D&D General D&D without resource management

[Umbran]

FATE, HERO and BESM say hi.

You can probably also add Cortex Prime to that list, though it loses the all-caps theme.

What I have played of PbtA and FitD games also buck that inventory assertion.

 

[overgeeked]

Anyway, I am curious what other folks think D&D without resource management -- especially rest based resource management -- would look like, and still "be D&D."

It's a weird one for me. On one hand, I think 4E nailed most aspects of resource management, making most powers at-will or encounter-based rather than daily. Splitting combat from non-combat spells and having non-combat spells be longer and more expensive rituals. But even that made it "not feel like D&D" for a lot of people.

On the other hand, I think wiping away resource management entirely would be a mostly good move for the game. Having a consciousness check, similar to a concentration check, when you take damage would speed up play. Being able to describe the magical effect you want to have, the referee setting a DC, and making a roll would vastly speed up play and let players be more creative. I also think putting in some kind of terrible things happening on failed or botched casting rolls would make the game more fun and interesting. But that would very quickly veer into "not D&D" for a lot of people.

 

[Charlaquin]

Aside from the actual social role-playing part, RPGs are primarily inventory management simulators.

Well, some RPGs are. These days, there’s a lot more variety in what different RPGs do.

 

[Charlaquin]

The issue with such systems is never combat when your time is precious, its outside combat when your time is plentiful.

This issue can be resolved by not making time plentiful outside of combat.

 

[reelo]

Just for clarity, does that mean you think daily resource management is a fundamental aspect of D&D being D&D? And if so, which resources? Hit points and spell points, certainly, but rations? Arrows?

Note that I am not being argumentative. I am honestly curious what you think.

I think the management of spells, HPs, ammunition, food, light (torches), time(!), coin, and other consumables (item charges, potions, scrolls, and attunememt slots) has always been an integral part of D&D, and should remain so.
The emphasis on it has somewhat shifted away over the last couple of editions and, imho, not to the benefit of the game, as it removes a considerable amount of challenge.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I am sooo happy I never had to deal with light as a resource.

 

[overgeeked]

The emphasis on it has somewhat shifted away over the last couple of editions and, imho, not to the benefit of the game, as it removes a considerable amount of challenge.

And that's the "third hand" for me. Resource management is a holdover from when D&D was a dungeon crawler. It hasn't been that in...decades. There's a difference between "can go into a dungeon" and being a "dungeon crawler" game. Modern D&D is definitely the former, not the latter. See all the ways 5E obviates most resource management and effectively kills the exploration pillar. What remains is vestigial at best and more as a "see, it's still the same game, honest" than anything else.

 

[reelo]

IT would still be D&D, just a new, better D&D.

One could argue that D&D is whatever game WotC slaps that name on, so....

But "new and improved" is often just a bland marketing term and I'm wary of it.

 

[Reynard]

And that's the "third hand" for me. Resource management is a holdover from when D&D was a dungeon crawler. It hasn't been that in...decades. There's a difference between "can go into a dungeon" and being a "dungeon crawler" game. Modern D&D is definitely the former, not the latter. See all the ways 5E obviates most resource management and effectively kills the exploration pillar. What remains is vestigial at best and more as a "see, it's still the same game, honest" than anything else.

Ironically, it is actually a better dungeon crawler in the CRPG sense now than it was then, being focused so much more on combat than exploration. AD&D did not look much like Diablo, even though that game exists because of AD&D. But you can do Diablo much better with 5E now.

 

[reelo]

I am sooo happy I never had to deal with light as a resource.

How so? Never been in a pitch-black dungeon?