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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rechan" data-source="post: 6259038" data-attributes="member: 54846">Most of D&D's rules revolve around combat, and IMO it's hard to shoe-horn non-combat things because the skill system is not very robust and there exists very few skill subsystems to accomplish things. Compare combat to say, a game of intrigue with everyone being courtiers, where all you do is roll sense motive vs. bluff all day. There are systems that make social things much heavier (in a way turning it into social combat). Anyways, whether a system can do non-combat WELL is a different argument than whether you can DO it, and what you can do with it.First thing to consider is if your players want non-combat stuff. If your group is very hack-slashy, they may not Want to spend a session at a masquerade ball. Assuming your players do...There are many things you can do. Some people really get into economics in D&D; running a business for instance (WARNING: D&D economies are extremely, do this at your own risk). Others are nation building - let's say your PCs are in charge of a colony in a new world. They plan the layout of the colony, they need to run the logistics of making sure everyone is fed, has medical supplies, build defenses, send out teams to explore, handle trade and diplomatic interactions with the natives, etc. There's lots of room for normal adventuring there. Increase the scale of this example and the PCs could be running a tiny country and trying to expand. One example I've seen of this is in Paizo's Kingmaker adventure path, where the PCs first explore a region, then become in charge of it. Nation building is one of my favorite things.A similar example to the one above would be running the military during a war. Allocating troops, devising strategy, etc. One product I think dealt with this to some degree was Powers of Faerun, that talked about having players in various high positions within (or even running): the military, the church, kingdom, merchants, thieving guild.A thieving/criminal underworld setup is another example of something you can do, where all the PCs are low ranking and are given jobs like pickpocketing, burglaries, or extortion, and they slowly work their way up the ranks of the Guild. Any sort of "Theme" game works like this - you just make sure everyone in the group is a member, and then you give missions appropriate to the theme. I ran a short campaign where all the PCs were a group of traveling gypsies whose troupe disappeared, and the various (mostly non-combat) hijinx that ensued as they quested.Another way, similar to the 'managing the [place]' style game, is merely to attach the campaign to a specific thing. For instance, the PCs have a ship. So the campaign can be ship-related, traveling, exploring, exporting, etc - the PCs have a reason to care about this ship.Another way that you could offer non-combat elements to a combat-heavy game would be to give an open-ended objective that require the PCs to plan. Sort of like saying "Okay, your objective is to rob the bank"; they could case the joint, they could bluff their way in, they could go in guns blazing. As a DM I've done this by giving them a combat objective (breach this single tower, set up an ambush) but letting them handle it in any way they want. It could be used to say, "steal this ship" "get this guy out of prison" "get the commoners of this village to riot (without intentionally murdering people)" "get everyone out of this fort or city block (without just murdering everyone)". Players really respond positively when you hand them an objective but allow them to do whatever they want to achieve it.</blockquote>

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