D&D 5E Awarding Inspiration for Genre Simulation and anti-genre simulation

[jodyjohnson]

The DMG section on Inspiration points and awarding them for genre appropriate actions really popped for what I want out of our sessions as a DM.

While a few different genres are mentioned such as film noir or horror, only a few examples are given for brevity.

What would you list as genre appropriate examples for certain situations and how would these go against the most common way they play out in the "D&D Genre" (use the rules for smart/optimal play).

1. Hold spells: in the inspirational source material these are opportunities to threaten death or a similar cruel fate, tormenting opponents, or maybe a quick capture.
2. Disarming weapons or items: create a need to switch weapons, drop an item, or show obvious martial superiority and demand surrender. (Also see tripping)
3. Punches, kicks, and headbutts frequently make contact while fighting with weapons rarely land until they end a fight. (Except the Die Hard/Inego Montoya style where a character might be repeatedly injured/shot/stabbed but survive on grit to finish the adventure)
4. Characters set off but survive the trap because they recognized it at the last second.
5. Or alternately trap kills NPC
etc (see TV tropes)

The most common 'D&D genre' actions I see are: use rule mechanics/spells/items to kill opponent in most efficient manner while reducing the opponent's ability to kill you. Inspiration might be awarded for times when the party doesn't do that.

 

[iserith]

The way I run Inspiration is that players earn it when they willingly take disadvantage on a roll or suffer a cost or setback because of a trait, ideal, bond, or flaw. The cleric, for example, has a flaw where he trusts the hierarchy of his church blindly, so the player of the cleric opts to take disadvantage on a Wisdom (Insight) check the DM called for when trying to determine the corrupt bishop's veracity.

I ran a few sessions of a horror D&D 5e game where you could earn Inspiration by doing all the stupid things that characters in horror movies do such as splitting up to search the haunted summer camp faster, disregarding disconcerting evidence ("A bloody clown suit? It's probably nothing..." *toss*), or a PC and NPC skulking off alone to make out in the graveyard.

My experience tells me that Inspiration alone is not a good enough reward on its own to encourage the type of play you're hoping for. What's really important - arguably more important - is to make sure that the sub-optimal decisions are met with interesting consequences that are fun for everyone and lead to the creation of exciting, memorable stories as a result of play. We must as DMs resist the temptation to punish with logical, boring consequences and try to make that okay with Inspiration. That doesn't work in my experience.

 

[Beleriphon]

My experience tells me that Inspiration alone is not a good enough reward on its own to encourage the type of play you're hoping for. What's really important - arguably more important - is to make sure that the sub-optimal decisions are met with interesting consequences that are fun for everyone and lead to the creation of exciting, memorable stories as a result of play. We must as DMs resist the temptation to punish with logical, boring consequences and try to make that okay with Inspiration. That doesn't work in my experience.

I have to agree here. If you award inspiriation I'd do it with the caveat that its because the character succeeds but with a consequence. They disarm the trap, but now the whole dungeon knows the group is here, if they didn't before, or something similar. I'd never make a consequence be an autofail, but rather something that makes the players think about how they're going to get themselves out of a new situation.