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Is D&D Too Focused on Combat?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7734117" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Assessing and reacting to known threats are not the issue here. It's the unknown, or potential for unknown, threats that lie behind what's being discussed.</p><p></p><p>Say in your example they don't see any guards because the guards are concealed behind some curtains. There's no visible threat - no known threat. For all the PCs know the place might be unguarded.</p><p></p><p>If you make them roll here that's a fairly obvious (and highly unnecessary) metagame tip-off to the existence of a threat, unless you've previously established a precedent of using "dummy" rolls. Instead, better to just react to how the players/PCs decide to approach things, and do the rolling yourself whether needed or not.</p><p></p><p>"She's making us roll, there must be something here!" is pure metagame, particularly when before the roll is made the PCs immediately take actions (e.g. draw wapons, prepare spells, etc.) they wouldn't have otherwise done.</p><p></p><p>Which comes right back to the same sticking point: how do the PCs in character (and players at the table) know that this particular hallway is the one that matters, as opposed to the previous three which didn't or the next two they haven't got to yet?</p><p></p><p>That's right: they can't and shouldn't know; and thus both the mechanical and narrative approach to all six passages really should be exactly the same.</p><p></p><p>Again - and I seem to keep coming back to this - you can't apply hindsight to the here-and-now, which is what's happening here. Neither players nor PCs know there is no nameless horror until <em>after</em> they've done enough exploration to determine there's nothing there; and thus <em>while</em> they're engaged in that exploration process you have to go through the motions as if there is somethng there. </p><p></p><p>I do this all the time. <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>Lanefan</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7734117, member: 29398"] Assessing and reacting to known threats are not the issue here. It's the unknown, or potential for unknown, threats that lie behind what's being discussed. Say in your example they don't see any guards because the guards are concealed behind some curtains. There's no visible threat - no known threat. For all the PCs know the place might be unguarded. If you make them roll here that's a fairly obvious (and highly unnecessary) metagame tip-off to the existence of a threat, unless you've previously established a precedent of using "dummy" rolls. Instead, better to just react to how the players/PCs decide to approach things, and do the rolling yourself whether needed or not. "She's making us roll, there must be something here!" is pure metagame, particularly when before the roll is made the PCs immediately take actions (e.g. draw wapons, prepare spells, etc.) they wouldn't have otherwise done. Which comes right back to the same sticking point: how do the PCs in character (and players at the table) know that this particular hallway is the one that matters, as opposed to the previous three which didn't or the next two they haven't got to yet? That's right: they can't and shouldn't know; and thus both the mechanical and narrative approach to all six passages really should be exactly the same. Again - and I seem to keep coming back to this - you can't apply hindsight to the here-and-now, which is what's happening here. Neither players nor PCs know there is no nameless horror until [I]after[/I] they've done enough exploration to determine there's nothing there; and thus [I]while[/I] they're engaged in that exploration process you have to go through the motions as if there is somethng there. I do this all the time. :) Lanefan [/QUOTE]
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