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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pielorinho" data-source="post: 731601" data-attributes="member: 259">One more note about what makes for fun combat scenes:  PROPS!On a ship, this means having anchors, ropes, sails, barrels, trap doors, and lifeboats.  In a market, this means carts, passersby, donkeys, fruit stands, canopies, cooking fires, carpet stands.  In an alchemist shop, this means - well, it means everything in the shop.Normal D&D combat tends to go like this:Player 1:  I swing my sword!  I hit for 7 points of damage!Player 2:  I cast magic missile!  I do 12 points of damage!Player 3:  I attack with my dagger!  I miss!DM:  The dragon swipes five times at the fighter!  It does 43 points of damage!Player 4:  I heal the fighter!  I heal him for 25 points of damage!You want tools to break this up, and I think you can do this in a few different ways:1) Add in cool window-dressing (e.g., the storm blowing up in the background, with lightning punctuating the darkness every few rounds)2) Add in weird features that force new dice rolls or cause other effects that are out of anyone's control (e.g., balance checks to avoid falling on the deck of the storm-tossed ship)3) Add in features that the enemies use (e.g., the sailors-turned-ghouls are scuttling down the ship's rigging)4) Add in features that the PCs can use (e.g., that lifeboat that the barbarian can throw on top of the wizard to cut off his line of sight)My most memorable fights are ones in which at least half the PCs' actions involved something weird -- whether that was shimmying down chains with daggers held between their teeth, or yanking someone over the edge of a roof and dropping them onto the street, or throwing a lifeboat over an enemy and sitting down on it.  They're not any more work to run, as long as everyone's willing to let you play fast and loose with the rules, and they're exhilirating.Okay, back to listing!Daniel</blockquote>

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