Blue
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
So I was thinking about RPG design (not about any specific game) and about wall clock time spent. There's a lot fo things that we already do - go out and buying normal equipment at a well equipped settlement is probably no rolls, just "mark off the money". The flip side is a deadly combat that might take an hour or more for less than a minute of game time.
I'd like to explore where people mind streamlining in order to save wall time for thing that may be either more important/higher stakes or more inclusive. Examples are kinda given in D&D-isms as a common language, but don't assume that game, or even that type of game.
Low-stakes are just that. Look, you have 30 poorly made goblin blades from killing the tribe, can you get some money for them? If you make 25gp or 30gp won't break the party. Or a horse racing to settle a bet.
Moderate stakes is where there is a noticeable but not high consequence. 5th level characters vs. some wolves which might cause some damage or requires some resources spent but isn't going to cause any fatalities.
High-stakes are more important and could have major consequences. This is an interesting category because we have some low-inclusion example are traditionally already compressed, such as trying to disable a trap - it's usually just one roll, even though it could be a big effect.
And that's a great jump off into how many people are involved. If you have a single party face convincing the duek, do you want it as detailed as combat, reduced to a single roll, or somewhere in the middle with RP and an ebb and flow, but still significantly quicker than something everyone is involved in. How about a one-on-one honor battle to unconsciousness where the other characters are just spectators?
And that introduces how much to compress. "Off camera" level of compression where a shopping trip might be a single roll for discount, some play with RP/narrative and a few important rolls based on how that works out, or high level of detail like combat.
The poll assumes a high level of detail, and is asking about when it is okay to compress to one of those other states. Please pick all that apply and it's okay if there is overlap.
I'd like to explore where people mind streamlining in order to save wall time for thing that may be either more important/higher stakes or more inclusive. Examples are kinda given in D&D-isms as a common language, but don't assume that game, or even that type of game.
Low-stakes are just that. Look, you have 30 poorly made goblin blades from killing the tribe, can you get some money for them? If you make 25gp or 30gp won't break the party. Or a horse racing to settle a bet.
Moderate stakes is where there is a noticeable but not high consequence. 5th level characters vs. some wolves which might cause some damage or requires some resources spent but isn't going to cause any fatalities.
High-stakes are more important and could have major consequences. This is an interesting category because we have some low-inclusion example are traditionally already compressed, such as trying to disable a trap - it's usually just one roll, even though it could be a big effect.
And that's a great jump off into how many people are involved. If you have a single party face convincing the duek, do you want it as detailed as combat, reduced to a single roll, or somewhere in the middle with RP and an ebb and flow, but still significantly quicker than something everyone is involved in. How about a one-on-one honor battle to unconsciousness where the other characters are just spectators?
And that introduces how much to compress. "Off camera" level of compression where a shopping trip might be a single roll for discount, some play with RP/narrative and a few important rolls based on how that works out, or high level of detail like combat.
The poll assumes a high level of detail, and is asking about when it is okay to compress to one of those other states. Please pick all that apply and it's okay if there is overlap.
