Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8085129" data-attributes="member: 97077">I have noticed that DMs who focus too much on "story" don't like combats. You can see this a lot in so-called "heavy RP" games where combat is very rare. I think this is because of the stakes. If it's a life-or-death struggle, that could mean the "story" outcome the DM desires won't come to fruition if one or more PCs die. All those subplots they wrote based on the PCs' ponderous backstories would go away. What a waste, right?The solution is fairly easy: Stop predetermining and then caring about particular story outcomes. Offer hooks and put challenges in the way of the PCs. "Story" emerges all on its own. Just play the game and story will follow. If the players are making fun and memorable choices during play, the resulting story will be exciting and memorable which is the goal of play.Also, combats can drag because a lot of DMs don't engage the play loop in its entirety. We addressed recently this in another thread, but basically DMs often skip the part of the loop that calls for the DM to describe the environment. So the DM describes the environment once, then calls on a player to declare their actions, narrating the results. Then the next player is asked to do the same, almost like they're in line at the deli - "NEXT!" If the DM, however, pithily describes the scene again as it currently stands, laying out the basic scope of actions, then asking the next player what they do, the pace quickens, players can more easily make decisions, and combat flows more smoothly. On a related note, many DMs burn out on combat a lot because they are doing the narration for the players. A player might offer very little in the way of description, so many DMs take it upon themselves to essentially describe what the character is doing in the narration part of the play loop. This is basically like having a one-sided conversation which is tedious. Nobody expects flowery language or overwrought descriptions from players (or so I hope), but if the action declaration lacks a goal or approach, it puts the DM in a position of having a harder time adjudicating without assuming or establishing what the character is doing in the narration phase, which isn't the DM's role. Do it enough and you can burn out and start wanting fewer combats. Ask your players to step up and do their part. In my experience, they will.</blockquote>

Verification