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Is D&D Too Focused on Combat?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7733286" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Logistics? Largely faded away from the game (a negative development)</p><p>Exploration? Fading away from the game (a negative development).</p><p>Interaction? Starting to fade away, replaced in part by combat-like rules (a negative development).</p><p>Combat? Not going anywhere, because it's all that's left.</p><p></p><p>And why is this?</p><p></p><p>The simple answer is that today's players and DMs seem to expect/demand a much faster pace of play both in the small scale and in the large. They approach every normal session as though it's a tournament game where whoever gets the farthest (or levels up the most) wins...and while this is fine for tournaments it really takes a lot out of the game otherwise.</p><p></p><p>Logistics - the careful tracking of gear, encumbrance, food and water, torches, party treasury, minor personal expenses, and so forth; along with the hiring of henches and porters and the like to carry stuff - take time to do, and thus slow down the pace of play. Encumbrance was generally the first to go - people just stopped bothering (and of this I too am guilty). Careful tracking of minor resources (food, water, torches, etc.) was next, along with tracking of minor personal expenses to buy these things (other than maybe during session 0). And the last reported sighting of anything resembling a hench in RAW was the cohort that came bundled with 3e's leadership feat. Score a major victory for the anti-realism crew.</p><p></p><p>Exploration - including careful mapping, trial-and-error magic item testing, puzzles and riddles, etc. - also takes time to do, and worse than that it rudely inserts itself between the exciting fighty swashbuckly bits. And so it's slowly being abandoned in favour of a few die rolls and-or automatically knowing what an item does once you pick it up and hold it for a moment and-or nobody on either side of the screen bothering with a map. This is reflected in a steady (though uneven) trend of simplification in dungeon/adventure design as time goes on, along with some elements being hard-written into the rules e.g. the magic item identifying example.</p><p></p><p>Interaction - the talky bits, role-playing (as opposed to dice-rolling) your way into and out of situations, engaging with the NPCs in character - has been over the last few editions quite strongly encouraged to go away by the RAW, to be replaced by dice. This started in late 2e days and then was codified in 3e's skill system - diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, etc. - which, modified, remains in place still. That actual interaction has stuck around as much as it has is a credit to all involved who haven't forgotten that role-playing means playing a role. </p><p></p><p>Combat. Almost everyone likes combat. Dice fly, things happen, enemies fall, xp pile up...all is good, and the rules support it more or less half-decently in all editions. Yet what's the biggest complaint about high-level 3e and mid-to-high-level 4e? Yep, that's right: the combats take too long.</p><p></p><p>So, how to bring back the Logistics and Exploration aspects of the game? Supporting and encouraging them - rather than the opposite - within the RAW is step one; but a more important step 2 would be to strongly advise all involved to simply slow down and take the flippin' time. Don't expect or demand that the campaign simply jump from set-piece to set-piece or encounter to encounter or framed-scene to framed-scene; you're missing everything that can happen in between and turning your back on the rest of the game. Further; when everything's exciting, nothing is; and you're at constant risk of getting into "how do I top this?" mode.</p><p></p><p>Another way to look at it: in an average day during a dangerous adventure maybe a sum total of half an hour of game time will be actual encounters or combat or framed scenes. Why not give some thought to what the PCs are doing with the other 23+ hours in the day? I'm by no means suggesting playing out every little detail of their day (to forestall the expected criticism I'll get), but for gawds sake allow some role-played downtime between encounters to track resources or chat around the campfire, or allow the players to spend the time between one encounter and the next mapping out where they're going; and every now and then ask how their supplies are doing. (for example: last night my party got up into the mountains and hit some cold weather - it suddenly became very relevant who had winter gear on hand [one character did; another has magical cold protection] and who didn't [everyone else in the party])</p><p></p><p>With this in mind I see the 4e DM advice to just "go where the action is" (and by implication skip everything in between) as probably the worst thing ever written in a D&D rulebook.</p><p></p><p>The game is endless. Play it that way. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>Lan-"putting up the tomato-catching net now"-efan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7733286, member: 29398"] Logistics? Largely faded away from the game (a negative development) Exploration? Fading away from the game (a negative development). Interaction? Starting to fade away, replaced in part by combat-like rules (a negative development). Combat? Not going anywhere, because it's all that's left. And why is this? The simple answer is that today's players and DMs seem to expect/demand a much faster pace of play both in the small scale and in the large. They approach every normal session as though it's a tournament game where whoever gets the farthest (or levels up the most) wins...and while this is fine for tournaments it really takes a lot out of the game otherwise. Logistics - the careful tracking of gear, encumbrance, food and water, torches, party treasury, minor personal expenses, and so forth; along with the hiring of henches and porters and the like to carry stuff - take time to do, and thus slow down the pace of play. Encumbrance was generally the first to go - people just stopped bothering (and of this I too am guilty). Careful tracking of minor resources (food, water, torches, etc.) was next, along with tracking of minor personal expenses to buy these things (other than maybe during session 0). And the last reported sighting of anything resembling a hench in RAW was the cohort that came bundled with 3e's leadership feat. Score a major victory for the anti-realism crew. Exploration - including careful mapping, trial-and-error magic item testing, puzzles and riddles, etc. - also takes time to do, and worse than that it rudely inserts itself between the exciting fighty swashbuckly bits. And so it's slowly being abandoned in favour of a few die rolls and-or automatically knowing what an item does once you pick it up and hold it for a moment and-or nobody on either side of the screen bothering with a map. This is reflected in a steady (though uneven) trend of simplification in dungeon/adventure design as time goes on, along with some elements being hard-written into the rules e.g. the magic item identifying example. Interaction - the talky bits, role-playing (as opposed to dice-rolling) your way into and out of situations, engaging with the NPCs in character - has been over the last few editions quite strongly encouraged to go away by the RAW, to be replaced by dice. This started in late 2e days and then was codified in 3e's skill system - diplomacy, bluff, intimidate, etc. - which, modified, remains in place still. That actual interaction has stuck around as much as it has is a credit to all involved who haven't forgotten that role-playing means playing a role. Combat. Almost everyone likes combat. Dice fly, things happen, enemies fall, xp pile up...all is good, and the rules support it more or less half-decently in all editions. Yet what's the biggest complaint about high-level 3e and mid-to-high-level 4e? Yep, that's right: the combats take too long. So, how to bring back the Logistics and Exploration aspects of the game? Supporting and encouraging them - rather than the opposite - within the RAW is step one; but a more important step 2 would be to strongly advise all involved to simply slow down and take the flippin' time. Don't expect or demand that the campaign simply jump from set-piece to set-piece or encounter to encounter or framed-scene to framed-scene; you're missing everything that can happen in between and turning your back on the rest of the game. Further; when everything's exciting, nothing is; and you're at constant risk of getting into "how do I top this?" mode. Another way to look at it: in an average day during a dangerous adventure maybe a sum total of half an hour of game time will be actual encounters or combat or framed scenes. Why not give some thought to what the PCs are doing with the other 23+ hours in the day? I'm by no means suggesting playing out every little detail of their day (to forestall the expected criticism I'll get), but for gawds sake allow some role-played downtime between encounters to track resources or chat around the campfire, or allow the players to spend the time between one encounter and the next mapping out where they're going; and every now and then ask how their supplies are doing. (for example: last night my party got up into the mountains and hit some cold weather - it suddenly became very relevant who had winter gear on hand [one character did; another has magical cold protection] and who didn't [everyone else in the party]) With this in mind I see the 4e DM advice to just "go where the action is" (and by implication skip everything in between) as probably the worst thing ever written in a D&D rulebook. The game is endless. Play it that way. :) Lan-"putting up the tomato-catching net now"-efan [/QUOTE]
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