Are you learning anything from D&D Encounters?

I'm really enjoying playing D&D Encounters because it has introduced me to new people who play the game and they have shown me completely different styles of playing and DMing than I've encountered before.

One of those new styles comes from our DM. He is running the session the way I ran a group through the Descent board game. Extremely little role-playing. Box text disclaimed as "the zombies' defeat result in box text appearing in the room" and then being summarized as a bare coat of varnish to move the party to the next room.

This is not how anyone in my regular group DMs, including myself, and I initially found it off-putting.

But I'm getting my role-playing fix by increasing the amount of description I give to my gith monk's attacks and misses. I'm trying to talk to the antagonists and my team in the middle of combats. I'm spending down time during the week thinking up better catchphrases and signature moves rather than dwelling on back story. I'm rereading the flavor text of my powers and using it during the game. (Which has created a new pet-peeve of mine: why don't character builder power cards have the flavor text on them?!)

As a result, I'm really enjoying 4E combat for the first time and it's starting to rub off on my regular group. It doesn't feel like a grind anymore, and is turning into the cinematic experience WotC promised during the prelude to 4E's release.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Is playing regularly with strangers changing your play style?

For the DMs: Is DMing regularly with strangers changing your DMing style? Are there some things you are seeing players do you've never seen or heard of before?

TikkchikFenTikktikk said:

(Which has created a new pet-peeve of mine: why don't character builder power cards have the flavor text on them?!)

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They can. There's an option box right at the top of the character sheet window that gives the options Hide Flavor Text, Flavor Text Above Power, and Flavor Text Below Power.

Grydan said:

They can. There's an option box right at the top of the character sheet window that gives the options Hide Flavor Text, Flavor Text Above Power, and Flavor Text Below Power.

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Good to know. I never noticed that. I don't subscribe to DDI anymore so I couldn't check.

No one at the table knows either, because I've complained about it several times and none of them have flavor text on their cards either. I'll have to share this with them tonight.

Problem is, enabling flavor text disables the figured formulas for your equipped weapons. The cards don't have room for both.

On Puget Sound said:

Problem is, enabling flavor text disables the figured formulas for your equipped weapons. The cards don't have room for both.

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I've never had that problem. If you can't see the weapons, right click the card and customize it. You can then add the weapons you want tracked.

2 ways I've found of getting my enthusiasm going again in 30 odd years of gaming: change groups anf change game systems. I've played the same basic adventure dozens of time most likely, but a new group of players might approach it in a different (and interesting) way, and a new set of mechanics to figure out means what is essentially the same challenge takes on a new perspective if you are rolling D20 instead of 3D6, D% etc

Encounters has provided me with my first opportunity to GM, thus there are countless things I have learned.

Some of the more noteworthy are:

Use the environment/terrain. I noticed that if allowed PCs will find a comfy spot on the combat map and just sit back and roll their attacks. Forced movements, difficult terrain, cover, terrain that grants additional damage and explosions/fire are all things that keep the players moving around and thinking on there feet.

One of my favorite examples was a random teleport I used in the Plaguechanged Eladrin encounter. It was a long hall emptying into an 8x8 square room and I didn't want my ranged PCs to hide in the hallway and just lob bombs at the enemy. So every so often I had all the PCs roll 2d8 which provided the coordinates for where they would get teleported to in the room. It was a mad scramble each time and a lot of fun.

Reward/react to role play. We hear it all the time "there is not room for roleplay in 4E" but I have learned that it is up to me to facilitate it as much as possible. The guy playing our Dwarven Cleric is really old school and he just gets it. Every attack and action is accompanied with him calling down Moradin's wrath or insulting his enemies. The table loves it and starts joining in.

But as for my involvement... when he collected shards from the crystaline structures in one room, I made sure I gave the shards properties that can be used in the the following encounters. When he performed funeral rights on the plaguechanged Eladrin, laying the poor soul to rest; I had Moradin smile on his merciful cleric granting him a 1d4 bonus to defenses for 1d4 rounds of combat in the next encounter. The group is catching on an reacting with more and more roleplay.

Those are two things I thought I'd share.