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Message: <blockquote data-quote="scourger" data-source="post: 1581555" data-attributes="member: 12328">a different campaign styleIt sounds as if you want a different camapign style altogether.  You want to get away from the hack & slash, kill a monster & take its treasure.  The way to make this fun for your players is to reward non-combat choices.  You have to give them the option to solve a problem and be rewarded without combat.  Of course, they may still choose to fight; but it will be inherently more risky.  This style is difficult to DM.  I've not been able to eliminate combat completely.  I do not think that would be a good game.  There should be action at least every other session.  Here are some things I have done to reward non-combat choices.I have given out maps & information based on Knowledge skills.  Any character benefits from physical skills (i.e. Jump, Climb, Hide), but the only way the CHARACTER knows anything about the campaign world is through Knowledge skills.  This technique works especially well if the campaign world is unique (something you create) or unknown (the players haven't been exposed to it in some way).  And, you can give different information to different players so that they have to share information.  The players have to have some basic information about the world, but you can keep them from drawing on prior game experience for information.  Remember, most D&D world don't have satellites, TV, radio or even newspapers.  There certainly isn't public education.  The PCs really don't know much about the world unless they spend skill points in Knowledge skills (or choose the bard class).  I have given out blue chips for heroic actions consistent with the camapign flavor I wanted to present and red chips for actions inconsistent with the campaign flavor.  Since each blue chip was +5% xp and each red chip was -5% xp, this worked VERY well.  Soon, no red chips were necessary, and I gave 4 blue chips in one night to one player.  An xp bonus will get the attention of your power gamers.  So, if you want them to use Diplomacy; then give a blue chip for attempting a diplomatic soultion first and a red chip for jumping straight to the sword.  I have also awarded xp bonuses for Craft & Profession skills.  If the campaign is established correctly, the PCs may have a Craft or Profession in common that is central to the campaign.  In my case, they were pirates; so Craft (shipwright) and Profession (sailor) were important.  The first session, I gave the players a roll on each skill for x100 xp because they needed to repair and sail a ship they had just captured (they started at 3rd level).  I am using just Profession (sailor) now, but the skill remains important since they roll every session for bonus xp, which represents how good they are at being a pirate.  Sure, any fighter can pick up a cutlass; but only a professional really succeeds to a position of prominence.  I don't have any real help for you vis-a-vis removing alignment from D&D.  The games without alignment that I have played & DMed recently have been non-fantasy d20 variants in which alignment is not a really a factor.  This presents such a fundamental change to the game that I don't think I would do it.  It doesn't sound as if alignment is the real change you want to make in your game.  But, it could be done as others have suggested.  Perhaps instead of turning, you could make the channeling of that positive energy damaging to undead.  Just make it a ranged touch attack using the existing mechanic to level drain the undead foe (i.e., instead of turning X hit dice, the target loses X (or 1/2 X) levels).  It's probably a reasonable substitute for clerics, and could still work in reverse to bolster undead with extra temporary hit dice.  You could also achieve a similar effect by replacing Turn Undead with a Smite Undead ability.  It's really just a bonus to melee damage based on class level and Charisma.  It's less pwoerful, but it's still good.</blockquote>

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