Ilbranteloth
Explorer
I just think that's a weird rule to work into adventure design in general. The PCs rest when and where they want to. If they pick a place that's too dangerous, then sucks to be them.
I don't think an adventure designer puts any thought into where the PCs are going to rest, nor do I think they should. Somebody doesn't build a dungeon, castle, or tomb, expecting somebody to come and plunder it at some point, and say, "oh wait, I didn't give the murderhobo thieves someplace to rest and recover." They design it to kill the bastards that come to steal their stuff.
I can see a commentary or something in the Basic Set, or an adventure like LMoP. But I just don't think it's the DMs job, nor the adventure designer's job to design where the players take a rest. So there's no place for it in an adventure.
And while I'm fine with changing the rules, I don't think the DM needs to ignore or change the rules.
The game is a role playing game. Which means the players should be considering the actions that their character would make in their world. If the players feel that means that after every combat they would honestly sit down and camp for 24 hours so they can get in a long rest before moving on, a rule isn't going to change that.
The reason, in my opinion, why the rule is the way it is, is because of that very fact. If the players are going to schedule their adventuring around regaining hit points and abilities. There's really nothing you can do about it. So you can try, as a DM, to control that behavior - make a rule that says you have to have 3 encounters before you can take a short rest, for example. But I don't think that's the right answer either. What's an encounter? What if they open a door, see 6 orcs, and close the door and run. Is that an encounter? It's all just people playing games trying to manipulate the rules and the DM.
My answer is the same as it's always been. People rest when they are tired and hungry, about every 4 hours or so usually, and in between they adventure. If you aren't at full hit points, deal with it. Don't have an action surge left? Deal with it. Suck it up and go adventuring. Change your battle tactics to account for being below full strength. It's not a video game or a collectible card game, you can do anything you can think of.
There is absolutely no other approach that works 100% of the time. The DMs job is not to control the PCs, that's the players job. And if they want to sit there and twiddle their thumbs, then so be it. If there's a legitimate reason a monster might wander by, then it does. If not, then they sit there.
If you really want to fix that problem? Spend the next hour sitting there with them. When they aren't moving, we aren't playing. If it's lunchtime, then we'll hand wave the hour rest. Otherwise we're sitting here at camp. And before you think that's just a punitive thing - make everybody stay in character. No phones, no out-of-character talk. They don't have to act their character's parts, but they need to talk only about things their characters would. My players actually do spend a lot of time talking amongst themselves, and it's not forced either.
Either it will enrich your game, or they'll stop taking short rests at stupid times to game the rules.
Or you can just tell them that stopping for a rest after every combat is ruining your fun and immersion. Try to think like the characters and not just play the rules. Maybe they just don't know it annoys you.
