D&D (2024) What could One D&D do to bring the game back to the dungeon?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The default is 15 pounds x strength isn't it? Were they rolling and got something really low and wanted to wear heavy armor? (What is the optional one? I confess to not remembering. Were they using that?)

It was with Standard Array. They put an 8 in Strength and got so much equipment from their starting class and background that they couldn't carry it all.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

When it comes to dungeon delving as a thing the game is based around you want a meta to play that makes managing your resources and the decision to push on interesting.

Right, but I'm not sure that's what the game is based around anymore. Or should be. My impression from most of the modern D&D community was that they use D&D to play through fantasy adventures, having dungeon-delving being an occasional thing that the party has to do to save the world/kill the BBEG/[insertothergenericfantasyplot] instead of the central part of the game.

D&D has evolved past "delve into the dungeon, kill the monsters, take their stuff". That's still a part of the game, but I'm pretty sure it's not the central core of it anymore.

 

[Cadence]

It was with Standard Array. They put an 8 in Strength and got so much equipment from their starting class and background that they couldn't carry it all.

I mean, the brewer isn't supposed to carry the 70 lb. barrel with them! (But that would still leave them 50 lbs more by the standard amount).

I'm guessing it was the variant encumbrance with only 5x Str? (Which I think I prefer if I'm going for anything vaguely versimiltudinous).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

That's true, but "unpopular" doesn't mean "untenable" and if players that don't like it are ignoring the rukles anyway, we can just discount them and are back to the beginning of the thread: what rule changes can they make for One D&D that support dungeon crawling for those players who want to engage in that. We can ignore the players that don't want to, because apparently they just ignore whatever rules they like to. Which is fine for them. Good gaming, I say, just at someone else's table.

But if most people are ignoring those rules . . . why does the game need to cater to the minority of people that do want the "back to the dungeon" playstyle?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I mean, the brewer isn't supposed to carry the 70 lb. barrel with them! (But that would still leave them 50 lbs more by the standard amount).

I'm guessing it was the variant encumbrance with only 5x Str? (Which I think I prefer if I'm going for anything vaguely versimiltudinous).

I was using encumbrance (for like the first time I've actually enforced it). And don't small characters have a lower carrying capacity?

 

[Cadence]

But if most people are ignoring those rules . . . why does the game need to cater to the minority of people that do want the "back to the dungeon" playstyle?

Cater or offer?

If the PHB/DMG make the various options kind of obvious and upfront, it keeps the game big tenty (in theory), which feels good to me.

 

[Cadence]

I was using encumbrance (for like the first time I've actually enforced it). And don't small characters have a lower carrying capacity?

Medium and Small are the same in 5e. (With the default rules, that 10 Str, 40 pound, 3' tall halfling can jump and climb and run with 150 pounds of gear).

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Cater or offer?

If the PHB/DMG make the various options kind of obvious and upfront, it keeps the game big tenty (in theory), which feels good to me.

Right, but the premise of the thread is "D&D should refocus on its core to be a dungeon crawler". My point is that if most of the people playing the game (especially younger players) ignore the bits of 5e that are intended to support the "dungeon crawler" parts of the game . . . why is that necessary at all? If the playstyle is unpopular, the game shouldn't change to imbed the unpopular playstyle more in the core of the game.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Medium and Small are the same in 5e. (With the default rules, that 10 Str, 40 pound, 3' tall halfling can jump and climb and run with 150 pounds of gear).

I guess I misremembered that rule. I assumed that the "carrying capacity is doubled for every size above Medium" applied inversely towards smaller characters.

 

[Cadence]

I guess I misremembered that rule. I assumed that the "carrying capacity is doubled for every size above Medium" applied inversely towards smaller characters.

Just for Tiny. (Is that the smallest size now?)