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Is D&D Too Focused on Combat?
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<blockquote data-quote="rmcoen" data-source="post: 7733615" data-attributes="member: 6692404"><p>IME, if you don't have a good story, the (RPG) rules don't matter. The players will go play a boardgame that fills their "combat itch". Having said that, the way the rules are written can and will influence the will the story is told and played. If you are playing a grim & gritty game system, players will (tend to) play more conservatively; if you are "high fantasy" with full health 5 minutes away, more risks (and brashness and arrogance) will be seen. If a fireball clears a room, expect more fireballs; if it just announces "Roll for Initiative!" (4e, I'm looking at you), expect fewer fireballs.</p><p></p><p>I played Ars Magica in college for awhile (alongside D&D campaigns). The rules rewarded character growth. I hated when we had to leave the homebase and "deal with something", because it got in the way of my studies (XP and level-up, in D&D). Encounters were interruptions, problems "in the way", not methods of getting better/faster/stronger. [They were, though, opportunities to demonstrate *being* faster/better/stronger, so there was still some appeal.]</p><p></p><p>In GURPS, when I knew a single axe-hit could kill me (but a rapier thrust couldn't), it changed the way I entered combat. I played for the story, but the *way* I played changed.</p><p></p><p>I've run multi-year campaigns in 2e, 3e, and 4e now. The type of story I tell has been influenced by the game system (4e in particular, with the concepts of Heroic, Paragon, and Epic tiers), and in turn, the way the players have chosen to play has been influenced. My 2e campaign was heavy in Logistics... until it wasn't, because no one enjoyed it. The 3e campaign, then, started with logistics to set the mood - under equipped, rain, weather disruption from the Big Bad Event... then dropped, when that initial campaign goal was complete. the 4e campaign has only had to deal with Logistics for specific set-piece adventures - "the one on the frozen undead-covered island", or "the one in the swamps of Carceri", or "the one in the plane-locked drow city, where divine magic sets off alarm bells".</p><p></p><p>I like Exploration, I love that part of a 4X, and I'd love to bring that to a new campaign... but D&D isn't the system for it, and I'm not comfortable as a GM "winging it".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rmcoen, post: 7733615, member: 6692404"] IME, if you don't have a good story, the (RPG) rules don't matter. The players will go play a boardgame that fills their "combat itch". Having said that, the way the rules are written can and will influence the will the story is told and played. If you are playing a grim & gritty game system, players will (tend to) play more conservatively; if you are "high fantasy" with full health 5 minutes away, more risks (and brashness and arrogance) will be seen. If a fireball clears a room, expect more fireballs; if it just announces "Roll for Initiative!" (4e, I'm looking at you), expect fewer fireballs. I played Ars Magica in college for awhile (alongside D&D campaigns). The rules rewarded character growth. I hated when we had to leave the homebase and "deal with something", because it got in the way of my studies (XP and level-up, in D&D). Encounters were interruptions, problems "in the way", not methods of getting better/faster/stronger. [They were, though, opportunities to demonstrate *being* faster/better/stronger, so there was still some appeal.] In GURPS, when I knew a single axe-hit could kill me (but a rapier thrust couldn't), it changed the way I entered combat. I played for the story, but the *way* I played changed. I've run multi-year campaigns in 2e, 3e, and 4e now. The type of story I tell has been influenced by the game system (4e in particular, with the concepts of Heroic, Paragon, and Epic tiers), and in turn, the way the players have chosen to play has been influenced. My 2e campaign was heavy in Logistics... until it wasn't, because no one enjoyed it. The 3e campaign, then, started with logistics to set the mood - under equipped, rain, weather disruption from the Big Bad Event... then dropped, when that initial campaign goal was complete. the 4e campaign has only had to deal with Logistics for specific set-piece adventures - "the one on the frozen undead-covered island", or "the one in the swamps of Carceri", or "the one in the plane-locked drow city, where divine magic sets off alarm bells". I like Exploration, I love that part of a 4X, and I'd love to bring that to a new campaign... but D&D isn't the system for it, and I'm not comfortable as a GM "winging it". [/QUOTE]
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