well a few things fix most of your list for for OSR. Start everyone at 10 hpts + con mod. , make all spells effects and damage character level so that if a fighter has a level as sorcerer at 12 level the spell is still worth casting. Get a few 3rd party GM tool books for encounter building and random encounters and your almost there.
Still Searching for "That" System
- Thread starter Retreater
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Typically between 4-6. This is pretty universal between all the groups I've run in 5e, regardless of size or composition.
The enemies would die in the first round before all the PCs act.
No, not especially. They can do it with some cantrips, maybe very low level spells.
To challenge the players and their characters. Like I don't want them to have to be expert tacticians, but I would like them to gang up on high priority targets, flank, buff their characters with magic, use Aid actions, use cover, switch weapons that better fit their needs (like maybe use a ranged attack on a distant enemy), etc.
In a typical day of adventuring, we're looking at 3 combats per day. Maybe to use 25% of their resources would feel like it was "somewhat challenging."
Because that's what's remembered. That's what gets the blood pumping. That's what has players leaning over to see what their friends are rolling. That's exciting. The rest of the game is just "boring." I would like to minimize boredom and disengagement and spend more time on the exciting stuff.
I don't think anyone likes TPKs. I might hate them more than the players, in honesty.
I would just like a reasonable idea of what encounters would be epic and fun (to use for boss encounters) and which would be exciting and worth doing. A few to flex muscles and show off would also be okay, but I would like to know how to plan them better.
Ok , beside getting your inequality signs mixed up what size party and what about magic
Edit: never mind you answered above.
hawkeyefan
Legend
The Resistance System
I’d recommend the Resistance System that powers Spire and it’s sister game Heart. The link above is to the free system toolbox. I’d suggest picking up Spire if you find the system interesting.
It’s survivable; bad things can and will happen to the characters, but the most interesting are the ones that don’t kill them. Change is unavoidable.
It has plenty of interesting options; the classes all have tiered abilities they can gain as advances. Minor, Medium, and Major advances. In Spire, these are gained when they make a change to the city (for good or ill). So the players are incentivized to interact with the setting and try to change it.
It’s easy to learn; the core mechanic is a dice pool of one to four d10s, keep the highest. Tiered results of 10 (Critical Success), 8-9 (Success), 6-7 (Success With Stress), 2-5 (Failure, Take Stress), and 1 (Critical Failure, Take Double Stress). Stress gets applied to one of five different Resistances, which are like HP, but of different kinds. In Spire, Blood Resistance is like your physical health, Mind Resistance is your mental health, Silver Resistance is your financial health, Reputation is your social health, and Shadow is your anonymity. Take too much Stress and you risk taking a Fallout. This opens up all kinds of actions that players can take, and all kinds of consequences that happen to the characters.
It has good GM tools. NPCs are simple to make, having only a few stats. In Spire, there are tons of NPC stat blocks that can be used for a variety of NPCs. So City Watch member, criminal gang member, cave dwelling cannibal, and so on. Spire contains a ton of advice on how to run a good game of Spire. The Resistance Toolbox gives advice on how to use the system for other settings/genres.
Spire is a great game. There are also some published scenarios that are also pay what you want for PDF available from the publisher, Rowan, Rook, & Decard, so you can get an idea of what the game is like.
I don't really agree with your posit that it is intended to be played "hardball". But even if I did, that doesn't imply that the rules are not light.
Fate is pretty lightweight, in that the rules have only a few moving parts, and there are very few "sub-systems", or special cases within them.
OK, about what I expected.
Aside from resource use, do your players do any of the other things mentioned? Are there patterns to when they do "tactical stuff" or just charge in?
"Boring" to whom? are they complaining about boring fights? It is my experience that many fights that seem a foregone conclusion to the DM are anything but to the players. They do not have your information. The information that the DM has will mean that any fight will seem easier then it was from the POV of the DM. You have a better overview of the resources to everyone.
Battles, where even the DM does not know the outcome are actually overtuned.
I think, given the number of fights in a typical D&D campaign, 5% of the fights being epic would be pretty good. More than that and the maths of the fights are going to stack against the players.
I know I have offered advice based on my experience to you before based on comments in other threads. This, has probably not been really useful since I do not (did not) have a complete understanding of your issues. To gain that I really would have to participate in your games. And also, perhaps engage in a post-game discussion as to your satisfaction. I also do not really know, what measures you take to improve a fight.
I do, know that this and other discussions have prompted me to look at the construction of some published WoTC encounters. What my sampling has revealed is that these encounters tend to medium to hard for a 4 character party.
It appears to be the case that a hard encounter for a 4 character party is a medium encounter for a 5 character party and an easy encounter for 6.
However, a hard encounter for a 4th level party is not necessarily a deadly encounter for a 3rd level party.
Have you looked at the Cypher System? It is not my jam, but might fit your needs (simple system, lots of options, reasonably survivable, tons of cool settings). I don't have a ton of experience with it, but the reasons I disliked it aren't on your list so maybe it will click for you.
Also Shadow of the Weird Wizard is on kickstarter now. It is similar to Shadow of the Demon Lord but less emo tone, and is designed to be more survivable, so maybe it fixes the things you disliked about SotDL? There is a free quick start on the kickstater page if you wanted to take a look.
Also Shadow of the Weird Wizard is on kickstarter now. It is similar to Shadow of the Demon Lord but less emo tone, and is designed to be more survivable, so maybe it fixes the things you disliked about SotDL? There is a free quick start on the kickstater page if you wanted to take a look.
payn
He'll flip ya...Flip ya for real...
I think compromise is in order. My suggestion (take with a grain of salt) is that you use 4E. Not gamma; just plain ol 4E with maybe essentials even. It's a system you like, know, and can tailor. The players will need to learn it a bit, but with some assurance for a long running game they shouldnt mind the effort. Now for your part, you really need to stick with a long running game/campaign. If adventure path looses its luster, than go west marches sandbox. Whatever you need to do to make the game last.
Not really. They can charge in and kill almost anything, even working independently. I'd say each campaign has maybe 1 fight where they really have to bring their "A" game.
Yes. Like when they say "I didn't even get to make an attack" or "why did I bother to roll Initiative?"
Correct. And I do add more targets if I'm running a group of 6 players, like +50% more common baddies. They still chomp through them.
The monster attack bonuses are too low. The monster damage is too low. The number of monster actions are too low. The monster AC is too low and save bonuses are too low.
I've had a few bad experiences as a player with Numenera, mostly because there wasn't enough I could do, the DR was insanely high (so I couldn't damage any of the creatures). I don't know if I had a "proper" run of it, but it was being run by Monte Cook Games themselves.
I can look at Weird Wizard. I mostly didn't like the flavor of SotDL and stopped looking at it.
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