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The Fine art of noncombat one-shots.
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<blockquote data-quote="DethStryke" data-source="post: 2916271" data-attributes="member: 1309"><p>That is an interesting concept. I really like the description in general. Ironically, this is a topic I’ve been giving careful consideration in the last few years. I toyed with a type of this idea when I was DMing 2nd edition. The problem that spurred the thought at the time was that in each journey, be it from town to town or massive multi-month travels, every time I rolled dice the players expected a combat. The same went for overnight watches. Anything that interrupts your night had to be a goblin or something trying to kill you. This was, of course, my fault as a DM, but I was confused as to how to “fix” it.</p><p></p><p>So I did the same thing essentially; sprinkled non-combat related "events" in the middle of journeys... perhaps to find a strange tree formation or signs of passage by other large beasts, etc. Always seemingly unrelated to the story, and honestly many times just randomly rolled up from a chart of around 300 random encounter seeds that I got from Dragon Mag and online sources.</p><p></p><p>The problem I ended up with was that my players began to seriously question any given motivation to do anything I presented. It backfired because things began to essentially be suspect as "not worth it." Even though I kept the ratio down, I spent more time and energy making what were essentially red herrings (of course, I didn't see it that way at the time) because I thought they were neat and everyone seemed to enjoy them. *shrug*</p><p></p><p>Where I am now as a DM is of two minds: </p><p></p><p>First: These noncombat events definitely have their place, but I think they are much better served to always have some kind of reward; advancing the story always, monetary or physical optionally. Perhaps a low level Potion or low cost Alchemical item. For your example, that chest could have held a note or diary that shed some extra light on the situation at hand or the world they found themselves on... foreshadowed events to come. Perhaps even had a false bottom that was very difficult to detect! If it held nothing but paper, it could be very thin indeed. It doesn't have to be money or magic items to be worthwhile, but a chest full of clothes does nothing to propel your narrative and can make your players <em>feel</em> that when they see something that may not be worth the trouble, they probably are right.</p><p></p><p>Second: Based on what makes a good level design in video games, having a connect-the-dots approach to every encounter is how a story is told. It doesn’t have to be clue-by-four city, but a little hand holding is not always a bad thing. This diverges from the more "realistic" realm of thinking in RPGs, but I wrestled with these aspects of my interest in RPGs and came to the conclusion that I had <strong>more</strong> fun when I was given just enough to connect the dots without having to contemplate every move for a week like a master chess tournament. It’s the difference between being frustrated by what to do next, and only having to think for a few minutes and then going “ok, this is what we should do!” While depth and realism have their place, it's a finer balance that should be struck and this is not one you can expect without a healthy dollop of both sides; realism and effective storytelling.</p><p></p><p>I'm far from the baddest DM on the block, but that's effectively where I am now. *shrug*</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DethStryke, post: 2916271, member: 1309"] That is an interesting concept. I really like the description in general. Ironically, this is a topic I’ve been giving careful consideration in the last few years. I toyed with a type of this idea when I was DMing 2nd edition. The problem that spurred the thought at the time was that in each journey, be it from town to town or massive multi-month travels, every time I rolled dice the players expected a combat. The same went for overnight watches. Anything that interrupts your night had to be a goblin or something trying to kill you. This was, of course, my fault as a DM, but I was confused as to how to “fix” it. So I did the same thing essentially; sprinkled non-combat related "events" in the middle of journeys... perhaps to find a strange tree formation or signs of passage by other large beasts, etc. Always seemingly unrelated to the story, and honestly many times just randomly rolled up from a chart of around 300 random encounter seeds that I got from Dragon Mag and online sources. The problem I ended up with was that my players began to seriously question any given motivation to do anything I presented. It backfired because things began to essentially be suspect as "not worth it." Even though I kept the ratio down, I spent more time and energy making what were essentially red herrings (of course, I didn't see it that way at the time) because I thought they were neat and everyone seemed to enjoy them. *shrug* Where I am now as a DM is of two minds: First: These noncombat events definitely have their place, but I think they are much better served to always have some kind of reward; advancing the story always, monetary or physical optionally. Perhaps a low level Potion or low cost Alchemical item. For your example, that chest could have held a note or diary that shed some extra light on the situation at hand or the world they found themselves on... foreshadowed events to come. Perhaps even had a false bottom that was very difficult to detect! If it held nothing but paper, it could be very thin indeed. It doesn't have to be money or magic items to be worthwhile, but a chest full of clothes does nothing to propel your narrative and can make your players [i]feel[/i] that when they see something that may not be worth the trouble, they probably are right. Second: Based on what makes a good level design in video games, having a connect-the-dots approach to every encounter is how a story is told. It doesn’t have to be clue-by-four city, but a little hand holding is not always a bad thing. This diverges from the more "realistic" realm of thinking in RPGs, but I wrestled with these aspects of my interest in RPGs and came to the conclusion that I had [B]more[/B] fun when I was given just enough to connect the dots without having to contemplate every move for a week like a master chess tournament. It’s the difference between being frustrated by what to do next, and only having to think for a few minutes and then going “ok, this is what we should do!” While depth and realism have their place, it's a finer balance that should be struck and this is not one you can expect without a healthy dollop of both sides; realism and effective storytelling. I'm far from the baddest DM on the block, but that's effectively where I am now. *shrug* [/QUOTE]
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