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Spending time [Encounter pacing and Resting restrictions]
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<blockquote data-quote="Shadowdweller00" data-source="post: 7128226" data-attributes="member: 6778479"><p>There are very good reasons from a DM / dramatic standpoint to encourage the PCs not to rest too often. And there are a million and one ways to implement this. But I find the base solution proposed in the thread (Angry DM thing) to be too gamist, insubtle, and narrative-breaking for my personal tastes. Sure, you can describe and/or reason the complications within the context of the game world...but the core mechanic is a constant break in verisimilitude IMO. By showing the dice pool, you're essentially showing the gearworks to the players.</p><p></p><p>Better ways IMO to handle time/rest limitations include all or several of the following:</p><p>* Vary the time incentive from adventure to adventure within a campaign. Maybe the PCs need to find the antidote for the poisoned princess during one leg of the campaign, maybe they need to kill the evil high priest before a cult finishes a spell in another leg, maybe the goblin chief keeps calling in reinforcements during another leg, perhaps the wizard will pay more for the macguffin if it's delivered within a certain time period in another leg.</p><p></p><p>* It's good to be clear about what's going on. Straight-out tell the players that you intend to provide incentives to avoid resting too often...but then follow it up with in-game / narrativist events rather than a metagame mechanic.</p><p></p><p>* After you have told the players what's going on, plan out dynamic changes to the adventuring environment that increase threat, decrease rewards, or provide some sort of undesirable consequence for taking too long. Intelligent foes might react to attacks by...sending out high-challenge hunting parties to counterattack the PCs, building new fortifications, replacing guards, calling in reinforcements (upping the number of creatures and consequently threat of existing encounters), constructing traps, praying to gods/fiends/celestials for assistance, casting preparatory magic (such as hallow or glyph of warding) possibly with loot the PCs might otherwise requisition. As time passes prisoners held by the enemy might be eaten, sacrificed, or otherwise victimized. In locations held by non-intelligent or organized enemies...monsters might move in, merely seeking shelter or to feast upon corpses the PCs have left behind; undead might spontaneously arise due to disturbance; ruins or caverns newly exposed to the elements might become unstable; even lowly scavenging humanoids like a goblin or kobold might track the PCs and wander in hoping to steal loot the PCs might not have taken yet. Everything in an adventuring location might simply become increasingly alerted to new threats...gaining a bonus to perception checks, and an increased tendency to conceal themselves. Even if the PCs have means of resting safely or choose to do so away from the adventuring location, new encounters can be left on site for the PCs to face when they return or leave their sanctuary. Excessive new combat encounters can be a bit boring if you chose to go that route, but it doesn't take long to get the point across.</p><p></p><p>* Consider occasional environmental challenges that make resting limited, difficult, or hazardous - inclement weather than makes long rests difficult; cold weather, hot weather, or high (low-oxygen) altitudes that impose progressive levels of exhaustion if the PCs take too long. Slow poisons that build up until the PCs either go elsewhere for a cure or leave the area to recuperate.</p><p></p><p>* Consider worldwide dynamics - Allies or property might suffer attacks or difficulties while the PCs are off spending 5-minute workdays while adventuring. Even something as simple as horses/servants being attacked outside a dungeon might occur.</p><p></p><p>* Provide information through standard in-game channels that the adventuring environment has changed so as to reinforce the idea of consequences. Captured enemies might tell tales of reinforcements being brought in. New traps might appear where previously there were none...areas may show signs of recent construction. Maybe in one room the PCs find fresh goblin footprints near an empty leather bag with a few remaining stray coins. The PCs might find raw materials, schematics, or even expended spell components that alert them to new potential threats. Cleared areas might show obvious signs of disturbance.</p><p></p><p>* If the PCs find ways to bypass some of these challenges, it's not a problem. If the PCs have some spell that allows them to rest safely - they are expending resources by learning and/or keeping the spell prepared. Most "resting-sanctuary" spells won't stop the dungeon environment from changing while the PCs rest. If the PCs find some solution to a particular aspect of a time incentive...they are still being challenged.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shadowdweller00, post: 7128226, member: 6778479"] There are very good reasons from a DM / dramatic standpoint to encourage the PCs not to rest too often. And there are a million and one ways to implement this. But I find the base solution proposed in the thread (Angry DM thing) to be too gamist, insubtle, and narrative-breaking for my personal tastes. Sure, you can describe and/or reason the complications within the context of the game world...but the core mechanic is a constant break in verisimilitude IMO. By showing the dice pool, you're essentially showing the gearworks to the players. Better ways IMO to handle time/rest limitations include all or several of the following: * Vary the time incentive from adventure to adventure within a campaign. Maybe the PCs need to find the antidote for the poisoned princess during one leg of the campaign, maybe they need to kill the evil high priest before a cult finishes a spell in another leg, maybe the goblin chief keeps calling in reinforcements during another leg, perhaps the wizard will pay more for the macguffin if it's delivered within a certain time period in another leg. * It's good to be clear about what's going on. Straight-out tell the players that you intend to provide incentives to avoid resting too often...but then follow it up with in-game / narrativist events rather than a metagame mechanic. * After you have told the players what's going on, plan out dynamic changes to the adventuring environment that increase threat, decrease rewards, or provide some sort of undesirable consequence for taking too long. Intelligent foes might react to attacks by...sending out high-challenge hunting parties to counterattack the PCs, building new fortifications, replacing guards, calling in reinforcements (upping the number of creatures and consequently threat of existing encounters), constructing traps, praying to gods/fiends/celestials for assistance, casting preparatory magic (such as hallow or glyph of warding) possibly with loot the PCs might otherwise requisition. As time passes prisoners held by the enemy might be eaten, sacrificed, or otherwise victimized. In locations held by non-intelligent or organized enemies...monsters might move in, merely seeking shelter or to feast upon corpses the PCs have left behind; undead might spontaneously arise due to disturbance; ruins or caverns newly exposed to the elements might become unstable; even lowly scavenging humanoids like a goblin or kobold might track the PCs and wander in hoping to steal loot the PCs might not have taken yet. Everything in an adventuring location might simply become increasingly alerted to new threats...gaining a bonus to perception checks, and an increased tendency to conceal themselves. Even if the PCs have means of resting safely or choose to do so away from the adventuring location, new encounters can be left on site for the PCs to face when they return or leave their sanctuary. Excessive new combat encounters can be a bit boring if you chose to go that route, but it doesn't take long to get the point across. * Consider occasional environmental challenges that make resting limited, difficult, or hazardous - inclement weather than makes long rests difficult; cold weather, hot weather, or high (low-oxygen) altitudes that impose progressive levels of exhaustion if the PCs take too long. Slow poisons that build up until the PCs either go elsewhere for a cure or leave the area to recuperate. * Consider worldwide dynamics - Allies or property might suffer attacks or difficulties while the PCs are off spending 5-minute workdays while adventuring. Even something as simple as horses/servants being attacked outside a dungeon might occur. * Provide information through standard in-game channels that the adventuring environment has changed so as to reinforce the idea of consequences. Captured enemies might tell tales of reinforcements being brought in. New traps might appear where previously there were none...areas may show signs of recent construction. Maybe in one room the PCs find fresh goblin footprints near an empty leather bag with a few remaining stray coins. The PCs might find raw materials, schematics, or even expended spell components that alert them to new potential threats. Cleared areas might show obvious signs of disturbance. * If the PCs find ways to bypass some of these challenges, it's not a problem. If the PCs have some spell that allows them to rest safely - they are expending resources by learning and/or keeping the spell prepared. Most "resting-sanctuary" spells won't stop the dungeon environment from changing while the PCs rest. If the PCs find some solution to a particular aspect of a time incentive...they are still being challenged. [/QUOTE]
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