Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Primitive Screwhead" data-source="post: 5754173" data-attributes="member: 20805">I already use the 'at will/scene/act' methodology, often granting an extended rest as they move from one act to another, even in the same adventuring day. I have also ran 1 encounter days, all the way up to 14 in one day.I think the key to the 15-minute problem is the perception on the players side that they have to nova in order to survive. This was a huge problem in higher level 3x with the save or die scenarios and some of that mind set is retained at the 4e table. Part of that is enhanced by encounter design that was amped up to match the damage output of a party that does nova... creating a vicious cycle.IMHO, the only way to break it is to break the 4th wall and talk with the group about encounter design. Something along the lines of 'look guys, my plan is to hit the very thin line between boring {too easy} and annoying {TPK}. This means some sessions we will go through multiple encounters as the story is better if you end up at the end with less resources. If you want to do extended rests you have more resources and I have to do one of a couple things. First, make that final battle way stronger and I might accidently TPK everyone. Second, the BBEG might just run away to cause problems elsewhere. Third, they might get reinforcements that make everything else that much harder.  Does anyone have any problem with backing off on the 'go nova' approach if I tell you when you are at your last encounter of the day?"The game where there were 14 encounters in a day worked that way. I started with 'this is going to be a very long day and the end is a really nasty fight'  There was alot of groaning as the day ground on and the team had to shepard thier resources wisely. They walked into the final battle wrung out, down to a handful of healing surges and only a couple dailies... which made the victory that much more exciting and proved that the PCs were indeed Heroes.. there was no-one else that could have survived that long![MENTION=40166]prosfilaes[/MENTION]... there are other ways to repopulate the dungeons besides growing babies. Raise undead, unleash the black ooze garbage disposal unit, set up traps, cause a cave-in, hunting parties return, an aggressive neighbor {who doesn't like the Orcs or the PCs} start taking over the dungeon starting at the entrance....The idea is that things happen off-screen, developing a more believable world and enforcing thinking in terms of the game world instead of the game mechanics.YMMV</blockquote>

Verification