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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The adventure game vs the role-playing game
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<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 8230166" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>To a point I agree, but not entirely. </p><p></p><p>For me, I want to explore a dungeon or other exotic environment, with some good combat encounters, which hopefully feels like a living, lived in environment. I couldn't care less about character builds but do want many options. On the other hand, I am interested in creating and stepping into a character, acting in character, interacting with NPCs, and roleplaying social scenarios...up to a point. </p><p></p><p>I think either extreme is duller than dirt. If it's all combat all the time, it's boring. If it's all roleplaying all the time, it's boring. You need a good mix. </p><p></p><p>I'll call out optimizing and builds here because I think they warrant a bit of attention. D&D, especially 5E, is honestly already on easy mode. It's hard for characters to die. It's baked into the math of the game that characters can easily win almost every single encounter, even without going hardcore cheese like the five-minute workday or broken-ass builds. I like not knowing the outcome. I like being challenged as a player and for my characters to be challenged. Optimizing and builds remove a large part of what little challenge there is in 5E. It's like damn, easy mode isn't easy enough? You need to make it trivially easy? That sounds mind-numbingly dull. Especially if the player in question is focused on combat as the fun part of the game. You like combat but want to make absolutely sure that you're never at risk and never challenged in the slightest way ever by going for some god-like build? Sure, I guess. But then there's zero tension or drama. Zero story or fun. But, some people don't want challenge or excitement, they just want to win. You win D&D by playing it. You don't win by trivializing what little game is there.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 8230166, member: 86653"] To a point I agree, but not entirely. For me, I want to explore a dungeon or other exotic environment, with some good combat encounters, which hopefully feels like a living, lived in environment. I couldn't care less about character builds but do want many options. On the other hand, I am interested in creating and stepping into a character, acting in character, interacting with NPCs, and roleplaying social scenarios...up to a point. I think either extreme is duller than dirt. If it's all combat all the time, it's boring. If it's all roleplaying all the time, it's boring. You need a good mix. I'll call out optimizing and builds here because I think they warrant a bit of attention. D&D, especially 5E, is honestly already on easy mode. It's hard for characters to die. It's baked into the math of the game that characters can easily win almost every single encounter, even without going hardcore cheese like the five-minute workday or broken-ass builds. I like not knowing the outcome. I like being challenged as a player and for my characters to be challenged. Optimizing and builds remove a large part of what little challenge there is in 5E. It's like damn, easy mode isn't easy enough? You need to make it trivially easy? That sounds mind-numbingly dull. Especially if the player in question is focused on combat as the fun part of the game. You like combat but want to make absolutely sure that you're never at risk and never challenged in the slightest way ever by going for some god-like build? Sure, I guess. But then there's zero tension or drama. Zero story or fun. But, some people don't want challenge or excitement, they just want to win. You win D&D by playing it. You don't win by trivializing what little game is there. [/QUOTE]
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The adventure game vs the role-playing game
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