D&D General 6-8 encounters (combat?)

[GMforPowergamers]

I remember similar. The wizard or whatever might roll a d20 & make an effort with their sling before promptly declaring that they missed with their sling & move like so but the important part was the wizard was not being pasted by the skeleton/kobold/etc maving towards them & everyone had fun working together with different niche roles

I will NEVER forget the day that we found 'throwing knives' in combat and tactics that dis 2d4 but could not be used in melee... at that point I saw a lot of wizards throw throwing knives (not many hit, but when they did it was awesome)

 

[GMforPowergamers]

~Plays Sonic drowning music on loop~

Yeah... 'enjoyment.'.

that song spikes my blood pressure to this day

 

[Minigiant]

Much like other posters, it seems to me you're only criticizing time pressures that are poorly implemented. So... don't poorly implement them?

My point is that it is not easy to do constantly. Constantly making good reasons to willing walk into 8 fights isn't easy as many say

My main criticism of 5e is that it is written in a way to load a ton of work on DMs and requires a lot of skill or money to DM.

 

[iserith]

My main criticism of 5e is that it is written in a way to load a ton of work on DMs and requires a lot of skill or money to DM.

I feel like that's been true of every edition of D&D since I started playing in the early 90s.

D&D 4e is a bit easier in my opinion to prepare and run, but I'm sure plenty don't agree.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It's not that the Doom Clock is inherently a contrivance. It's the frequent or constant use of them that is contrived.

100% this.... I have no issue if at level 11 the party finds that the lich mindflayer vampire alliance is going to destroy the sun... they have X amount of time to stop it or everyone dies.

I have no issue if the same party 4 levels earlier had a 7th level adventure where they had to stop a cult from sacraficing someone

I wouldn't even bat an eye at a 3rd level adventure that was a race with another NPC adventureing party to get to the lost city.

My problem is that there are 4 levels (each with multi adventureing days) in between each of those and they shouldn't ALL be full of clocks ticking.

Sometimes the adventurers are going to have to race to save the princess before the full moon sacrifice. Other times they will be the only ones who know about the Tomb of Not Been Found in 10000 Years and is Still Full of Loot, so they will have time to investigate at their own pace. That's how life works. Sometimes you are rushed and sometimes not, unless you contrive for them to always be rushed.

 

[Maxperson]

Yet this tomb may well have random encounters - another time pressure, another contrivance.

Random encounters are not by default a time pressure. They are a resource drain. I think the way you do it, if I recall correctly, is based on time spent doing certain things, so it would be for your game.

Either they're all contrivances or none of them are in my view. It's a game based on childhood games of make-believe. It's all made up.

That's a false dichotomy. Having a dragon encounter once in a campaign is not contrived. They are very rare, so a rare encounter with a dragon is in-fiction normal. Encountering dragons on a daily basis in your standard D&D world would be contrived.

 

[Maxperson]

I will NEVER forget the day that we found 'throwing knives' in combat and tactics that dis 2d4 but could not be used in melee... at that point I saw a lot of wizards throw throwing knives (not many hit, but when they did it was awesome)

We never found those, so a lot of wizards bought 12 daggers or 24 darts. You could toss 2 d4 daggers a round or 3 d3 darts.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Random encounters are not by default a time pressure. They are a resource drain. I think the way you do it, if I recall correctly, is based on time spent doing certain things, so it would be for your game.

if I remember correctly he has infinity orcs...

my style is to have an approximate number of enemies in an area (I mean like at the camp or in the dungeon) so as the players get random encounters and kill orcs, my number of orcs drop.


At least 1/ this lead to players useing hit and run tactics to take down an army of hobgoblins... and they set traps, so when the hobgoblins sent out avtice squads to get them while they rested, it played into the plan.

We never found those, so a lot of wizards bought 12 daggers or 24 darts. You could toss 2 d4 daggers a round or 3 d3 darts.

yeah that was a lot of what we did... i remember the darts being cheese but I don't remember why

 

[iserith]

Random encounters are not by default a time pressure. They are a resource drain. I think the way you do it, if I recall correctly, is based on time spent doing certain things, so it would be for your game.

They happen at a predetermined frequency or when certain things occur. The more time players spend in an area where random encounters occur, the more chances they have encounters. When players know the frequency or what triggers them, they can use that to make decisions about how they use their resources and what they prioritize. That's a time pressure.

That's a false dichotomy. Having a dragon encounter once in a campaign is not contrived. They are very rare, so a rare encounter with a dragon is in-fiction normal. Encountering dragons on a daily basis in your standard D&D world would be contrived.

Having read the books 30 years ago and dimly remembering it, Dragonlance always struck me as a campaign lousy with dragons. I'm also not sure if dragons are necessarily rare. I could certainly find a setting with a lot of dragon encounters to be believable.

But then I also don't understand how bringing a lot of incredulity with me into a game based on make-believe serves me very well. A lot of dragon encounters? Sounds like a fun setting and game to me!

 

[Maxperson]

They happen at a predetermined frequency or when certain things occur. The more time players spend in an area where random encounters occur, the more chances they have encounters. When players know the frequency or what triggers them, they can use that to make decisions about how they use their resources and what they prioritize. That's a time pressure.

Pretty sure those are mutually exclusive things.

But it seems I was correct in my recollection. You do random encounters differently than the book does. By default they are a resource drain, not a time pressure.

Having read the books 30 years ago and dimly remembering it, Dragonlance always struck me as a campaign lousy with dragons. I'm also not sure if dragons are necessarily rare. I could certainly find a setting with a lot of dragon encounters to be believable.

That's why I very specifically said "in your standard D&D world." Dragonlance and Council of Wyrms would be settings with many more dragons in them.