Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What are the “boring bits” to you?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9277499" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>If the players love their cobbler that much, then clearly I have underestimated how well I played him or her, and should be thinking about what else I can do with this NPC. That's straight up free player investment for zero effort on my part. Why would I turn down the opportunity to draw my players in with something they <em>already</em> love?</p><p></p><p></p><p>Yes. I have told my players as much. If they wanted to straight up leave behind the whole world their characters have known and go to some other continent, they have the freedom to go so. If I have prepared a slate of various things, and my players genuinely look at all of it and say, "Meh, that's not very interesting, we want to do this instead," that's not a fault on their part, but on <em>mine.</em> It means I failed them as a DM, and I need to work to fix that failure.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, my players actually do enjoy what things I have prepared and how those things evolve as a result of play, or how new things enter into play without any prior intent. I have no need to go back to the drawing board and wonder how I got things so wrong.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I don't run a pure sandbox. I just respect my players' autonomy. That is a check on me as DM. It makes sure that I actually put out content worthy of my players' attention and investment.</p><p></p><p></p><p>How odd. My experience of old-school combat has been precisely the opposite. Well, almost. Either you mindlessly charge in and win, or you mindlessly charge in and lots of PCs die. And that very thing you speak of, "win the fight before the dice are rolled," is <em>incredibly</em> boring. Because it means there was never any challenge in the first place. There was never actually a threat at all, just a bookkeeping effort, no different from the logistics you mentioned in the part I snipped out.</p><p></p><p>It is only in an actually tactical environment, where the choice you make this round, this <em>turn,</em> affects the state of play considerably, that there is actually a possibility of gameplay worthy of paying attention. "You rolled poorly, congrats you're dead" is just as boring as "you win because of course you win." Moreso, really, since at least with the latter there's the possibility you could still run into things you can't beat. There's no possibility of running into <em>anything</em> once a character is dead. They have ended, and everything that matters about them has ended as well.</p><p></p><p>Mega lethality jumps the guaranteed results from one to an <em>astounding</em>...two. Not really my idea of depth. Doubly so when 90% of the time your actions in combat boil down to "hit thing," "run away," or "do painfully obvious environmental thing (that you'll probably fail at anyway)."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9277499, member: 6790260"] If the players love their cobbler that much, then clearly I have underestimated how well I played him or her, and should be thinking about what else I can do with this NPC. That's straight up free player investment for zero effort on my part. Why would I turn down the opportunity to draw my players in with something they [I]already[/I] love? Yes. I have told my players as much. If they wanted to straight up leave behind the whole world their characters have known and go to some other continent, they have the freedom to go so. If I have prepared a slate of various things, and my players genuinely look at all of it and say, "Meh, that's not very interesting, we want to do this instead," that's not a fault on their part, but on [I]mine.[/I] It means I failed them as a DM, and I need to work to fix that failure. Fortunately, my players actually do enjoy what things I have prepared and how those things evolve as a result of play, or how new things enter into play without any prior intent. I have no need to go back to the drawing board and wonder how I got things so wrong. I don't run a pure sandbox. I just respect my players' autonomy. That is a check on me as DM. It makes sure that I actually put out content worthy of my players' attention and investment. How odd. My experience of old-school combat has been precisely the opposite. Well, almost. Either you mindlessly charge in and win, or you mindlessly charge in and lots of PCs die. And that very thing you speak of, "win the fight before the dice are rolled," is [I]incredibly[/I] boring. Because it means there was never any challenge in the first place. There was never actually a threat at all, just a bookkeeping effort, no different from the logistics you mentioned in the part I snipped out. It is only in an actually tactical environment, where the choice you make this round, this [I]turn,[/I] affects the state of play considerably, that there is actually a possibility of gameplay worthy of paying attention. "You rolled poorly, congrats you're dead" is just as boring as "you win because of course you win." Moreso, really, since at least with the latter there's the possibility you could still run into things you can't beat. There's no possibility of running into [I]anything[/I] once a character is dead. They have ended, and everything that matters about them has ended as well. Mega lethality jumps the guaranteed results from one to an [I]astounding[/I]...two. Not really my idea of depth. Doubly so when 90% of the time your actions in combat boil down to "hit thing," "run away," or "do painfully obvious environmental thing (that you'll probably fail at anyway)." [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
What are the “boring bits” to you?
Top