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5e GMs - Why or Why Not Wandering Treasure?
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<blockquote data-quote="5ekyu" data-source="post: 7506190" data-attributes="member: 6919838"><p>Recent in game encounter, my sorcerer halfling got bitten by a giant spider thing. gm gave me the base damage then frowned as he saw the poison damage was "save for half" turned in game with quizzical look on face to say "it says save for half, i dont know, maybe i will only do save for none" and stared until i responded and my response was "give me the damage it says no problem" but he then went ahead with save for none. (had already saved.)</p><p></p><p>That was not satisfying and i as a player knew "it wont matter in the overall outcome."</p><p></p><p>meanwhile in another encounter prior to that one he had introduced homebrew critters that rolled over us like we were not even there but let us go. (no warning, no preamble, they just rolled up on us at the point we had just stopped and bam)</p><p></p><p>So, the combo of those two felt "wrong" and added up to a big sense that its the Gm choosing not just the encounter but the outcome.</p><p></p><p>I myself am a fan of (and recommend for GMs unfamiliar with the balance elements such as conversions they are inexperienced with) to use what 5e calls "extended encounters" as the base setup as often as possible. these allow for waves to come in in rapid succession and if the Gm is unfamiliar and wants to cover his bases he can have the setup be one where "how soon does the next waves get there" and "how many waves show up as opposed to hold their positions awaiting orders" fall within the realm of GM option for NPC choices. these also tend to provide opportunities for the PCs to see the way things are going and adjust as well in ways that "everything on the table" sometimes do not.</p><p></p><p>thats for the challenge part and uncertainty... </p><p></p><p>for the lack of entertaining - that need not be tied to how many HP the bad guy has.or how you tweak a spell on the fly for power... and IMX if a scene was playing out unentertaining i would be looking for story and drama ways to make the scene more personal rather than prolonging more rounds of a uninteresting combat. "More of stuff that sux so far" is not usually the best off the cuff solution - its spending good time after bad. instead, let the combat finihs and then have the aftermath be the "oh boy" of the scene. </p><p></p><p>I mean, would Empire have been better if off the cuff Lucas decided to have Luke hold his own in the fight against Vader with more HP and a new jedi ability instead of getting cut apart (literally literally) and then told "I am your CONTENT CENSORED AS SPOILER" </p><p></p><p>Now, dont lump me anywhere near the other guy's railroading camp, not at all, no way jose... but some techniques and some "fixes" have more significant drawbacks in my experience.</p><p></p><p>and BTW the "no one is the wiser" is practically speaking in my experience a fallacy that gets trotted out in discussions but rarely is seen in play. Gms who tend to rely on these things tend to provide encountered and combats that get to feel rather "similar" and scripted as whichever way it starts off going in a big way suddenly things start going the other way until a very familiar "who will win" degree of difficulty is achieved. The exception could be the "well this one time only" theory but in my experience those are more mythical than the beasts our characters are fighting.</p><p></p><p>On the other hand, having combats and encounters which clearly go "off script" and yet get played thru adds a sense of "its not scripted".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="5ekyu, post: 7506190, member: 6919838"] Recent in game encounter, my sorcerer halfling got bitten by a giant spider thing. gm gave me the base damage then frowned as he saw the poison damage was "save for half" turned in game with quizzical look on face to say "it says save for half, i dont know, maybe i will only do save for none" and stared until i responded and my response was "give me the damage it says no problem" but he then went ahead with save for none. (had already saved.) That was not satisfying and i as a player knew "it wont matter in the overall outcome." meanwhile in another encounter prior to that one he had introduced homebrew critters that rolled over us like we were not even there but let us go. (no warning, no preamble, they just rolled up on us at the point we had just stopped and bam) So, the combo of those two felt "wrong" and added up to a big sense that its the Gm choosing not just the encounter but the outcome. I myself am a fan of (and recommend for GMs unfamiliar with the balance elements such as conversions they are inexperienced with) to use what 5e calls "extended encounters" as the base setup as often as possible. these allow for waves to come in in rapid succession and if the Gm is unfamiliar and wants to cover his bases he can have the setup be one where "how soon does the next waves get there" and "how many waves show up as opposed to hold their positions awaiting orders" fall within the realm of GM option for NPC choices. these also tend to provide opportunities for the PCs to see the way things are going and adjust as well in ways that "everything on the table" sometimes do not. thats for the challenge part and uncertainty... for the lack of entertaining - that need not be tied to how many HP the bad guy has.or how you tweak a spell on the fly for power... and IMX if a scene was playing out unentertaining i would be looking for story and drama ways to make the scene more personal rather than prolonging more rounds of a uninteresting combat. "More of stuff that sux so far" is not usually the best off the cuff solution - its spending good time after bad. instead, let the combat finihs and then have the aftermath be the "oh boy" of the scene. I mean, would Empire have been better if off the cuff Lucas decided to have Luke hold his own in the fight against Vader with more HP and a new jedi ability instead of getting cut apart (literally literally) and then told "I am your CONTENT CENSORED AS SPOILER" Now, dont lump me anywhere near the other guy's railroading camp, not at all, no way jose... but some techniques and some "fixes" have more significant drawbacks in my experience. and BTW the "no one is the wiser" is practically speaking in my experience a fallacy that gets trotted out in discussions but rarely is seen in play. Gms who tend to rely on these things tend to provide encountered and combats that get to feel rather "similar" and scripted as whichever way it starts off going in a big way suddenly things start going the other way until a very familiar "who will win" degree of difficulty is achieved. The exception could be the "well this one time only" theory but in my experience those are more mythical than the beasts our characters are fighting. On the other hand, having combats and encounters which clearly go "off script" and yet get played thru adds a sense of "its not scripted". [/QUOTE]
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