D&D 5E (2014) Legends & Lore 4/21

[Minigiant]

No skill points and feats on NPCs makes it easier by default. Now allthere needs to be done is tie CR to the correct target numbers, have correst encounter guides, good tables, and simplify spells and Next would be a DMs BFF.

 

[Halivar]

Great, table based dungeon design. So that the chain of 10ft. rooms with orcs and chests the players have to go through makes even less sense.

Since the inception of the game, it has been the duty of the Dungeon Master (it's in the name!) to make sense of the randomly generated dungeon.

I have never had a problem telling stories with randomly generated dungeons. Just have to be creative.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Great, table based dungeon design. So that the chain of 10ft. rooms with orcs and chests the players have to go through makes even less sense.

Now, now, Derren... don't get mad because every other D&D player isn't as brilliant and creative as you, which means they aren't able to create a fully fleshed-out adventure from whole cloth with nary more than the slightest kernal of an idea like you can. Other folks need the oh-so-painful crutch of book assistance. Blasphemy, I know... but only someone with your strength of will can fight through the pain and accept that the rest of the gaming populace might not be able to reach your heights. Please look down upon the rest of us with benevolent pity, rather than angry scorn.

 

[Halivar]

Other folks need the oh-so-painful crutch of book assistance.

Hey now, some of us just like rolling on tables.

 

[ki11erDM]

Please for the love of Torm launch with a monster builder app and ideally an encounter tool.

 

[Li Shenron]

Simplicity and complexity aren't always the same thing

Uhm... yes they are Simple is the opposite of complex. "Work as intended" is a separate thing, although clearly the more complex the game, the higher the chance of something not working as intended, in general.

I like that we will be able to create monsters both from the ground up AND by using templates.

Definitely!

Some DM go like this: "I have 10th level PCs in the game, thus I am going to create a 10th level monsters, and that's what I am going to use in the next encounter." Here the 4e method may be best, because in a sense it starts from setting a target for the mechanical results. The purpose is to fill an encounter with monsters.

Other DM go like this: "I've seen a cool monster in a movie/book/game, I want to have that in my game, I need this and that ability. Oops, it turns out 10th level. That's what I am going to use against the PC once they get to 10th level." The purpose is to fill the world with monsters.

As for myself, I usually don't create monsters, only NPCs, but if I start creating monster I will certainly be looking for the second approach.

 

[fjw70]

I like this article. I am all for anything that makes the DM's job easier.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Great, table based dungeon design. So that the chain of 10ft. rooms with orcs and chests the players have to go through makes even less sense.

If the dungeon generation tables are mandatory, then I will be shocked. Otherwise, they won't be any worse than the ones in the AD&D DMG. That's one thing I'm actually happy to see return.

Designing adventures based on XP budgets? Yuck!

 

[KidSnide]

Other folks need the oh-so-painful crutch of book assistance.

Even if you aren't rolling on tables, they can still be helpful. A table is an efficient way of communicating reasonable types of encounters and their relative frequency. When I was playing AD&D, I would sometimes put a dungeon together by picking and choosing the encounters that looked fun (or made sense) from a table. Even if you don't roll on it, encounter tables can make sensible training wheels for dungeon design.

Anyway, who hasn't used a random table for wilderness encounters? These days, I rarely spend the time to play out random encounters, but it's certainly something I like having in my back pocket.

-KS

 

[Blackbrrd]

Great, table based dungeon design. So that the chain of 10ft. rooms with orcs and chests the players have to go through makes even less sense.

You already have plenty of replies here, but I do get your comment. It really felt like Keep on the Shadowfell was created using something like this, and with those 10' rooms made into 20' rooms.

On the other hand, tables like these are actually quite good to get your imagination going. It's a good way of saying what monsters would logically group together, and the ration between them.

If they also write a page or two on how the dungeons should be layed out to make some sense, avoiding bunching rooms too close together (if you don't want all the monsters to join a fight), it's probably enough to create an interesting dungeon crawl. Sure, if you aren't into dungeon crawls, it won't help, but it could teach new DM's the basics of adventure design.

As it currently look, 5e looks to be relatively lean when it comes to rules, so instead of filling the books with rules, they fill them with content that help a DM create and run adventures/campaigns. Probably a lot more inspiring than the 4e crunch books that were as interesting to read as an inventory list.