Interesting encounters - what is the secret sauce?

M.T. Black

Hero

• Apr 23, 2017

• #1

Hi folks,

I heard Mike Mearls on DragonTalk recently, talking about Forge of Fury. He noted the need to make the dungeon very dynamic, because if you just played it as a room by room monster bash, it would become quite "boring". I've heard similar comments recently about other combat heavy adventures as well.

My question is simple - how do we keep combat interesting in a dungeon? What makes for a compelling experience when there is a whole heap of fighting in front of you?

 

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J

jimmytheccomic

First Post

• Apr 23, 2017

• #2

There's a few things I try to keep in mind for dungeon crawls:

-I try to avoid easy combats that are just there to drain resources, it eats time for not a lot of benefit. If a mid-level party walks into a room, I'm not just gonna put three orcs there. They won't win, it's a waste of time to roll initiative, set up the map, etc. I think it's short little combats like those that can make dungeons feel like grinds.

-I make sure to break up combat with exploration, puzzles, social challenges, interesting lore, etc.

-The combat itself needs to be interesting. "Bag of hit points with multi-attack" gets dull fast, and the solution isn't "more hit points and they deal more damages!". Look for enemies that inflict status effects, have unusual abilities, etc. Make sure it's creature types that interact well.

The third edition book "Dungeonscape" really walked me through how to make a dungeon cool, for my money it's the best splatbook ever written.

 

R

raleel

Explorer

• Apr 23, 2017

• #3

One ring I recently learned is to have your monsters run from combat if it makes sense. I had a party whack a couple of ogres quickly, and their chief saw. Then the Mage dropped darkness on him thinking they would leave him in a bad way.

He ran.

When they dropped the darkness, they essentially saw him departing through the rear door. They gave chase, right into his gnoll lackeys, which afforded him enough time to get a little farther ahead. They have more chase and ran right into some armed guards. What was going to be a pretty boring battle turned into a running conflict over three groups with no rest

 

aramis erak

Legend

• Apr 23, 2017

• #4

The keys to good encounters are, IMO:

1) good description
2) meaningful choices.
2a) remembering that "whom to attack first?" is not really a meaningful choice

 

SwivSnapshot

First Post

• Apr 23, 2017

• #5

The DM and the Players investing in the premise of the encounter.

 

ccs

41st lv DM

• Apr 23, 2017

• #6

Knowing your players/audience.

 

M.T. Black

Hero

• Apr 24, 2017

• #7

aramis erak said:

The keys to good encounters are, IMO:

1) good description
2) meaningful choices.
2a) remembering that "whom to attack first?" is not really a meaningful choice

Click to expand...

Thanks! What are some examples of good "meaningful choices" in combat?

 

M.T. Black

Hero

• Apr 24, 2017

• #8

ccs said:

Knowing your players/audience.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the response! Can you expand on that a little bit? What do you need to know, and how does that shape your encounter design?

 

aramis erak

Legend

• Apr 24, 2017

• #9

M.T. Black said:

Thanks! What are some examples of good "meaningful choices" in combat?

Click to expand...

Once you're into combat, you've already gone past most meaningful choices. The only ones that really have meaning in combat are how to concentrate attacks, and when to flee. If the GM is good, Parley may still be an option, but many are not.

In dungeon, the choices need to be more than "In or Out". And note that if going left, right, or center makes no difference in what you encounter, the choice was not meaningful.

In encounters, the choice between Attack, Parley, Flee, Seduce, Avoid, and Evade is meaningful only if at least two of them are valid and have different effects.

 

S

Schmoe

Adventurer

• Apr 24, 2017

• #10

I find that combat needs to have a purpose for it to remain interesting and engaging. Sometimes "interesting tactical challenge" or "get the loot" can be enough, but the purpose needs to vary from time to time. This is where a dynamic dungeon becomes important, as the combats then become more about pursuing goals or stopping particular factions instead of just random slaughter.