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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Is Surprise worth it as a mechanic?
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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8724911" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>It sounds to me like this is where your issue really lies then. The question is less “is surprise worth having a mechanic for?” and more “are stealth mechanics worth the design effort to fix?” And the answer kinda depends on the game you’re designing. If it’s a game about sneaking around in dark, monster-filled dungeons and trying to escape with their treasure and your lives, then absolutely. If it’s a game about larger than life heroes who fearlessly confront deadly perils head-on, then maybe not. If your game has a character archetype based on subtlety, like a thief, assassin, spy, infiltrator, etc. then you probably want some way for the system to handle that, but it could be specific to the archetype instead of a universal mechanic, if sneaking around is otherwise not a very important element of your game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 8724911, member: 6779196"] It sounds to me like this is where your issue really lies then. The question is less “is surprise worth having a mechanic for?” and more “are stealth mechanics worth the design effort to fix?” And the answer kinda depends on the game you’re designing. If it’s a game about sneaking around in dark, monster-filled dungeons and trying to escape with their treasure and your lives, then absolutely. If it’s a game about larger than life heroes who fearlessly confront deadly perils head-on, then maybe not. If your game has a character archetype based on subtlety, like a thief, assassin, spy, infiltrator, etc. then you probably want some way for the system to handle that, but it could be specific to the archetype instead of a universal mechanic, if sneaking around is otherwise not a very important element of your game. [/QUOTE]
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Is Surprise worth it as a mechanic?
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