Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Actual play examples - balance between fiction and mechanics
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Krensky" data-source="post: 5464000" data-attributes="member: 30936"><p>Odd. I see a purely gamist construct from start to finish with the mechanics defining the fiction. You choose the version of the bear based on what would make for a good game encounter, not what made sense in the context of the world or what would generate an interesting story or plot beat. Then when the players decided to deal with the bear without attacking it, you converted it from one mini-game (combat) to another (the skill challenge), while retaining the same (more or less) level of risk-reward. Then when the players declared their actions, you and they bargained back and forth to find some fictional cover for allowing their mechanical actions to have the desired effect regardless of the realism or the dramatic concerns of the game or the story conventions it's trying the emulate. The fiction is being manipulated to fit the mechanics used. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Wait, why does the temple bathhouse have a monster in the hotspring and why is it attacking the PCs? Has the temple been abandoned and it's moved in by chance? Or is it some sort of guardian there to protect the holy spring? Or is it there because you want to run a encounter and give a chunk of XP out? What's the goal of the scene for the player characters?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>None of this makes sense beyond a game construct. It's immunities seem somewhat arbitrary, and allowing holy power (if I understand radiant right) and noise (unless thunder means electricity, which also doesn't make much sense) to effect the water seems equally arbitrary. Although your comment about expunging it with a Religion check implies it was some sort of demonic possession, so maybe radiant makes sense. That plugging the spring would work is hard to value, since you haven't explained why plugging the spring would have an effect.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Well, I'm not clear from your description why plugging the spring would stop the water weird. It's also depends on the point of the scene. For simplicity's sake, I'll assume the NPC is just there in the bathhouse of an abandoned temple as a risk of exploration. Similarly, I'll assume the players have gotten a Hint (capitalized for a reason, it's a mechanic in my game of choice) from me about how to overcome the NPC and haven't just entered 'F-it mode' and bought a Flash-Forward. </p><p></p><p>From there, it depends on the player's actions. If the player asks if there are suitable rocks to block the spring, without spending Action Dice to declare said rocks exist, I'd decide if there are any lying around via a simple die roll, a roll on the Fate Chart (from the Mythic Game Master Emulator), or my whim. I'm currently a fan of the Fate Chart for this though.</p><p></p><p>If there are rocks, I'd make a quick assessment of how the fight's going and how many rounds I want it to take based in the needs of the scene and how much of a pounding the PCs are taking. A quick check about it's weight might come up to see if it's lift-able or has to be pushed, or I might decide it based on dramatic priorities for the scene and what feels more interesting. The map and description of the scenery would probably strongly inform my choice of location. From there, I know the PCs ability to shift rocks and they can make Athletics checks to increase their effective strength for doing so. If they're just looking to knock it over (again, it's hard to say without looking at the map or being in the moment) I'd either just have them push it 5 ft or so, or figure out how hard a challenge it is and grab the Sliding DC for that difficulty and call for an Athletics check from whoever wanted to try. This would most likely fall to a strong PC, since the spellcasters really only have Gust of Wind to shift it and casting Brawn on the strong man would probably be more effective.</p><p></p><p>If there aren't rocks and the PC wants to make some, I have rules for damaging scenery, then see above.</p><p></p><p>As for reward, well assuming the NPC is just there and they didn't achieve any goals beyond defeating the elemental, they get the Elemental's XP (which they would have gotten by any means they rendered it hors de combat or even by talking to it and coming to some accord other then surrendering or fleeing). Treasure depends on too many factors, but just playing vanilla they don't get any either way since Elementals don't have treasure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Krensky, post: 5464000, member: 30936"] Odd. I see a purely gamist construct from start to finish with the mechanics defining the fiction. You choose the version of the bear based on what would make for a good game encounter, not what made sense in the context of the world or what would generate an interesting story or plot beat. Then when the players decided to deal with the bear without attacking it, you converted it from one mini-game (combat) to another (the skill challenge), while retaining the same (more or less) level of risk-reward. Then when the players declared their actions, you and they bargained back and forth to find some fictional cover for allowing their mechanical actions to have the desired effect regardless of the realism or the dramatic concerns of the game or the story conventions it's trying the emulate. The fiction is being manipulated to fit the mechanics used. Wait, why does the temple bathhouse have a monster in the hotspring and why is it attacking the PCs? Has the temple been abandoned and it's moved in by chance? Or is it some sort of guardian there to protect the holy spring? Or is it there because you want to run a encounter and give a chunk of XP out? What's the goal of the scene for the player characters? None of this makes sense beyond a game construct. It's immunities seem somewhat arbitrary, and allowing holy power (if I understand radiant right) and noise (unless thunder means electricity, which also doesn't make much sense) to effect the water seems equally arbitrary. Although your comment about expunging it with a Religion check implies it was some sort of demonic possession, so maybe radiant makes sense. That plugging the spring would work is hard to value, since you haven't explained why plugging the spring would have an effect. Well, I'm not clear from your description why plugging the spring would stop the water weird. It's also depends on the point of the scene. For simplicity's sake, I'll assume the NPC is just there in the bathhouse of an abandoned temple as a risk of exploration. Similarly, I'll assume the players have gotten a Hint (capitalized for a reason, it's a mechanic in my game of choice) from me about how to overcome the NPC and haven't just entered 'F-it mode' and bought a Flash-Forward. From there, it depends on the player's actions. If the player asks if there are suitable rocks to block the spring, without spending Action Dice to declare said rocks exist, I'd decide if there are any lying around via a simple die roll, a roll on the Fate Chart (from the Mythic Game Master Emulator), or my whim. I'm currently a fan of the Fate Chart for this though. If there are rocks, I'd make a quick assessment of how the fight's going and how many rounds I want it to take based in the needs of the scene and how much of a pounding the PCs are taking. A quick check about it's weight might come up to see if it's lift-able or has to be pushed, or I might decide it based on dramatic priorities for the scene and what feels more interesting. The map and description of the scenery would probably strongly inform my choice of location. From there, I know the PCs ability to shift rocks and they can make Athletics checks to increase their effective strength for doing so. If they're just looking to knock it over (again, it's hard to say without looking at the map or being in the moment) I'd either just have them push it 5 ft or so, or figure out how hard a challenge it is and grab the Sliding DC for that difficulty and call for an Athletics check from whoever wanted to try. This would most likely fall to a strong PC, since the spellcasters really only have Gust of Wind to shift it and casting Brawn on the strong man would probably be more effective. If there aren't rocks and the PC wants to make some, I have rules for damaging scenery, then see above. As for reward, well assuming the NPC is just there and they didn't achieve any goals beyond defeating the elemental, they get the Elemental's XP (which they would have gotten by any means they rendered it hors de combat or even by talking to it and coming to some accord other then surrendering or fleeing). Treasure depends on too many factors, but just playing vanilla they don't get any either way since Elementals don't have treasure. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Actual play examples - balance between fiction and mechanics
Top