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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Keifer113" data-source="post: 2916538" data-attributes="member: 41266">You hit the button on one of the main aspects of DnD that becomes tiresome: Paranoia. I know players at our table who assume every NPC is out to get them. And yeah, they assume that every encounter is going to be combat oriented. BTW have you ever noticed that almost all combats occur during "normal adventuring hours" or at night when players are asleep? How come no one ever gets attacked at dinner time, or 10 oclock at night? I liked your suggestion that non combat encounters be used in some way to foreshadow future events or advance the story. My encounter the other night with Lo Meng was one such encounter. You've had others that I can't mention. Were you playing in Paul's Ravenloft campaign? I often felt like I was sitting, watching a movie, and only participating when combats happened. There was this huge backstory going on, and I never saw a way to either influence it or participate in it. We pretty much could only react to what was going on. He's gotten away from that and back to letting the players be pro-active, it seems, in how they achieve goals. Pretty much I like to structure my adventures like a movie or miniseries on TV. So there are very few red herring encounters, but I do allow for players who wander off the beaten path to interact with NPC's who might seem important, yet really are just window dressing. But I like that. Tucker and Pokey are window dressing, but I like how Stone has taken them under his wing. Are they important to the adventure and story? Nope. Do they give clues or let information be passed along? Nope. But they help bring life to the world, so I think  non story encounters and NPC's are important. Who knows, Tucker could grow up to be the next Lancelot or Cain....</blockquote>

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