D&D General What are the “boring bits” to you?

In 5e (far more than any other D&D edition) combat. In TSR-era D&D combat was fast. In 4e it was tactical. In 3.X it was somewhere between the two. And in 5e it's neither and the worst of both worlds.

Also builds. Builds are fun. But builds are most fun when tested; I get the same fun out of a build for an MMORPG or a Roguelite like Hades or Slay the Spire as I do out of a 3.5/PF build and I can test it much more easily and much less obnoxiously.

aco175 said:

I was able to play last weekend at a local convention and in one game the DM would describe each hit from an attack, each hit mind you and not just a killing blow or critical hit. It seemed to drag some and take longer than needed. I get describing some of the action and the back and forth, but a firebolt for 6 points of damage does not need 30 seconds of telling me how the bolt streaks through the air and sizzles into his shoulder.

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OMG, so much this. And the number of people out there insisting that this is the only correct way to do it drives me absolutely bonkers.

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but it's detailed exploration. Going room by room, with details of every single room when 70% of them are empty and have nothing to interact with. The rogue having to state that they check every single door before we open it because we never know which specific one will be trapped. Having to give details on how we explore these empty rooms that have nothing of importance.

Basically, I find most dungeon crawls boring when they force you to go into details.

I do not enjoy 'hex crawling' for the sake of hex crawling. I didn't mind when I was 14 years old. As an adult with a busy schedule, I don't want to spend three hours doing day-to-day hex crawling. Just skip ahead to the fun and interesting part.

Most kinds of base management-style logistics.

You start giving me a list of build costs and hireling costs, taxes, maintenance, docking fees, etc. I zone out pretty fast.

It works similarly with equipment and encumbrance.

If I need excel open to participate in a gameplay element, I'd just rather not.

Where exploration turns into logistics. Tracking rations, arrows -- any kind of beancounting.

Random encounters that don't advance plot or story -- basically any attrition attempts.

I agree with Logistics. I don't wish (as either DM or as a player) to track ammo, rations, encumbrance, handedness, and oftentimes "actions in a turn" (in other words get all in the weeds over whether things are free actions, bonus actions, how many bonus actions, bonus actions that only trigger off of specific standard actions, etc.).

For me, I just ask the players "What are you trying to do?" And unless the stuff they are trying to do seems to be too much (either in a single turn, or using abilities in an extensive way over and above the power level they have)... I don't really care what "the numbers" or "the rules" say more often than not. You can just do it so we don't have to waste time calculating whether or not you have the correct "action economy" or "backpack space" or whatever. There are so many rules in Dungeons & Dragons that cover so many things that I am perfectly happy to just handwave away a bunch of them that slow the game down or which inhibit characterization and character action, because there's still 95% of the other rules in the game we are going to follow to the letter.

We (meaning my table) don't need rules for everything... especially when a lot of those rules are there just to tell the players "No, you can't do that." I've got more interesting things to do as a DM than constantly just shutting down cool players ideas or actions because "the rules" don't give them enough space to do so.

Stun and paralyze effects. They're very effective... and if it happens to a player character, incredibly un-fun for the player.

aco175 said:

Another thing would be tracking ammunition and food/water. Unless there is a reason like being stranded in a desert or some massive wilderness where there is no resupply, I can assume crossing off a few gold in a town would buy me some basics like arrows and food, clean the armor, sharpen the blade, patch the hole in the shirt, shave, etc... Like what some of the others say about roleplay, it is not bad, but there should be a reason. Maybe you roleplay with the smith when you go looking for new armor and he talks about a possible bad guy place or how the Duke is not from these parts and is not to be trusted.

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This is something that always seems fun to me, but I never actually try. I imagine that a game that was focused around survival and gritty realism might be fun, but that would have to be like the overall theme of the game. In a normal game it's just a hassle.

Oofta said:

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but it's detailed exploration. Going room by room, with details of every single room when 70% of them are empty and have nothing to interact with. The rogue having to state that they check every single door before we open it because we never know which specific one will be trapped. Having to give details on how we explore these empty rooms that have nothing of importance.

Basically, I find most dungeon crawls boring when they force you to go into details.

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I've been looking at a lot of old adventures and I often see lots of huge sprawling dungeons with loads of empty rooms. I assume they're for wandering monsters, but I feel the need to take these and redraw them. I usually squeeze the same amount of content into about half the rooms.

Oofta said:

Maybe I'm an outlier here, but it's detailed exploration. Going room by room, with details of every single room when 70% of them are empty and have nothing to interact with. The rogue having to state that they check every single door before we open it because we never know which specific one will be trapped. Having to give details on how we explore these empty rooms that have nothing of importance.

Basically, I find most dungeon crawls boring when they force you to go into details.

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This is what turned me right off D&D for many years.
I do like a lot of the dungeons found in the new OSR because they are quirky, interesting and have lots of choices. I'm playing OSE and Shadowdark and having a blast. Not something I thought would ever happen.