I'm Amazed...A Bit of Showing Off

[Andrew D. Gable]

Well, not showing off, cause I'm sure a lot of people have done it. But I just realized, my last play session had no combat whatsoever. And I'm finally getting to the point where I can completely "wing it" and still have a coherent plot. Go me.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

"Great kid... Don't get cocky."
~Han Solo to Luke during the escape from the Death Star

Seriously, though, congratulations. Now the important question: Everyone have fun?

 

[shilsen]

Good for you. I can't afford to have sessions with no combat even though I'd like to, once in a while, since my players would get bored. But I have been doing a lot of completely winging it recently and it's going good. Go us

 

[Andrew D. Gable]

Seriously, though, congratulations. Now the important question: Everyone have fun?

It went down exactly as I should have figured it would. Two of the players didn't mind it at all, in fact they quite liked it as a change of pace from my typical campaigns, which are just a little combat-heavy. The third player - well, he's the one who's all about combat. So I should have known it wouldn't be fun for him. But once I got started on my storyline, it all just flowed so well I ended up not even cracking my monster books at all. Honestly, I don't think I'll try it again, though, just because of that. I want to make it fun for the players, too.

 

[Crothian]

The trick is to be able to make it fun for the players, all the players. I try to do a combatless session every now and then. Personally, as a DM I perfer them. Congrats, they are not that easy to pull off, especially in D&D.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

It went down exactly as I should have figured it would. Two of the players didn't mind it at all, in fact they quite liked it as a change of pace from my typical campaigns, which are just a little combat-heavy. The third player - well, he's the one who's all about combat. So I should have known it wouldn't be fun for him. But once I got started on my storyline, it all just flowed so well I ended up not even cracking my monster books at all. Honestly, I don't think I'll try it again, though, just because of that. I want to make it fun for the players, too.

Well, good and... Ehr... sorry?

At any rate, allow me to make a suggestion: Splitting the party from time to time. Not too often, mind you, but something you may consider is after 2-3 adventures, having the combat-centric player take a side-trek (such as a personal mission of honor, holy mission, whatever) that is right up his alley for 2-3 sessions while giving the other two 2-3 sessions of social-based role play. Tossed in every couple of months (assuming weekly play, of course), such things can actually heighten the experience for everyone (the two get a few "special" sessions that they'll enjoy while the solo-character gets to shine on his own doing what he likes best).

 

[tonym]

I think I can usually tell when a DM is winging it. There is something about the way things are described that give it away, among other things. Amyhow, to my point:

When a DM wings combat by inventing a bunch of monsters on-the-fly, usually there is NO treasure on the dead monster bodies after the battle. And that bites! So, to all you DMs out there...If you're going to wing a combat, PLEASE wing some treasure! Sheesh, 5 stinking gold pieces in a pocket or something.

I think I wandered off-topic. Sorry.

Congrats on winging-it so well.

Tony M

 

[Wombat]

My games seem to alternate between little-or-no-combat (maybe one fight) sessions and Big Combat (multiple attacks, lots of blood) sessions. My players are happy with both

I think that may have something to do with how my players approach matters, too, as about every third session I have to wing it massively as they get involved in some side story, obsess about some particular point, or go wildly away from what I assumed they would be doing in the session. Keeps me on my toes

Yeah, winging it and having combatless sessions can be lots of fun.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

I can't afford to have sessions with no combat even though I'd like to, once in a while, since my players would get bored.

Yeah, I remember one session in my last campaign where the characters got caught up roleplaying a couple errands and never got into combat. By the end of the session, a couple of the players looked like they were having serious nicotine fits. I saw it as a good break from the previous couple sessions, which were combat-heavy, but one session with no combat was the group's limit. Oh well..

 

[Altalazar]

Once you get the hang of it, players may not ever be able to tell the difference. I know mine usually don't.