Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Can the DM drive roleplaying?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 2189992" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>This is a very good point.</p><p></p><p>Alot of time DM's complain about how thier players are only interested in busting doors down, bashing things, and taking thier treasure. But if you've set up things so that every problem can be adquately solved by busting down doors, bashing someone, and taking its treasure, then what do you expect to happen? </p><p></p><p>One thing I like to do early in a campaign is set up an encounter with something which is totally beyond the player's abilities to handle in combat, and which - for whatever reason - just wants to talk with the PC's or be left alone or barter or what not. If the PC's aren't terrified and try to attack, then I have the uber-thing toy with them (a powerful creature taking the total defence action is pretty hard to hit), disarm them, cast non-lethal spells on them (charm, web, hold person, sleep, etc.), or deal massive ammounts of subdual damage, and maybe engage in some petty robbery (whatever is appropriate). I have had total party knockouts early in some games. The lesson I'm trying to instill in as gentle of way as possible is that I don't expect the characters to deal with every problem in my game by trying to be the first beatdown, and that the fact that they don't immediately have to roll for initiative should often be seen as an oppurtunity to avoid the fight if they can rather than an oppurtunity to try to get the jump on something. 'Total Party Knockout' teaches the lesson next time you do that you could all be dead.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 2189992, member: 4937"] This is a very good point. Alot of time DM's complain about how thier players are only interested in busting doors down, bashing things, and taking thier treasure. But if you've set up things so that every problem can be adquately solved by busting down doors, bashing someone, and taking its treasure, then what do you expect to happen? One thing I like to do early in a campaign is set up an encounter with something which is totally beyond the player's abilities to handle in combat, and which - for whatever reason - just wants to talk with the PC's or be left alone or barter or what not. If the PC's aren't terrified and try to attack, then I have the uber-thing toy with them (a powerful creature taking the total defence action is pretty hard to hit), disarm them, cast non-lethal spells on them (charm, web, hold person, sleep, etc.), or deal massive ammounts of subdual damage, and maybe engage in some petty robbery (whatever is appropriate). I have had total party knockouts early in some games. The lesson I'm trying to instill in as gentle of way as possible is that I don't expect the characters to deal with every problem in my game by trying to be the first beatdown, and that the fact that they don't immediately have to roll for initiative should often be seen as an oppurtunity to avoid the fight if they can rather than an oppurtunity to try to get the jump on something. 'Total Party Knockout' teaches the lesson next time you do that you could all be dead. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Can the DM drive roleplaying?
Top