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The Adventuring Day XP budget makes sense when you consider it is a budget for you to stock your dungeons
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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8965514" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>Firstly, I disagree that D&D <em>requires</em> heroism. At its base, D&D is an RPG for fantasy adventures. They may be heroic; they may be more materially motivated. Nearly all D&D adventures include hooks for PCs that <em>aren't</em> heroic motivations because not all PCs are motivated by heroism. At a metagame level the PCs must not reject the call to adventure, but that's not remotely the same as requiring a heroic motivation.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, even if we accept that the game is about heroes, heroes want to <em>succeed in their quest.</em> They don't want to demonstrate their bravery. They want to accomplish their goals. They should only act with haste when they must. To do otherwise would be reckless. Maximizing effectiveness also maximizes your ability to succeed. It takes around 34 full-budget adventuring days to reach level 20 from level 1. So seven weeks with weekends off. Is it really crimping your style if you take fourteen weeks to get there instead? Or 28? A casual six months to achieve superheroic power levels doesn't seem like it's asking a whole lot.</p><p></p><p>Thirdly, even if we accept that the game is about heroes and that heroes must pressure themselves in all cases, the game's mechanics should not be counterproductive to the goals of that narrative. If the game is supposed to be about heroism, then that's actually another reason that there should be mechanics to reward that kind of play. The mechanical rewards should not tell PCs to hit the brakes when the narrative goals are to press the gas as much as possible. If the game is supposed to be about being a hero, what do you get for doing it well over some greedy bastard that wants a sack of gold? </p><p></p><p>A good example of mechanics design reinforcing narrative is the video game Doom Eternal. The game makes several changes to the previous game's mechanics. They drastically reduce the main character's ammo supply. Like the shotgun starts at a 16 shell capacity. Instead of deep pockets, they give you the recharging chainsaw that kills the enemy and makes them explode in a shower of ammo. That forces you into combat in specific ways. It encourages lots of weapon switching, movement, and judicious use of the chainsaw. And you later get further options to make enemies drop health or armor. The game is supposed to be frenetic and encourage getting in close, and the low ammo capacity and ammo drops from the game's primary melee weapon encourage exactly that. Certain players may not like the style of play that results from these design choices, but it absolutely means that the mechanical design reinforces the style of play that you want to encourage. </p><p></p><p>It would be a good idea if D&D could similarly have a design to encourage and reward the style of play that the rest and recovery system claims. We'd have a whole lot fewer DMs complaining about five minute adventuring days, difficulty with 6-8 encounter limits, and so on.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8965514, member: 6777737"] Firstly, I disagree that D&D [I]requires[/I] heroism. At its base, D&D is an RPG for fantasy adventures. They may be heroic; they may be more materially motivated. Nearly all D&D adventures include hooks for PCs that [I]aren't[/I] heroic motivations because not all PCs are motivated by heroism. At a metagame level the PCs must not reject the call to adventure, but that's not remotely the same as requiring a heroic motivation. Secondly, even if we accept that the game is about heroes, heroes want to [I]succeed in their quest.[/I] They don't want to demonstrate their bravery. They want to accomplish their goals. They should only act with haste when they must. To do otherwise would be reckless. Maximizing effectiveness also maximizes your ability to succeed. It takes around 34 full-budget adventuring days to reach level 20 from level 1. So seven weeks with weekends off. Is it really crimping your style if you take fourteen weeks to get there instead? Or 28? A casual six months to achieve superheroic power levels doesn't seem like it's asking a whole lot. Thirdly, even if we accept that the game is about heroes and that heroes must pressure themselves in all cases, the game's mechanics should not be counterproductive to the goals of that narrative. If the game is supposed to be about heroism, then that's actually another reason that there should be mechanics to reward that kind of play. The mechanical rewards should not tell PCs to hit the brakes when the narrative goals are to press the gas as much as possible. If the game is supposed to be about being a hero, what do you get for doing it well over some greedy bastard that wants a sack of gold? A good example of mechanics design reinforcing narrative is the video game Doom Eternal. The game makes several changes to the previous game's mechanics. They drastically reduce the main character's ammo supply. Like the shotgun starts at a 16 shell capacity. Instead of deep pockets, they give you the recharging chainsaw that kills the enemy and makes them explode in a shower of ammo. That forces you into combat in specific ways. It encourages lots of weapon switching, movement, and judicious use of the chainsaw. And you later get further options to make enemies drop health or armor. The game is supposed to be frenetic and encourage getting in close, and the low ammo capacity and ammo drops from the game's primary melee weapon encourage exactly that. Certain players may not like the style of play that results from these design choices, but it absolutely means that the mechanical design reinforces the style of play that you want to encourage. It would be a good idea if D&D could similarly have a design to encourage and reward the style of play that the rest and recovery system claims. We'd have a whole lot fewer DMs complaining about five minute adventuring days, difficulty with 6-8 encounter limits, and so on. [/QUOTE]
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The Adventuring Day XP budget makes sense when you consider it is a budget for you to stock your dungeons
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