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4e One-trick ponies: Why is it the DM's fault about combat grind?
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<blockquote data-quote="Truename" data-source="post: 4643298" data-attributes="member: 78255"><p>Does it matter who's to blame? It's not working for you, you're the DM, change it.</p><p></p><p>As for troubleshooting... I'm a relatively new DM running a standard array of characters through pre-published adventures (H1 & SoW2) and I've had very little problem with grind. Actually, I'm finding combat to be FAR more exciting and engaging than it was back when I last played 15-20 years ago. So if you're having trouble, I suspect it's something about your party or encounter composition.</p><p></p><p>Here's what I'm currently doing to make combats exciting (remember, I'm using pre-designed encounters):</p><p>- I'm emphasizing any and all terrain in the encounters, and playing it up when I can. My players love to utilize terrain.</p><p>- I'm very generous in my p.42 rulings for stunts. I think stunts add a lot and I want my players to use them.</p><p>- I pay strict attention to light radius (and how the stealth rules interact with this). Starting an encounter without knowing its whole scope and having attacks come out of the dark is cool.</p><p>- I encourage my players to describe their actions rather than naming powers.</p><p>- The last monster standing dies on the next hit, unless he's still a real threat. No need to drag out a foregone conclusion.</p><p>- I use Kamikaze Midget's "narrative combat arc" ideas. Combats generally start slow with a bit of positioning and posturing, then build, then climax with monsters using their most powerful/interesting powers after the combat's going against them. This change in pacing has worked very well and avoids the problem of everything interesting happening in the first few rounds.</p><p>- I have the monsters talk to each other, shout tactics, ask for help, and generally come to life verbally/descriptively. It works well with the "narrative arc" ideas, because I can have them shout that they're being overwhelmed, bring in the reinforcements, stop holding back, "I'm not left-handed" and so on.</p><p></p><p>And of course, there's all the great encounter design ideas in this thread: <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/247249-how-build-encounters-d-d-4th-edition-aka-only-you-can-prevent-grindspace-2.html" target="_blank">http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/247249-how-build-encounters-d-d-4th-edition-aka-only-you-can-prevent-grindspace-2.html</a></p><p></p><p>Good luck!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Truename, post: 4643298, member: 78255"] Does it matter who's to blame? It's not working for you, you're the DM, change it. As for troubleshooting... I'm a relatively new DM running a standard array of characters through pre-published adventures (H1 & SoW2) and I've had very little problem with grind. Actually, I'm finding combat to be FAR more exciting and engaging than it was back when I last played 15-20 years ago. So if you're having trouble, I suspect it's something about your party or encounter composition. Here's what I'm currently doing to make combats exciting (remember, I'm using pre-designed encounters): - I'm emphasizing any and all terrain in the encounters, and playing it up when I can. My players love to utilize terrain. - I'm very generous in my p.42 rulings for stunts. I think stunts add a lot and I want my players to use them. - I pay strict attention to light radius (and how the stealth rules interact with this). Starting an encounter without knowing its whole scope and having attacks come out of the dark is cool. - I encourage my players to describe their actions rather than naming powers. - The last monster standing dies on the next hit, unless he's still a real threat. No need to drag out a foregone conclusion. - I use Kamikaze Midget's "narrative combat arc" ideas. Combats generally start slow with a bit of positioning and posturing, then build, then climax with monsters using their most powerful/interesting powers after the combat's going against them. This change in pacing has worked very well and avoids the problem of everything interesting happening in the first few rounds. - I have the monsters talk to each other, shout tactics, ask for help, and generally come to life verbally/descriptively. It works well with the "narrative arc" ideas, because I can have them shout that they're being overwhelmed, bring in the reinforcements, stop holding back, "I'm not left-handed" and so on. And of course, there's all the great encounter design ideas in this thread: [URL]http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/247249-how-build-encounters-d-d-4th-edition-aka-only-you-can-prevent-grindspace-2.html[/URL] Good luck! [/QUOTE]
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4e One-trick ponies: Why is it the DM's fault about combat grind?
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