D&D General How do you do horror when running D&D?

[hawkeyefan]

That...that is a great idea actually.

See I’m sort of taking inspiration fro the 1e days, where the emphasis was on exploration. There xp was given for the treassure you found.

Characters were very fragile, but at the same time they could mow through 50 skeletons in 15 minutes. That fragility is what led to the 10’ pole days, that and the style of play where if you say you do something the wrong way, you died.

Now, I’m not sure what leveling up would be good for. Increasing skills and saves I guess. But XP is usually the carrot that motivates, so changing the reward is the first step.

To be clear I’m not imagining long campaigns. Maybe 3-5 sessions max? Long enough for a story. Because IME it’s hard to get people to commit to long campaigns period, and I think it would be hard to maintain a long running campaign with weak characters who can die easily.

Bevause when I say “no combat” I don’t mean “no violence”.Things will attack Them. Fighting back (and staying to fight) is what’s unwise.

My last post was before I saw this one.

If you’re going with a shorter game, I think it’s still a question of incentive. If leveling up is not the goal, then identify what is the goal, and actively promote that.

I know that’s kind of vague, but it’s hard to be specific without knowing your goal of play from the players’ point of view. Typically, that’s advancement.

What would you say is the players’ goals in play for this game?

 

[Rechan]

My last post was before I saw this one.

If you’re going with a shorter game, I think it’s still a question of incentive. If leveling up is not the goal, then identify what is the goal, and actively promote that.

I know that’s kind of vague, but it’s hard to be specific without knowing your goal of play from the players’ point of view. Typically, that’s advancement.

What would you say is the players’ goals in play for this game?j

Not Dying?

Beyond that, um, playing the game? Surely you don’t show up to game night with the only incentive to level, you show up because you want to play. The reward is playing.

 

[Fenris-77]

Well, playing and making progress, whatever progress looks like for that game. Playing, in and of itself, is only a reward insofar as it's rewarding.

 

[Rechan]

I don’t know, finishing the story? Achieving the in game mission?

My head has been in 1 session games for a long time. But I want a little more space for a longer story.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Not Dying?

Beyond that, um, playing the game? Surely you don’t show up to game night with the only incentive to level, you show up because you want to play. The reward is playing.

Sorry I wasn't clearer. Yeah, play is it’s own reward, but that applies to all games.

What I mean is how will players feel like they’re progressing? Different games handle this in different ways. D&D has a pretty specific process for this, but you seem to want to remove or limit that.

If survival is the main goal of play for the PCs, then that’s what you'll have to focus on. How to promote that is the question....

 

[Fenris-77]

It wasn't a challenge, just an observation. The story needs to be moving along and the players need to feel like they are getting somewhere, regardless of how many Orcs they have to slay. Providing that sense of forward motion and success/failure without combat encounters is one of the challenges you're looking at. This is where combat light games often fall down, regardless of system.

 

[jayoungr]

OP: You may also want to think about limiting or tweaking some of the classes, if they don't fit with your picture of the game. For example, you may want to reserve certain spells for NPCs. Banning magical healing would also make the game a LOT grittier.

 

[Fenris-77]

@hawkeyefan - XP for whatever the goal is is one way, and narrative arc is another. Tied together it should work fine (as I'm sure you already know).

 

[cmad1977]

I did. The suggestions were:

1. Advertise a non-D&D game (I have)

2. Play D&D until you can convince your fellow players to play something else.

3. Run D&D.

Believe me, if I could Not play D&D I would. But my options are D&D or nothing. So I come here asking how I can force D&D into what I want: basically PCs playing NPCs with no combat skills, so combat is a last ditch thing to try and avoid, delay, escape.

Which the consensus seems to be “don’t play”

Give them monster like stat blocks with an emphasis on skills/character traits.
1-3 simple attack lines maybe. Emphasize Tools and languages.

Let everyone know ahead of time what they’re in for.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don’t know, finishing the story? Achieving the in game mission?

My head has been in 1 session games for a long time. But I want a little more space for a longer story.

Gotcha....it sounds like you have a rough idea for a game that will last a few sessions. Can you break the story up into session sized parts that have a clear goal? As @Fenris-77 says, narrative goals are also part of the game. I don't want to seem like I would exclude that side of things. It just sounded like your players were more traditionally minded in their approach to D&D, so I figured giving them clear goals in that regard was a good start.

If you give clear goals that are meant to be achieved, that's gonna go a long way toward maintaining some kind of momentum. Part 1 could be "learn of the Count's secret" and then part 2 could be "escape from the Count's castle" and so on.

If mechanical incentives also help, maybe offer a perk of some kind when a goal is reached. Maybe give them options for perks to choose from.....maybe a bonus to certain skills, or an additional hit die, or something similar that is kind of akin to gaining a level. Again, this may not be necessary, but it is D&D, so I know a lot of players are going to expect some kind of character progression, even in a shorter campaign.