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Message: <blockquote data-quote="hawkeyefan" data-source="post: 9672679" data-attributes="member: 6785785">Sure, I can see that to some extent. Though in a way the goal of the sandbox that you’ve been describing seems more about crafting as much as possible ahead of time, so you can then quickly put together an encounter or a scenario as needed.Yeah, I’m not crazy about it either, but honestly, the kind of crafted scenarios that it’s talking about is more what comes to my mind when I think of encounters in relation to RPGs.But maybe this just highlights the problem with requiring a baseline, no? I mean, 5e is the most popular edition which the most people have played… so if we’re going to assume a baseline for discussion, that would be the version. Better to just not require that baseline, I’d say. But what will that be? It isn’t determined. It hasn’t happened yet. The GM hasn’t crafted anything. So there is no encounter. Especially not in the sense of how the 5e DMG uses the term. Perhaps we’re starting to see how there could be some confusion about bypassing encounters now? Well, no… someone who’s played only 5e D&D would expect a planned, crafted encounter that serves as a discrete section of play. To them, bypassing an encounter might be a good thing… avoiding potential conflict and potentially preserving resources. On the other hand, a GM under those circumstances might be annoyed if the players bypassed an encounter. There are plenty of games (and the passages I quoted from the DMG certainly place 5e among them) where the players are expected to engage with the DM’s prepared material. But as you point out, there’s a more casual usage of the word encounter. It’s almost as if these different ways to use the word could lead to some misunderstandings at times. Sure, my point hasn’t really been about this “prep vs. improv” angle that many seem to assume. I’m speaking as someone who has GMed trad games for decades, and for whom player agency has become increasingly important. When I run trad games, I try to remain very aware of how my prep shapes play. It seems like something any GM would want to be aware of.</blockquote>

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