Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mearls on Balance in D&D
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 3377329" data-attributes="member: 16574"><p>The primary focus of the game has almost always been on combat with groups I've played with too, but I daresay that's more because the groups I've played with have, on average, not been all that good, and not because the game necessarily works that way. Combat is the "easy" way to play the game -- it requires the least thought, you can just sit back and let the dice take care of everything (or at least you could in the old days), and even if you fail it's not really your fault, it was just bad luck (or a cheating DM throwing unbalanced challenges at you <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />). <em>Avoiding</em> combat while still finding ways to "win" and prosper is much more difficult, and requires much more thought and care. I also happen to find it a lot more fun (as I've already mentioned earlier in this thread).</p><p></p><p>Take, for example, <em>The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief</em> (the module Mike Mearls and his lunchtime crew were playing through as, seemingly, one big combat). You <em>can</em> run this module as a straight-up melee hack-fest, and I daresay that's how most groups over the years have run it (note the objections to my claim earlier in the thread that I don't view the module as purely a combat exercise) -- wading more-or-less straight into the Great Hall and opening a can of whup-ass on the assembled giants until either all of them or all of the party are dead. But it doesn't <em>have</em> to play out that way -- if you read carefully (and a bit between the lines) you'll see there's an entirely different implicit storyline running through the module, involving the party infiltrating the place by stealth and trickery, disguising themselves as juvenile giants, making friends with various disaffected groups of maids and servants to gain information, picking off drunk giants one by one as they wander away from the party, perhaps even enlisting the aid of the cloud and stone giants (it's not specifically mentioned in the module-text, but why couldn't this happen?), inciting the orc slaves in the basement into a full-scale insurrection (a great diversion!), burning the place to the ground (which is definitely considered possible, even likely, to happen in the module -- going so far as to say who takes refuge where once it does), etc. </p><p></p><p>Some players might view this a boring way to play -- sneaking around gathering info when you're supposed to be throwing-down with the baddies, and it's certainly harder and requires more care, thought, and discipline, but at least to me it's a much more engaging and rewarding style of play, and much more fun. I always prefer to succeed in the game through careful planning, clever thinking, minimizing risk and the element of chance -- I'd just as soon never have to roll a die in-game, and in fact when it does come down to a situation where I have to roll, where my fate no longer lies in my own hands but in the whim of the dice, I feel like I've lost/failed, because even if things turn out well they could've just as easily turned out just the opposite and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="T. Foster, post: 3377329, member: 16574"] The primary focus of the game has almost always been on combat with groups I've played with too, but I daresay that's more because the groups I've played with have, on average, not been all that good, and not because the game necessarily works that way. Combat is the "easy" way to play the game -- it requires the least thought, you can just sit back and let the dice take care of everything (or at least you could in the old days), and even if you fail it's not really your fault, it was just bad luck (or a cheating DM throwing unbalanced challenges at you ;)). [i]Avoiding[/i] combat while still finding ways to "win" and prosper is much more difficult, and requires much more thought and care. I also happen to find it a lot more fun (as I've already mentioned earlier in this thread). Take, for example, [i]The Steading of the Hill Giant Chief[/i] (the module Mike Mearls and his lunchtime crew were playing through as, seemingly, one big combat). You [i]can[/i] run this module as a straight-up melee hack-fest, and I daresay that's how most groups over the years have run it (note the objections to my claim earlier in the thread that I don't view the module as purely a combat exercise) -- wading more-or-less straight into the Great Hall and opening a can of whup-ass on the assembled giants until either all of them or all of the party are dead. But it doesn't [i]have[/i] to play out that way -- if you read carefully (and a bit between the lines) you'll see there's an entirely different implicit storyline running through the module, involving the party infiltrating the place by stealth and trickery, disguising themselves as juvenile giants, making friends with various disaffected groups of maids and servants to gain information, picking off drunk giants one by one as they wander away from the party, perhaps even enlisting the aid of the cloud and stone giants (it's not specifically mentioned in the module-text, but why couldn't this happen?), inciting the orc slaves in the basement into a full-scale insurrection (a great diversion!), burning the place to the ground (which is definitely considered possible, even likely, to happen in the module -- going so far as to say who takes refuge where once it does), etc. Some players might view this a boring way to play -- sneaking around gathering info when you're supposed to be throwing-down with the baddies, and it's certainly harder and requires more care, thought, and discipline, but at least to me it's a much more engaging and rewarding style of play, and much more fun. I always prefer to succeed in the game through careful planning, clever thinking, minimizing risk and the element of chance -- I'd just as soon never have to roll a die in-game, and in fact when it does come down to a situation where I have to roll, where my fate no longer lies in my own hands but in the whim of the dice, I feel like I've lost/failed, because even if things turn out well they could've just as easily turned out just the opposite and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about it... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Mearls on Balance in D&D
Top