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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Justice and Rule" data-source="post: 8293393" data-attributes="member: 6778210">I do think part of the problem is that, especially nowadays, monsters hitting 0 means dead while that is not the same for the players. This creates a dichotomy for retreat: monsters can retreat and the players will break off because they may have unconscious players that need tending. But monsters can't have that: if you're down, you're dead, so there's no real desire for triage if the monsters are winning. I have a friend who, when a monster goes down, rolls a d20, and if the die is equal to or under half their Constitution score, the monster is still alive but in critical condition (with obvious exceptions for things like massive damage and such). He also played it so that it wasn't necessarily obvious on first look.This meant that if you broke off, monsters would check to see if they had any survivors, and also would tend to them. It also meant that after a battle, you might well have someone who is still alive after the fight, which can lead to interesting moments: do you stabilize this bandit and pump him for information? Do you use him as leverage to parlay? It leaves some interesting room for roleplay, as well as giving more reasons and outs for both the players and the NPCs to break combat.This is underrated, but feels like it never happens in D&D. I started an FFG Star Wars game where the players were fleeing a heist gone wrong and they filled in how it went wrong over time. I also stole that from some Live Play, but I cannot for the life of me remember what.Yeah, this is a systemic problem for the content community, where it feels like many want to aspire to adventures that are beyond just combat, but everyone is just a little to afraid to lose what is generally considered "the draw".I will say that while I don't play APs (largely for that reason), I am interested in Strength of Thousands, given the concept and the progression (From magic students to magic teachers). Also Fists of the Ruby Phoenix because it's just outright a tournament with what seems to be a PUBG-style Battle Royale and that seems eminently lootable for content.Sometimes you just got to indulge in your own stories. Sure, you're there for the players to give them fun stuff to do, but it's really nice to have your own little storylines playing out in the background, even if it doesn't mean as much for the players. As long as you don't get indulgent in it, it's absolutely an alright thing to do.</blockquote>

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