D&D General Can we talk about best practices?

[Lanefan]

The character sheets stay with the GM, because the GM won't forget to bring all the notes to every game. If you want to look at your character sheet at home, take a photo.

Absolutely. That's been our rule here forever; and on the rare occasions a player takes a sheet home and forgets to bring it back next session, it's a given that said player will miss part of that session due to going home right then to get it.

When I said "keep the old [sheet]" I meant clip it to the back of the new one rather than crumple it up and throw it away, which I've seen done. (online or digitized sheets are even worse for this, as it's too easy to just edit what's there rather than create a duplicate file and edit that so as to preserve the old one).

 

[Fanaelialae]

Is it, though?

I mean, for a "heavily narrative" game, using 5E isn't that different from playing slovesochka, the game of "the GM will tell you what happens" and for an oldschool dungeoncrawler you'll need to backport (or invent) turn-based exploration, reaction rolls, wandering monsters tables... A ton of stuff.

I certainly understand the appeal of a multitool, but I don't think 5E really is one. GURPS is a multitool alright. Fate, too.

What 5E really provides is absence of tools outside of it's sweet spot, so, yeah, it doesn't get in the way of whatever you're trying to run, but it also doesn't really help.

GURPS is flexible, but it wouldn't be my first choice to run either a narratively focused fantasy game, or an old school dungeon crawl. It might be a better choice than 5e for certain concepts, but not those IMO.

Fate might be great for the narratively focused game, but IMO it is not well suited for running an old school dungeon crawl.

I've seen narratively focused games run in 5e out of the box. Same for dungeon crawls. You don't have to invent new mechanics, though it could enhance the experience. When I ran my players through ToH (just for the fun of saying we'd done it), rather than turn-based, I just kept a running tally of their time. Using turns might have been more convenient, but I certainly didn't NEED them. (Also, 5e already has wandering monster tables.)

There are also a ton of great 3P products out there that let you customize your 5e game the way you like. For an old school dungeon crawl (just off the top of my head) you have The King of Dungeons, Five Torches Deep, and Into the Unknown. I'm not as familiar with the narratively oriented products, because they're not my cup of tea, but they are out there.

Finally, if you do want to customize the experience by designing bespoke mechanics for your 5e game and style of play, you can. As you say, it doesn't get in your way, which is a big plus in my book, and I think for plenty of others as well.

 

[jasper]

Know the rules.
Know when to tell Jasper to BEEP off.
Know to send jasper 9.99 each month so HE can tell what are the best for practices.
Know your comfort level, and your players comfort level
Know every one on the internet is a goober if you disagree with their post.

 

[loverdrive]

I've seen narratively focused games run in 5e out of the box.

I've seen these too. I've played in one for a year and a half.

I don't think it's really a proff of 5E's ability to handle narratively focused games, though -- it's a proof that the DM can handle one. I mean, the difference between using 5E in such fashion and not using any system at all is pretty negligible.

 

[Umbran]

Again, it isn't either/or - but without being grounded in the Rule of Fun, you divorce yourself from the bottom line of what matters: which is the enjoyment of those at the table.

Specifically, if you don't ground in the Rule of Fun, and check regularly that you are following it, you run the risk of following "best practices" for the sake of them being "best", as doctrine. And don't you have enough people telling you to follow rules for the sake of the rules?

 

[Fanaelialae]

I've seen these too. I've played in one for a year and a half.

I don't think it's really a proff of 5E's ability to handle narratively focused games, though -- it's a proof that the DM can handle one. I mean, the difference between using 5E in such fashion and not using any system at all is pretty negligible.

I think that arguing that it needs a DM to work is a fairly weak criticism.

I never made any claim that 5e is the ideal game for running a narratively focused game. I said that it was capable of running either a narratively focused game or an old school dungeon crawl. Not that it was the best at either. Heck, you could have a game where you do both (delve deep tombs in an old school manner, but also have segments that ditch the procedure and focus on the narrative). Not every game can do both, IMO.

Yes, some of that comes down to leveraging the GM, which is something that most games do. Maybe 5e relies on the GM more heavily than some other games, but (as in all things) there are trade-offs in game design. A flexible design is likely to rely more on the GM than a more focused design, much like a sandbox adventure is likely to expect more of the GM than a linear adventure. Assuming that the players engage with the linear adventure, the DM can read the box text and move from A to B to C. Whereas the sandbox is naturally going to expect the GM to need to improvise, and is simply going to provide aids to that end, because the players' engagement is open ended (within the scope of the sandbox).

 

[Stalker0]

We have to first understand that there is no one "best practices" for all of RPGs. Or even all of D&D.

Though I believe such a list is small, it does exist, and the exercise is to find them.

i think the best one offered so far is about communication and the setting of expectations at session 0. I cannot fathom a dnd game that would not be well served (or at least neutrally served) by a bit of communication.

 

[Umbran]

I think that arguing that it needs a DM to work is a fairly weak criticism.

First, let's make sure we agree on what is being criticized.

If you see a movie, it may be good. But, you can realize that the movie was carried not by the strength of the script, or special effects, but by the sheer talent of the actors. The movie is still good, but the script lacks interesting structure, has some plot holes, and the dialogue is dull - this is a criticism of the script, rather than the movie as a whole. Similarly, we can make criticism of any given ruleset, wihout criticizing the D&D zeitgeist, so to speak.

There's also a question as to whether "fails to deliver an experience it wasn't designed to deliver" is proper criticism, but I think that's a bit pedantic - the point that the rules give very little support for narrative play is a proper statement about the ruleset, even if it fails to be criticism, that folks would do well to know.

So, maybe "weak criticism" is itself a weak criticism?

 

[Umbran]

Though I believe such a list is small, it does exist, and the exercise is to find them.

i think the best one offered so far is about communication and the setting of expectations at session 0. I cannot fathom a dnd game that would not be well served (or at least neutrally served) by a bit of communication.

Perhaps I suffered from some presumption of expectations, after reading some of the OP's difficulties in another thread. I took it, with that context, to be referring to best practices during a session of play.

But even then, you're at risk of giving the advice of "you should have a session 0" but having little agreement upon content for that session.

 

[Helpful NPC Thom]

I hope we can*, otherwise we’re doomed to never get better at...whatever it is we’re doing.

So simple question: how can we talk about best practices without being told it’s badwrongfun or onetruewayism?

EDIT: Changed the title without changing the first line.

Best practices:

1. 3d6 down the line, no rerolls.
2. Human only.
3. Players must have been playing for at least three editions before joining the game.
4. Final destination.

Anything less than this is incorrect and an abysmal failure. More seriously, here are my best practices for gaming:

1. Players don't touch the dice until the GM says so.
2. Clarify task/intent when calling for a roll.
3. Set stakes prior to rolling the dice so everyone knows what's at stake.
4. Roll dice and have fun.