Expanding D&D adventures past mere combat

[Hjorimir]

When I make combat deadly that doesn't mean that PC death is a guarantee. It just means that if they enter combat they know that death is a realistic possibility. The PCs get into plenty of heroic battles, but they try to make sure it is on their terms and that there is a reason to risk their lives. I have found this increases the drama and role-playing considerably.

 

[MerricB]

Thanks for the clarification.

Cheers!

 

[Warehouse23]

One key to moving gaming beyond the state of a simple combat simulator is recognizing that the onus is on the players to create characters who have goals beyond "kick in the door, kill the monsters, take their loot." If every player brought to the table even a paragraph of backstory with plothooks, DMs would have a lot more to work with in terms of crafting an adventure (without such character motivation, the DM is left with the old motivators of fear, greed, and lust, which, although they never fail, tend to get a bit stale after a while).

Two keys for players are to provide what I call "hooks" and "markers." Hooks are plot hooks--we all know about them (my character gets a kick out of liberating the innocent, or undoing ancient evils, or discovering truly novel things--these are all standard fantasy tropes, but picking one or two will let your DM know what kind of goodies to seed the adventure with--e.g., innocent prisoners, elder gods, or enchanted caverns).

Markers are a little bit tougher. They are non-mechanical signals of character advancement which mean something to the player (and character). A marker could be a new name (e.g., "The villagers start calling you Bob the Valiant" or, for imfamy, "You are now known in town as Endzenda--the goat-sucker"), a title (e.g., "For your valiant fight against the dragon, the duke has asked you to become his shire-reeve"), membership (e.g., "The coven of witches decides to take you in as a member," or "The mariner's guild elects you to their college"), or even something material (e.g., "A statue depicting your party slaying the Ooze of Bathsgate now stands at the entrance to the town").

A new level makes for a tougher piece of paper (yay, +1 to BAB and fort saves). Achievement of a marker makes for character advancement. In this manner, gaming can move away from hack'n'slash, and into something more enjoyable.

 

[Quasqueton]

Yet reading a novel and playing D&D both require the use of imagination, while playing a computer game does not.

Huh? Wha?

It's quite easy to set up a computer game that will play itself.

Like a book on tape?

The game "happens" in unspooling lines of numbers and code; the outcome is decided and the user views the results and reacts to them.

You mean, just like a novel, with unspooling lines of letters and words?

Yes, creativity is used to solve the puzzles [in a computer game], but only insofar as using it to choose the "right" answer.

Where as a novel lets you pick the "wrong" answer?

The computer game that allows you to think up a solution that the designers didn't account for has not yet been invented.

You mean, like a novel where the "solution" was written a year before you started reading -- and doesn't change by reading it a different way?

Quasqueton

 

[eris404]

One key to moving gaming beyond the state of a simple combat simulator is recognizing that the onus is on the players to create characters who have goals beyond "kick in the door, kill the monsters, take their loot." If every player brought to the table even a paragraph of backstory with plothooks, DMs would have a lot more to work with in terms of crafting an adventure (without such character motivation, the DM is left with the old motivators of fear, greed, and lust, which, although they never fail, tend to get a bit stale after a while).

I can't agree more. We have a tradition of asking each player to create three NPCs important in some way to his/her character. I also love the contact rules (from Unearthed Arcana). It's important to actually allow the player to use those NPCs and organizations for help when appropriate, too. If there is intrigue, a mystery or any kind of backstory at all, it is very important to have several avenues through which the players can get information about it.

Markers are a little bit tougher. They are non-mechanical signals of character advancement which mean something to the player (and character). A marker could be a new name (e.g., "The villagers start calling you Bob the Valiant" or, for imfamy, "You are now known in town as Endzenda--the goat-sucker"), a title (e.g., "For your valiant fight against the dragon, the duke has asked you to become his shire-reeve"), membership (e.g., "The coven of witches decides to take you in as a member," or "The mariner's guild elects you to their college"), or even something material (e.g., "A statue depicting your party slaying the Ooze of Bathsgate now stands at the entrance to the town").

I love this idea! I was thinking of doing something similar - like having the local newspapers report on the characters' adventures.

I think that designing adventures in a large city really helps to move the focus from combat, too. The players realize that they can't use violence to solve many of the problems they face without serious consequences - and to be honest, I did not originally intend to make it so, but the players themselves felt it wasn't realistic to go about the city killing people. More or less, it's been decided that killing sentient beings is wrong, but destroying undead, abominations and horrible, evil monsters lurking in the sewers is ok.

 

[sniffles]

As a player, I am really seeing that it is possible to have a roleplaying experience in D&D that is not all about combat. A new campaign I'm involved in has now had several session with no combats. It's a tacit agreement between the players and GM that what we all want out of the game is more than "kill the monsters and take their stuff".

As others have stated, this is what is really required to achieve a game that is not all about combat. It doesn't matter IMO what adventures/modules you use to propel the game. It's all about what the participants want to do with their gaming experience. Just because the printed adventure doesn't include the kind of interaction you want doesn't mean you can't still include it. Make stuff up! That's what we all do when we're roleplaying.

 

[The Shaman]

Markers are a little bit tougher. They are non-mechanical signals of character advancement which mean something to the player (and character).

In our Modern military game, decorations and promotions would be the "markers," though decorations do offer a bump to Reputation which in turn improves chances at promotion, so there is a small mechanical benefit in this case as well.

There's also the camaraderie that develops among the paras, the relationships they develop with the section mates, their officers, and so on. Nicknames are a means of reinforcing this sense of kinship between characters.

Finally, there are what I think of as souvenirs, like the Arab robe one of the characters received on a detail that he promptly showed off to his mates when he rejoined them later. The character thought it was cool and wanted to show it off. I think this is really cool because it shows a great level of involvement with the setting and the experience of the game.

 

[Templeton580]

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[Quasqueton]

Oh. Yeah, those old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books were pretty cool.

And I guess I *have* gotten tired of just sitting and watching Neverwinter Nights play itself through. I probably should just let it play overnight while I'm sleeping so it finishes soon.

Quasqueton

 

[Templeton580]

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