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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5314729" data-attributes="member: 177">You're now talking about potentially starting in on a fight, realizing it is boring, and switching mechanics mid-stream?&nbsp; Eew.&nbsp; That's ugly.&nbsp; In terms of player expectations, I mean.&nbsp; I'd rather just truncate the fight, give the PCs the benefit of the doubt, and move on to the next thing.Honestly, my issue isn't with having a quick-fight mechanic.&nbsp; My point is that even a quick-fight mechanic ought to be entertaining or engaging (if short).&nbsp; I am not a fan of mechanics for the sake of bean-counting in my rpgs.&nbsp; If it isn't attached to something engaging in other terms, I'm apt to jettison it and handwave. While resource management is part of the game, if the PCs have an extra healing surge or daily power (or the equivalents in other systems), I'm just not going to sweat it that much.So?&nbsp; In what way is it acceptable for any encounter, no matter the playstle, to be dull*? This isn't about rising narrativist action, it is about whether what I'm doing right now this instant in play is interesting.&nbsp; It doesn't matter if they happen while hexcrawling, dungeon delving, or in a specific plot arc.&nbsp; You're the GM and you are still in charge of what the PCs run into.&nbsp;&nbsp; If you, as a GM, are delegating your design to random tables, you still owe it to the players to develop the skill of making the results of those random rolls into something fun to interact with.&nbsp; If you are using a published module, you still owe it to the players to develop the habit of reviewing the materials beforehand, edit if necessary, and running them in an interesting manner.And, of course, if you designed it all yourself, you choose the details of terrain, the monsters/NPCs, the goals of said monsters, their tactics, and so on.&nbsp; You'd have nobody to blame but yourself.*&quot;Dull&quot; being relative, of course, as different groups like different things, but the GM is supposed to know something about what the group likes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 5314729, member: 177"] You're now talking about potentially starting in on a fight, realizing it is boring, and switching mechanics mid-stream? Eew. That's ugly. In terms of player expectations, I mean. I'd rather just truncate the fight, give the PCs the benefit of the doubt, and move on to the next thing. Honestly, my issue isn't with having a quick-fight mechanic. My point is that even a quick-fight mechanic ought to be entertaining or engaging (if short). I am not a fan of mechanics for the sake of bean-counting in my rpgs. If it isn't attached to something engaging in other terms, I'm apt to jettison it and handwave. While resource management is part of the game, if the PCs have an extra healing surge or daily power (or the equivalents in other systems), I'm just not going to sweat it that much. So? In what way is it acceptable for any encounter, no matter the playstle, to be dull*? This isn't about rising narrativist action, it is about whether what I'm doing[I] right now this instant[/I] in play is interesting. It doesn't matter if they happen while hexcrawling, dungeon delving, or in a specific plot arc. You're the GM and you are still in charge of what the PCs run into. If you, as a GM, are delegating your design to random tables, you still owe it to the players to develop the skill of making the results of those random rolls into something fun to interact with. If you are using a published module, you still owe it to the players to develop the habit of reviewing the materials beforehand, edit if necessary, and running them in an interesting manner. And, of course, if you designed it all yourself, you choose the details of terrain, the monsters/NPCs, the goals of said monsters, their tactics, and so on. You'd have nobody to blame but yourself. [SIZE="1"]*"Dull" being relative, of course, as different groups like different things, but the GM is supposed to know something about what the group likes.[/SIZE] [/QUOTE]

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