With the exploration and interaction rules described in Legends & Lore, would it be possible to play a combat-free adventure (or even campaign) of D&D?
I'm not sure why anyone would be playing D&D if you're looking for a combat-less system. D&D's focus is first and foremost on combat, and always has been. There are other systems out there that handle non/minimal combat much better than D&D ever has. It's great that they're taking steps to enhance that side of things, but I don't want to see it being a focus.
Ultimately, what we want is for players and Dungeon Masters to feel like the additional rules for exploration and interaction enhance those portions of the game for those who want it, or stay out of the way for those who don’t.
I've been saying this for a bit now, but that line of thought just doesn't pan out rationally. They keep espousing this "per-player" idea of players choosing the rules they want. The reason it doesn't work is because if one player is using a rule, everyone else still has to interact with it. So the scope of the rule ends up being for the entire group. This is a perfect example. So you don't want to interact with the exploration rules? Have fun while everyone else does. Of course, the DM can end up just taking your input and interpreting it through the system. However, that's just obfuscating the fact that the player is
still using the rule. In short, there is no per-player rules system, and I wish they'd stop bothering with it.
The goal of the exploration and interaction mechanics isn’t to create new mini-games that you fire up when you enter a new scene, but rather to augment what people expect from such scenes.
I hate being the one to point out the obvious, but D&D
is a game. I do get what they're saying here - skill challenges felt like a clunky mechanic in 4E. They're looking to make something that's a little more rules-light. Ultimately though, it's a game, and creating mechanics to support that is not creating a new mini-game. It's creating the
actual game. It's a poor way of thinking about the problem.
A chase through city streets, for example, could be resolved with the combat mechanics.
No. A thousand times no. Use the system appropriate for the intended effect. The combat system is designed for combat. It should be used when running combat. Anything that isn't combat - and I mean this narratively and mechanically - should not use the combat rules. If your scene is a chase through the city streets, sure you might fire an arrow in pursuit, but that's not combat and shouldn't be treated as such.