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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 9611516" data-attributes="member: 6779196">I’m not an active OSR participant, but I find a lot of what the OSR folks do very interesting and often aligned with what I aim for in D&amp;D. From that perspective, I think “combat is a fail state” is probably overstating the sentiment. The real underlying idea seems to me to be that combat ought not to be something the PCs actively seek out, but rather one possible means of resolving conflict with monsters, which themselves ought to be obstacles to the PCs’ goals. It’s not so much that if you get into combat you’ve messed up, but rather that combat is dangerous and there are often safer ways to accomplish your goals.Likewise, I think “the answer is not on your character sheet” is overstating the case a bit. Obviously the character sheet can provide answers to problems. But I think the intent behind the adage is that the character sheet ought not to be the first place the players look for solutions to problems. Sure it’s where your stats live, but it’s generally more in the spirit of the game to take a more fiction-first approach. Imagine yourself as your character, in the world, and describe what you would do or try to do in a their shoes; the character sheet will help in figuring out what happens as a result.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 9611516, member: 6779196"] I’m not an active OSR participant, but I find a lot of what the OSR folks do very interesting and often aligned with what I aim for in D&D. From that perspective, I think “combat is a fail state” is probably overstating the sentiment. The real underlying idea seems to me to be that combat ought not to be something the PCs actively seek out, but rather one possible means of resolving conflict with monsters, which themselves ought to be obstacles to the PCs’ goals. It’s not so much that if you get into combat you’ve messed up, but rather that combat is dangerous and there are often safer ways to accomplish your goals. Likewise, I think “the answer is not on your character sheet” is overstating the case a bit. Obviously the character sheet can provide answers to problems. But I think the intent behind the adage is that the character sheet ought not to be the first place the players look for solutions to problems. Sure it’s where your stats live, but it’s generally more in the spirit of the game to take a more fiction-first approach. Imagine yourself as your character, in the world, and describe what you would do or try to do in a their shoes; the character sheet will help in figuring out what happens as a result. [/QUOTE]

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