night of play with no combat. Whatever maximizes their fun is okay with me.

As a player, I love combat. I want to jump right in when it is necessary, which is most of the time. What I hate is the kill-a-monster-and-take-its-treasure rut. I especially hate it in games other than D&D, like Star Wars. I want to play characters that aren't self-motivated and self-supported vigilantes. I figure a character like that would ally with other characters and organizations of similar motivation. I want my characters to be about who they are, what they do and how they do it rather than what they have (which is the rut since many characters are defined by their possessions). My characters modify their equipment to suit them. I don't modify my character to suit the equipment. The "stuff" is just a means to an end, it is not the end itself. It really does not bother me to use up equipment. The character will get more or do without. I don't hoard magic items for that certain time. If I can't use something, I will prefer to give it to a character who can. Otherwise, I like to fire and forget--early and often.

Sadly, most of my gaming companions do not agree. I have 2 buddies who basically gave up on a campaign when their stuff got destroyed by lightning. One died in the blast. He was more upset at losing his carefully squirreled away stuff than the death of the character. The other lived but lost a few magic items. He basically quit the game. He came back sporadically, but he never really enjoyed it. In contrast, my character died in the same blast. I immediately took over running an absent player's character who took my one charge of my one surviving magic item and covered the party's retreat by expending it. That is the kind of game I want to play.

Incidentally, the other charges were used early and often in fending off other encounters in which the other characters didn't fire their "big guns" first or at all. We all ended up on the wrong end of some bad decisions and dice rolls, so I felt vindicated in my choices.

My playing preferences probably spill over to my DMing. I figure that I need to run exactly the kind of game I want to play since I will probably never get to play in exactly the kind of game I want. My current DMing is going very well, so that's good. It's a sure sign that my little band of vigilantes is having fun...

Ding, ding! (A DM gets his wings)

Keep up the good work MerricB! If ereyone's having fun, you're doing it right!

Yarrrhhhh!!!!

'Tis fun to play like that IMHO, especially if there is some mix of rp to go with it. The game alsih20 is running has featured RP sessions where we wondered if we'd ever get around to any combat at all. And then, there come special events ;P. The last two sessions were a sublime mix of RP and action, but the overriding aspect was Action!

Today, the day after, I find I am bathing in the glow of some 6+ Ogres including an Ogre Champion, two Minotaurs, one Draco-croc/croco-lich something or other, two hags, countless gnolls, and one kobold killed dead deader than dead. And a Tyrannosaurous Rex taken outta action. Epic 5th level action brought on by impassioned pleas from two Dryads, which lead to a tactical adventure on an open plain to get past devious defenses and under a waterfall, past traps and murder-holes galore into a dastardly dungeon. Bodies ended up everywhere, mostly unfriendly ;p.

And loot to be had!

'Twas fun.

I figure the next session or so to be round after round of diplo/bluff checks, but who cares!

Where do you find these people? I have to have NPCs along with the players to pick up useful magical items so the players will eventually use it.

I love the combat in DnD 3.5. Even last session when we got our asses handed to us by a Ragewalker (from MM3). Twice.