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ShortQuests -- Pocket Sized Adventures! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed for 1-2 game sessions.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 9877287" data-attributes="member: 7031982">I keep thinking about this (supposed) relationship between resources and tactics/strategy.The reason I don't like mechanics based primarily on resource attrition is that the decision-making is based on an unknown: should I spend this resource now, or save it for later?  Which I suppose is a kind of strategy, but it's one based on meta-gaming, i.e. typical dungeon structure, the GM's tendencies, how much time is left in the session, etc.  From the character's point of view, it is completely unknowable whether or not the resources are best used now or saved for later.But it occurs to me that how resources drain, and how they are refreshed, is an important factor.  I can think of a few different categories:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Ability-gating resources: points or dice that fuel abilities and refresh automatically (such as on a clock).  E.g. mana, "3x/day" abilities, expertise dice, uses of rage or shapeshift, etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Resources that do drain automatically but don't refresh automatically.  E.g., rations, water, torches.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Resources that reset after an encounter.  E.g., per-encounter special abilities, or HP in some games (e.g., where 0 HP means "you've run out of luck and the next hit is gonna hurt")</li> </ol>It's really category 1 that I don't like, because it is the source of what I find to be uninteresting...if nearly ubiquitous...gameplay.  And although I don't love per-encounter abilities, they don't have the same kind of "unknowability" flaw that Cat 1 has. (Or maybe it's just that by compressing the unknowability into a much shorter time-scale it's more tolerable?) And recently I've become enamored of systems where HP represent a kind of narrative ability to avoid taking damage.  Category 2 is interesting to me because seeking resupply for those resources can become part of the adventure. And maybe there's another category that would include "carrying capacity" (although I can't think of anything else in that category) which has a completely different consumption/replenishment model, because you can "use" it now, but then "un-use" it any time you need it back.</blockquote>

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