D&D 5E Roleplaying in D&D 5E: It’s How You Play the Game

[HammerMan]

When I was playing 2e walking around town (even if we had a month of downtime) my fighter would everyday walk in chain and have his longsword at his side and shield (or second weapon) because you never know when the evil DM would spring a surprise attack... as time went on we realized that we not only didn't WANT our characters to be that paranoid, but since most times it didn't come up it was dumb anyway...

what we found since was on the occasion that something happened and we were not equipped it made for better stories as we got to said equipment.

Now that isn't to say no one EVER has a weapon... sometimes 1 character or another (I would say spread between all of us for 20 years it is most likely like 5-10% of the time at most) made the story better because it made sense we would have the knife or the armor.

We also have wizards and clerics that have 'downtime prep' lists and 'travel prep lists' and 'going to pick a fight prep lists' and if a fight breaks out they may not have all of there combat spells ready.

 

[Maxperson]

the style where you can leave no door unopened, no treasure unfound, and no monster undeafeated.

I don't play like that and what you responded really couldn't be construed as such. No idea where you are getting that from.

My PCs will always have at least a dagger on them. Too many times something has happened at parties to make it worth the risk to attend one without the ability to defend myself.

Yep. Reasonable precautions are reasonable. Has nothing at all to do with what you are talking about above.

came from a time when EVERY PC we played HAD to have a weapon just in case. As we grew up and most of us walk around with weapons so we realised neither would most our characters...

You and I don't walk around in that kind of world. You guys are basing your reasoning on apples instead of oranges.

 

[HammerMan]

Yep. Reasonable precautions are reasonable. Has nothing at all to do with what you are talking about above.

I'm sorry I disagree. If you have no reason to expect a party to be a trap, I see no reason for most characters to carry weapons or armor

You and I don't walk around in that kind of world. You guys are basing your reasoning on apples instead of oranges.

maybe I just play in different types of worlds. Most worlds we play in parties DONT turn into combat encounters (not never but by far the minority) and going back to teenage years when we walked around town with weapons and armor, it was ALSO a minority of the time we needed them.

How often are you in a social situation/encounter in a town that turns into combat?

 

[Maxperson]

I'm sorry I disagree. If you have no reason to expect a party to be a trap, I see no reason for most characters to carry weapons or armor

Once again, reasonable precautions are reasonable. I never said show up with swords and armor.

How often are you in a social situation/encounter in a town that turns into combat?

It happens on occasion.

 

[clearstream]

Now, in Dungeon World, for example, the 'check' is simply an arbitrary decision of fate. There is no such thing as 'difficulty', something is either fictionally possible, or not. Admittedly, 'tactics' can apply, you do get an ability bonus on some checks, so it pays to play to your strengths, and then there IS 'hold' and 'Forward', which can be obtained in various ways. Still, mostly its the Fickle Finger of Fate, but the outcomes don't necessarily decide 'success' and 'failure', but more 'fortune' or 'misfortune'.

Exactly! That's one motive for moving to the framing of sorting between worlds. A world in which things are most fortunate. Another in which they are somewhat or mixed. A third in which misfortune prevails.

There are of course other options too. The PACE system uses no dice, and you get 'points' which are based on whatever character attribute you invoked (So, a character with "Brave Warrior: 4" would get 4 points), and then you can spend 'tokens' to increase that using a bidding format. In that system EVERY check is 'opposed' by SOMETHING, the points on the other side do represent a sort of 'strength of the opposition', but more in a dramatic sense, not really on the basis of 'physics'. Failing to match the opposing point total represents a narrative 'setback', which may include a 'wound' (some sort of persistent fictional disadvantage).

There are many other options. My thought is that the sorting between worlds framing speaks to an underlying and intention-neutral unity of function. They can be a tool for negotiating imagination, where a group couldn't otherwise agree. They're always sorting between next worlds.

These are just a sampling. One needs a bit of sophistication in terms of analysis to understand all of them. Obviously within just the umbrella of what might work in 5e the possibilities are a lot narrower than in RPGs generally. 'What comes next' is not 'arbitrary', but what it consists of is generally a significant concern, particularly in story game play. 5e relegates it to basically 'whatever the GM decides', the only principle being the general idea that a passed check represents some sort of 'success' and thus further narrative is loosely obligated to reflect that (more so in combat).

5e relegates to DM as you say, albeit I believe the intent is not that DM should be arbitrary. Really, nothing in the 5e core suggests that. (As you know, my wider committments argue strongly against it.)

 

[HammerMan]

Once again, reasonable precautions are reasonable. I never said show up with swords and armor.

and again I disagree with your idea of reasonable being "carrying weapons to every social gathering"

It happens on occasion.

but is it often enough that it warrants bringing weapons and preping for it every time?

 

[Maxperson]

and again I disagree with your idea of reasonable being "carrying weapons to every social gathering"


but is it often enough that it warrants bringing weapons and preping for it every time?

Why do you keep trying to twist dagger, which hardly even counts as a weapon, into weapons.................and armor(though you didn't say armor in this post)?

 

[HammerMan]

Why do you keep trying to twist dagger, which hardly even counts as a weapon, into weapons.................and armor(though you didn't say armor in this post)?

I think a dagger is a weapon. I don't see a dagger as a 'swiss army knife' that you can carry anywhere.

 

[Maxperson]

I think a dagger is a weapon. I don't see a dagger as a 'swiss army knife' that you can carry anywhere.

Because you live in this world where it is a weapon, not in the D&D world where it is basically a swiss army knife.

 

[HammerMan]

Because you live in this world where it is a weapon, not in the D&D world where it is basically a swiss army knife.

Okay, I give up... you can argue what every you want (and again arguing that a dagger from the weapon table isn't a weapon is ALSO what me and the guys were like in HS). This is just dumb at this point. You want to have guards armed (and maybe armored for a fight) when off duity, you want PCs to always be armed 'just in case' it is not a way of playing I am interested in