D&D General Why Exploration Is the Worst Pillar

[Todd Roybark]

3e killed The Exploration Pillar...or at least started it's demise.

Instead of describing one's investigation activities, such deeds are reduced to Skill Checks.
How likely are you to succeed at an untrained Skill Check in 3e + PF?

If Exploration is a synonym for a boundless multitude of Perception and Investigation Ability Checks....then outside of the Rogue, the Bard, and Whomever the Cleric is casting Guidance on, everyone else is at best using the Help Action-(and bored).......
.......or at worst, the newbies are inserting opposable digits into nether places, doing nothing,
and are bored.

My cup does not runneth over.

You can make exploration fun, but apparently not in any official WotC adventures.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Exploration was much more fun when D&D used hexcrawl, that made exploration interesting and dangerous, now modern D&D is mostly about skipping the journey so that the players can get into the game,

The Official 5e modules have quite a bit of traveling, built in. I'm not sure it is fun.

My experience is that players that are very goal driven, don't want to randomly chose a hex in the Crystalmist Mountains and start drawing area maps and wander.

My experience is that players that do not enjoy resource management as much as others, really dislike having to keep track of rations, and supplies, and how much fat intake is in their migratory diet.

Some DMs can breath life into results randomly rolled on various tables, but even those few talented folks, run out of steam.

I love Exploration, but a nice scene change is fine with me as well.

 

[Mercurius]

Combat and social interaction provide an easier pay-off, and most people seem to find one or the other their favorite aspect of the play experience. Exploration is harder to do well, but can also be highly rewarding. It doesn't provide the same instant gratification of combat or tickle the thespian urge of many players like social interaction does.

I find that when exploration fails or is weak, it usually involves elements from both the DM and players.

On the DM's side of things, it may involve shallow world-building, a weak grasp of the lore, and awkward exposition, either too much ("info dumping") or too little ("paper-thin set pieces").

For players it may involve lack of curiosity or an unwillingness to stretch beyond the more common tempermental preferences of either tactical action or talking and role-playing.

 

[Lanefan]

I find that when exploration fails or is weak, it usually involves elements from both the DM and players.

On the DM's side of things, it may involve shallow world-building, a weak grasp of the lore, and awkward exposition, either too much ("info dumping") or too little ("paper-thin set pieces").

For players it may involve lack of curiosity or an unwillingness to stretch beyond the more common tempermental preferences of either tactical action or talking and role-playing.

I suspect that with the bit I've bolded you've absolutely nailed it.

To be of any interest at all, exploration requires curiosity. Once the setting or scene is described, if the players aren't curious what's around the next corner or over that range of hills or behind that locked door then exploration play will be lost on them...which IMO defeats much of the point of playing.

This is also why, when starting or joining a new campaign as a player, I far prefer to be playing in a brand new setting I've never seen or heard of before rather than a pre-published one: if it's completely new I don't and can't know it, and thus I get to be curious about it and have it actually be new when I - via my character(s) - explore it.

 

[Orcslayer78]

The Official 5e modules have quite a bit of traveling, built in. I'm not sure it is fun.

My experience is that players that are very goal driven, don't want to randomly chose a hex in the Crystalmist Mountains and start drawing area maps and wander.

My experience is that players that do not enjoy resource management as much as others, really dislike having to keep track of rations, and supplies, and how much fat intake is in their migratory diet.

Some DMs can breath life into results randomly rolled on various tables, but even those few talented folks, run out of steam.

I love Exploration, but a nice scene change is fine with me as well.

Yeah well to change scene you can make the players meet travellers or make them find small settlements.

 

[Orcslayer78]

I suspect that with the bit I've bolded you've absolutely nailed it.

To be of any interest at all, exploration requires curiosity. Once the setting or scene is described, if the players aren't curious what's around the next corner or over that range of hills or behind that locked door then exploration play will be lost on them...which IMO defeats much of the point of playing.

This is also why, when starting or joining a new campaign as a player, I far prefer to be playing in a brand new setting I've never seen or heard of before rather than a pre-published one: if it's completely new I don't and can't know it, and thus I get to be curious about it and have it actually be new when I - via my character(s) - explore it.

I would add another element, to be enjoyable, exploration should be done for the sake of itself, not to find a goal. If they need to find "The Tower of the Evil Necromancer" the hexcrawl becomes frustrating if they can't find it soon, but if they explore the exes for other reasons, like to find the perfect place where to build their stronghold, exploration would become no moreonly a way to reach the goal but the goal itself.

 

[commandercrud]

I totally disagree. Exploration is a massive and fun part of the game. People think D&D is a combat game because most of the rules are dedicated to combat. That's just not true. Social interaction and exploration are definitely at least equal to combat in importance and dedicated game time (at least in my games). You just don't need rules for those parts.

Forgotten Realms, however, is a terrible setting. Mostly because there's nothing left to explore there.

 

[jgsugden]

Not to go to the same well over and over, but Critical Role is a game that uses 5E rules and still manages to make the Exploration Pillar interesting. If you struggle, listen to a little Critical Role. The first few (recorded) episodes of season 1 covers their investigation into the underdark. Episode 57 of season 1 is their search for some powerful magic items which involves a fair bit of exploration. Season 2 episodes 36 starts a sea exploration phase. Around Episode 66 or 67 of Season 2 begins a traditional dungeon delve with more exploration than combat.

 

[Fanaelialae]

I agree with those that have said that exploration can be great fun, and that if it isn't it's likely because it was done poorly. I think that some DMs tend to mostly skip over it because they aren't good at it, but by doing so they never get better at it. It becomes a feedback loop.

I used the rules from AiME for a while, and they worked fairly well. Now I prefer the system from Into The Unknown, and that has worked even better for me.

That said, the best DM I know is very good at running exploration, and he pretty much uses just the 5e rules (although he's incorporated the use of a dice oracle of his own devising).

In order to make exploration interesting, you have to provide interesting things for the players to explore/find. If your social encounters were all with the same bland, monotone NPC, they wouldn't be very fun. If every combat is against the same 4 goblins, it would get old in no time.

There needs to be variety, purpose, and challenge to exploration encounters to make them worthwhile. Not every exploration scene needs to feature all three, but without at least one of them it's just pointless filler.

 

[Minigiant]

I totally disagree. Exploration is a massive and fun part of the game. People think D&D is a combat game because most of the rules are dedicated to combat. That's just not true. Social interaction and exploration are definitely at least equal to combat in importance and dedicated game time (at least in my games). You just don't need rules for those parts.

Forgotten Realms, however, is a terrible setting. Mostly because there's nothing left to explore there.

FR has too little left to explore, too many NPCs to interact with, and too much going on

Therefore it puts too much onus on the DM and players to find the edges and then describe them. The 4E's Points of Light idea was great for exploration as it plainly says "we have no idea what is happening on the main road from Point A to Point B. Could be anything". This let you tailor exploration to whatever the group liked: resource management, descriptive narrative, puzzles, survival simulation, stealth missions, action adventure, etc...