What is adventuring?

[CleverNickName]

Oh? That is very interesting! So what about combat is it that makes it the least interesting?

Is it combat in general, or a specific system's combat?

What would make combat really really fun for you as a main feature of an adventure?

It's combat in general; I think it distracts too much from the story. Like I'll be trying to explore an ancient ruin and find some clues about what happened to the ancient cultists who once lived here...but we keep stopping every ten minutes to have an hour-long combat scene against some rats or bugs. I wish it was the other way around: an hour or two of exploration, with ten-minute rat interruptions. Or better yet, I'd rather handwave those rats and get back to the more interesting stuff. Who cares about rats?

TTRPGs that don't use a battle mat and use theater of the mind are better for me, because they help keep me focused on the setting and the characters (instead of describing everything in "squares" and "actions," for example.) And I admit, D&D has gotten better in 5th Edition compared to other earlier versions. Even so, I prefer games like Dread, which resolve combat with a single nail-biting mechanic. I'd like combat to be kept to a minimum, and serve only to drive the story: unless these were ancient rat-cultists, and those rats are going to lead us to a major discovery, I'd rather we ignore them.

So I voted for the "no combat needed" option in the poll.

I want to stress something important in case it gets missed: when I said it's my "least favorite thing" about RPGs, I'm not saying it's bad, or suggesting it be changed or removed. I know that the hobby has its roots in fantasy wargaming, and I know that most folks play FRPGs as combat simulators. It's just that if I had to list out all of the things I liked about fantasy roleplaying games, combat would be at the very bottom of that list. I still enjoy it...but I enjoy it the least.

 

[Hriston]

I was trying to answer the OP's question as it related to me. Since joining my group back in June 2021, I have participated in two 5e adventures. Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus and Tyranny of Dragons. Both of which had moments of combat, exploration and social interaction. I didn't know there were adventures in 5e where you could not find yourself in combat.

Ah, okay, the flat "nope" made me think you were responding generally, that, "nope", a general you cannot ever say they went on an adventure if they didn't engage in combat, meaning that no one can. But you were saying that you specifically can't ever say you went on an adventure if you didn't engage in combat, and I guess your reason is because you've never played a published adventure where that didn't happen. I'll just leave it you to state what you can and can't say and add that, in my opinion, it is certainly possible for there to be adventuring devoid of combat even if one has not experienced it for themselves.

 

[Distracted DM]

I think danger is important. It doesn't require combat, but suspense, the threat of discovery and possibly combat, or just dangling off a cliff edge, that's integral. Discovering strange new places, yeah- and finding treasure.

 

[Corinnguard]

Ah, okay, the flat "nope" made me think you were responding generally, that, "nope", a general you cannot ever say they went on an adventure if they didn't engage in combat, meaning that no one can. But you were saying that you specifically can't ever say you went on an adventure if you didn't engage in combat, and I guess your reason is because you've never played a published adventure where that didn't happen. I'll just leave it you to state what you can and can't say and add that, in my opinion, it is certainly possible for there to be adventuring devoid of combat even if one has not experienced it for themselves.

Yeah, my group has yet to get around to participating in an adventure where combat wasn't present. It took us 2 1/2 years to get through Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus (June 2021 to December 2022). As for Tyranny of Dragons, we started this one back in January 2023 and I am not sure when we'll finish it (the party is already at 10th level). We have met only once a week during both of these adventures. We have had sessions where we had fought one or more opponents on a virtual tabletop. And we have had theater-of-the-mind sessions where we just interacted with the NPCs. So, it's been a bit of a mix for me.

 

[overgeeked]

Adventuring is all the fun and exciting bits that separate what the PCs are doing from the ordinary life of an average person in the setting and from the ordinary lives of the players at the table. Danger, suspense, thrills, amazing locations, terrible monsters, etc. All of it.

 

[Hriston]

OK, cool. So what do you think about non-moving games? That is to say, would you consider a political overthrow of a local leader (and the entire game was played in just one city), to be "an adventure?"

What about a rpg based largely around romance and betrayal of that romance?

Is there anything that is a lot of interesting parts, but you would not consider 'adventure'?

Do you mean games that don't change location? Travelling is certainly something that makes it feel like an adventure to me, but it's just one fictional activity among many that could be part of "adventuring". I think whatever activities the PCs are involved in that constitute the focus and main action of the game are fulfilling functionally the role of adventuring. That's as opposed to downtime, and I'm using these terms the way they're used in D&D 5.0E but generalizing them to encompass games that fall outside the adventure game genre because that's how I understood your question.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Sure.

Note that you can get through the entirety of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight without engaging in any combat.

Well, sure, because that adventure is woke! Gloriously woke! I love that scenario, but it is highly unlikely that many groups will make it through without combat. Possible, absolutely, and teams dedicated to figuring out how to do it will probably figure it out, but it's still unlikely for many D&D groups I've run for.

 

[CleverNickName]

Well, sure, because that adventure is woke! Gloriously woke! I love that scenario, but it is highly unlikely that many groups will make it through without combat. Possible, absolutely, and teams dedicated to figuring out how to do it will probably figure it out, but it's still unlikely for many D&D groups I've run for.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Please do! It's a great adventure, but if you do it the non-combat way, it's a fantastic and unique adventure!

 

[RenleyRenfield]

Wow! So "Levelling Up" has 0 votes!

Now, I know its a 'pick one' vote... but really...?

Not one person thinks that levelling up and gaining appreciably more power is a main feature of "adventuring"?