Roll Initiative!

[Lord Mhoram]

My games are very serial. The break between sessions isn't even a chapter break (to draw a tenous analogy), more like putting a bookmark in the middle of a paragraph, to come back to later. The concept in the article is the opposite of what I try and do with the game.

Interesting idea - just not my style.

 

[Felon]

Is that a little "Badwrongfun" I see peeking through, Trampas?

You know, the "badwrongfun" bit seems to be on the verge of becoming as much of as an overused throwaway line as "role-playing not roll-playing". Stating that somebody who resents plots and subplots and hates character interaction may be missing out on something, and might even find another venue of recreation better-suited to meet his personal brand of fun, is not being holier-than-thou. It's just making a rather rudimentary observation.

If I'm on a golf course and I meet a frustrated guy shredding the greens with his club, hammering away as hard as he can, and not even trying to get his ball in the hole, then I might ask him why he plays this game. And if he says "I just want to hit things with my club real hard" I might suggest that there are better sports out there that he might try...

 

[Reynard]

Well, you might have missed the part where D&D is an interactive game that grants the players a pivotal role in controlling the flow of events. The DM's timetable sometimes has to relent.

Right. But there's a couple different parts to this.

First, players are primarily reactive. The DM sets up a situation -- a meeting with the constable, a descent into the undeerdark, whatever -- and the players decide what they are going to do.

Second, players can choose to be proactive, but there's a responsibility in that: you can only be proactive insofar as you allow your DM the time and ability to prepare. It is one thing to tell the Dm "We want to convince the Bishop to let us build an HQ on the groudns of the old temple we cleared" and another entirely to tell the DM you want to do it now.

ANd, ultimately, neither of these things has anything at all to do with the subject of this thread. The only real issue regarding this method is "does it work for my campaign". If you run an episodic campaign, I can almost garauntee it will. Like the little teaser before the credits on a TV show, the initial combat scene becomes expected and even looked forward to. If you run a serial campaign, it might not work so well.

 

[Crust]

I thought the article was a bit extreme. I too have DMed 6-hour sessions where we didn't roll initiative once, and I would drive home saying out loud, "We had an awesome game today!" His points are valid, but a touch extreme.

I voted for the klurichur, largely due to my confusion concerning its CR. But I must say, I thought, "Why not makeover the xerfilstyx? I mean, it's a snail with wings!"

 

[Fishbone]

Combat every 4th session? Uruush, how the blue blazes can you stand that?
I'm a youngin(19) played with high schoolers and in some cases middle schoolers who were on the ball and if we didn't get at least 2 knock down drag out brawls a session we'd feel cheated. I've played in a lot of sessions with people in that age group and in media res goes off like a bomb, everybody loves it. I realize it ain't everybody's cupatea, though.

 

[Uruush]

Hi, Fishbone.

Well, we're all in our late 30s and have been in about eight million combats in various RPGs over the years. Most of us started playing in the late 70s. That has something to do with it, I'm sure. In media res is an awesome device, but the "action" doesn't have to be combat for us, (or a lot of gamers, actually). We have all kinds of conflict and drama in our games, sometimes absolutely gut-wrenching contention. Just doesn't involve sticking a longsword in someone's gizzard most of the time.

But sometimes it does. And when we do have a combat, you can bet it's over something serious, and that the entire group will be will be teetering in the brink of the abyss... It won't be any little "take up 25% of the party's resources"...

 

[Nyaricus]

A one shot is a very very different thing than an ongoing campaign.

I've run games without a single combat. I'd like to try that just to see how red your face gets.

I could handle that, and have actually ran a session or two where that happened (although my players at the time were a bit out-off by that, lol - they didn't seem to 'get' roleplaying).

Anyways, howzabout I run a campaign about the Ascension of the Hydra King - a Paragon, half-fiendish/half-illithid dire py-cyro hydra? Oh, and his 1000 sons, all hydras

You could be our half-orc bard, if you wish

 

[Nyaricus]

Anyways, I am actually going to start my campaign with a combat with magmins tomorrow (woday? ) to get the ball rolling. Most of the people I am playing with are WoWheads, so yeah....

 

[Sammael]

Why this wouldn't work in my game:

PC Rogue Player: Why didn't I warn the others of danger? You know I always go scouting, and I want an explanation of how our opponents saw through my (*rolls d20*) Sneak roll of 58?

PC Wizard Player: Why aren't we all invisible, or have a veil, or why haven't I mass charmed the monsters before they got to us? The rogue would have told me about them via our telepathic link.

PC Fighter 1 (defender type) Player: We could have skipped this battle if we were on our magic carpet. Why aren't we?

PC Fighter 2 (aggressive type) Player: You know I would have charged their leader the moment I saw them. As I am the only one who's usually mounted, the others will probably take a round or two just to get to the battle.

PC Cleric Player: Why didn't we negotiate with them before fighting? Between Fighter 2 and me, you know we can pull off 40+ Diplomacy rolls.

PC Bard Player: Awwww... I could have captivated them with my song while the others snuck past.

And you know what? Each and every one of the players above would have been right. WotC designer failed to take into consideration so many factors that his article is basically worthless. In medias res works sometimes. But not all the damn time.

 

[Vlad Le Démon]

I've already begun my adventures with fights...I like making adventures like movies...There was an article in a Dragon about creating adventures like serials...Its one of favorite articles...