[Rule of Three] 4/10/2012...

[P1NBACK]

Rounds are an abstract unit of time. Removing all abstract units of time, also removes rounds.

Rounds are not an abstract unit of time. Rounds are 10 seconds (or insert your edition's equivalent). That's not abstract. That's a pretty specific unit of time.

Yes.

Strange.

I've never been in a game where someone used rounds for roleplaying outside of combat or other conflict resolution mechanics, except in special circumstances, like maybe Skill Challenges.

So, you're like, "Ok, let's begin the game. You're all standing around the inn. Roll for initiative. Bob, you won. What are you doing? Drinking beer? Awesome. Sam, you're next. What are you doing? Talking to the wench? Yeah, she seems interested, but she might need a few drinks to liven her up. Sarah, you're next. Oh, you're talking to the wizened old man who seems like he wants to give you a quest? Awesome. He tells you the details and says he'll pay you 50gp. Hold on. Bob, your turn is up again. What do you want to do? Oh, well you spent a minor action drinking beer last round. You can move or talk this round."

Yeah?

 

[Leatherhead]

Rounds are not an abstract unit of time. Rounds are 10 seconds (or insert your edition's equivalent). That's not abstract. That's a pretty specific unit of time.

Approximately is not specifically. I don't think any edition says "A round is exactly x seconds long." But then again I haven't taken an in depth look at the ones before 2nd, so I could be wrong about those early edition.

I've never been in a game where someone used rounds for roleplaying outside of combat or other conflict resolution mechanics, except in special circumstances, like maybe Skill Challenges.

Maybe, but you only asked about non-combat in general.

 

[P1NBACK]

Approximately is not specifically. I don't think any edition says "A round is exactly x seconds long." But then again I haven't taken an in depth look at the ones before 2nd, so I could be wrong about those early edition.

Sure.

But, it's still pretty specific about what a round is in terms of time.

For example, in Moldvay Basic, "Time in D&D adventures is given in turns of ten minutes each" and "'Normal' time in D&D games is measured in turns of 10 minutes each" and "Time in encounters is measured in rounds of 10 seconds each" and "Since a round is 10 seconds long and a turn is 10 minutes long, there are 60 rounds to a turn".

Maybe, but you only asked about combat.

I asked about outside of combat:

Huh? How so? Do you use actions per round outside of combat? Does it become "Cops & Robbers" at that point?

If you're fine with handling outside of combat without specific units of time, why does combat necessarily have to have rounds?

 

[Ahnehnois]

That would be impossible.
OK, well maybe not impossible, but without actions per round, combat would dissolve into "Cops and Robbers."

"Round" is not an abstract unit of time. It is another word for "six seconds", which is an objective measure of time, as is any number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, etc. An action is a subdivision of that time, and is enforced consistently. Thus, while no one knows quite how long a standard action or move action takes, they are at least somewhat objective.

"Session" is an abstract unit of time. "Adventure" is an abstract unit of time. So are "encounter" and "milestone". They are subject to individual interpretation.

I don't see that the article or my post aren't clearly referencing this distinction. I think this distinction is pretty clearly where a lot of people draw a line on what makes sense to them in a game rule and what doesn't. (I don't, however).

 

[Crazy Jerome]

Either do crafting well, or don't do it at all. Caveat, "don't do it at all" includes putting in a few lines on the character sheet that cost no appreciable resources and vaguely tie crafting into the character--that's flavor imitating mechanic, not actual mechancial crafting.

Doing crafting well would include exploring the concept in a fantastical world that a straight lift of ancient/medieval crafts, plus alchemy, plus "enchanting items" is merely a starting place. If the world is fantastical, then there should be an option for the crafting to be fantastical as well.

 

[dkyle]

I'd like to see two kinds of crafting, based on the non-combat Background vs. combat Theme distinction I'd like to see:

* Background-based crafting. This, like other Backgrounds, would focus on non-combat skills. A traditional Blacksmith would be an example. It would enable creating, during long downtime, mundane weapons, that could be given/traded/sold to others. It might also give bonuses with dealing with traps, and perhaps military history knowledge.

* Theme-based crafting. This would be focused on crafting that gives the crafter specific in-combat abilities. Poisons, Alchemical grenades, and Herbs might fall under this. The items would have a short shelf-life (meaning that only a few could be maintained at a time, and some downtime would be needed to refresh them), and be difficult to use by anyone not trained in using them.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm in accord with this Ro3, as per usual.

For me, crafting in its simplest form looks like this:

• When you have access to a town and resources, you can make a mundane item for half the PHB price.
• When given special materials, you can make particular magic/special items for yourself or others.

This lets you make leather backpacks when you're in town for cheap (if your party needs some supplies), and it lets you use monster bits and special crafting materials as rewards -- essentially, giving them a customizable magic item, by giving them the raw material. I'm thinking stuff like winter wolf hides worked into cloaks of cold resistence and the like.

 

[Hussar]

As far as abstract time things, I have no problem with that for purely meta-game elements. For example, you could get 4 bennies per session (or whatever number) that you can spend to add a d4 to any die roll. You can earn extra bennies by doing X, Y or Z, but, you start the session with 4.

But for anything that's not a purely meta-game construct? No, I don't think that's a good idea.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

No "scene" limits to ability use, scene changes too arbitrarily, and I lean towards simulation on this issue.

Really, I always thought scean and story were better then day and encounter

I would love to see once per adventure powers replace once per day... That way 3 days travel from the dungeon to the Capitol to beat the lich who's phlactory you just broke doesn't reset everything.

And a scean could be a fight, a talk with an npc, or Both togather

 

[Stoat]

In 4E at least "encounter" is not an entirely abstract measure of time. An encounter is approximately 5 minutes.