D&D General Ignoring the rules!

[Lanefan]

This is a player problem, in my opinion. You shouldn't have to use punishment mechanics to get a player to show up to the game. I'd also argue that such use is a bad reasoning for the inclusion of a mechanic.

And because I know I'll get push back on calling XP a punishment mechanic. I want to clarify that a "punishment mechanic" is any mechanic used to "punish" players for out of game behavior. XP could be one here, and not in another instance.

It's only a punishment mechanic if it's used as such.

Here, if Bob is late we just start without him, with someone else (or a committee) playing his character. The character still gets xp as normal for what it does in the fiction, and is still expected to be as active as if its player was present.

The punishment part comes when Bob finally does show up and gets glared at by all involved when he asks for a recap of what he's missed.

 

[Lanefan]

But to answer the OP: I almost always make my own monsters, and often on-the-fly. I do a LOT of research on the subject - but I just generally don't like a monster statblock. Any of them. They all seem to be either too much or too little, usually both.

Curious: too much or too little of what?

 

[Lanefan]

I largely feel the same.

I've only been here a short time. Less then a week. And I get the sense that I'm in the minority. I play a cooperative storytelling game with like-minded people. Many are randoms off the internet that I filtered to fit my preferences. And I've simply never run into many of the issues I see discussed here. Many of the topics are almost foreign to me. Some claiming the system is deeply flawed for an issue I've never had come up.

I almost feel like I'm playing a different game, its a bit surreal.

You may well almost be playing a different game.

Which edition did you start with? I ask because whatever you started with would likely have set a lot of preferences and expectations; and starting with BX or 1e in the 1980s is quite different than starting with 5e in the 2010s or 2020s.

Me, I started with 1e in the early 80s, and wonder what's this "cooperative storytelling" you're on about. Story is something most often only seen in hindsight, and there can be a lot of cutthroat on the way to getting there.

 

[tetrasodium]

That's a fine rationalization. And XP does do that.

But let's look at what you said before.


Your stated intent for the rule change was "find it tedious and pointless having to regularly wait for or rebalance the session plans just because Bob knows being late or skipping again won't cost him progress."

Again, intent matters. And while XP does what you are claiming up top, but again it seems you put it in place as punishment for those who were late or skipping. You don't want them to progress as fast as the others. You've told us that's your motivation.

But it's your motivation. If you say "The problem player getting less wasn't part of my consideration", we'll have no choice but to believe you.

In the case of ignoring milestones and using experience it's simply a choice to ignore one option and use a different option, there is no rule "change".

It's a reward mechanic, there is no punishment in my statement.

The fervor to call out that choice to ignore the milestone option and use experience by declaring it various flavors of "punishment" is strange though given how I could have made similar statements about milestone being a punishment mechanic as well. It's almost like people feel personally slighted by the idea that someone they seemingly have never met and don't play with choosing to use one option over the other.

 

[GrimCo]

Wow. So many. Let’s see…

AD&D. Most of them that aren’t part of PC classes or spells. Gender-based stat mods, gone. Race-based class and level limits, gone. Multiclassing and dual classing, gone. Equipment still costs the same, but the weapon vs armor type, damage for large creatures, etc…all gone. XP for killing monsters, gone.

Pretty similar, but left multi and dual class. Also, half attacks, like 3/2 are gone.

4E. Multiclassing and hybrid, gone. Skill challenges, gone. Replaced with clocks and countdowns. Replaced the full combat rules with clocks and countdowns for filler fights.

Similar, no multiclassing. It's complex enough. Everyone plays single class and that's it. Skill challenges gone. Replaced with single check similar to 3ed and narration.

5E. Inspiration; BIFTs; multiclassing and feats; XP; official backgrounds; monster stat blocks; monster and encounter design; CR; banned several spells, races, classes, and subclasses; RAW rests; most magic items…all gone and more besides. Some of that’s replaced with house rules. Most not.

If you cut so much out of game to tailor it for your enjoyment, why use it? It obviously isn't great fit for your play style.

 

[wedgeski]

I largely feel the same.

I've only been here a short time. Less then a week. And I get the sense that I'm in the minority. I play a cooperative storytelling game with like-minded people. Many are randoms off the internet that I filtered to fit my preferences. And I've simply never run into many of the issues I see discussed here. Many of the topics are almost foreign to me. Some claiming the system is deeply flawed for an issue I've never had come up.

I almost feel like I'm playing a different game, its a bit surreal.

I've been here for decades and I still feel that way.

 

[overgeeked]

Pretty similar, but left multi and dual class. Also, half attacks, like 3/2 are gone.

We always kept the extra attacks for fighters. Made them better at fighting.

Similar, no multiclassing. It's complex enough. Everyone plays single class and that's it. Skill challenges gone. Replaced with single check similar to 3ed and narration.

Yeah. That’s another way to go.

If you cut so much out of game to tailor it for your enjoyment, why use it? It obviously isn't great fit for your play style.

I don’t. I went back to old-school games. AD&D, Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, Black Sword Hack, OSE, etc. Though it’s still easier to find 5E players, even if you’re house ruling the hell out of it.

 

[Oofta]

I largely feel the same.

I've only been here a short time. Less then a week. And I get the sense that I'm in the minority. I play a cooperative storytelling game with like-minded people. Many are randoms off the internet that I filtered to fit my preferences. And I've simply never run into many of the issues I see discussed here. Many of the topics are almost foreign to me. Some claiming the system is deeply flawed for an issue I've never had come up.

I almost feel like I'm playing a different game, its a bit surreal.

There are many, many times I feel like people are playing other games as well. I say that as someone who has had multiple home games and enjoys cons and public games as well.

I've been playing for a long time with hundreds of different people. The problematic DMs and PCs exist, but usually it's just that we have different approaches to the game.

No game, no DM, no player, no combination will work every single time.

 

[GrimCo]

Ditto. In 20 years of playing and running D&D, i had 2 problematic situations. Once it was single player whose style just didn't mesh well with rest of group and he was politley asked to not show up any more. Other time, it was mismatch in expectations between dm and players, game stopped and that was it. I played with bunch of people over the years, but very rarely with group of complete strangers and for the last 8-9 years i play only with friends. So lot's of problems people have, i didn't really encounter.

 

[Oofta]

You may well almost be playing a different game.

Which edition did you start with? I ask because whatever you started with would likely have set a lot of preferences and expectations; and starting with BX or 1e in the 1980s is quite different than starting with 5e in the 2010s or 2020s.

Me, I started with 1e in the early 80s, and wonder what's this "cooperative storytelling" you're on about. Story is something most often only seen in hindsight, and there can be a lot of cutthroat on the way to getting there.

I think people have always been playing different games even when playing the same version. I started playing since ... ugh ... long, long ago back when hobbits were thieves and everyone did d6 damage. At first we just trampled into dungeons, kicked in doors and gathered loot. But for whatever reasons our games became about character development and the stories that emerged.

The game has pretty much always catered to different interests, it just depends on what the people sitting at the table want.