Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Asisreo" data-source="post: 8048059" data-attributes="member: 7019027">It isn't about getting them addicted like a gambling kick or feeling no remorse for them. The reason why gambling works is due to a lost cost fallacy that they already put something of value into it to try to get something of value out of it. If they put nothing in it and get nothing or worse out of it, it's just a loss of time. In my experience, "nothing happens" is a terrible thing to say to a player when they do nearly anything. They're showing signs that they want to engage in the world and saying that their actions bear no fruit make it seem like they weren't supposed to do so anyways. If they try to open a door and nothing works for them opening it, it makes it seem like they weren't supposed to open the door in the first place. And to me, that's the core of exploration. Opening doors that lead to better opportunities than the straight-and-narrow. Or at least something cool. Every room in a dungeon should have something beneficial hidden in it, but don't tell the players that. But you want to reward them for taking the time to check the rooms you carefully designed. When they search, if they fail, give them a smaller reward like an individual's treasure worth of gold. If they succeed, grant them something like the key to a locked door or a hint to one of the BBEG's weaknesses as well as the individual's treasure. The constant rewards keep them from continuously trying. Of course, if there's absolutely no pressure, then they should get everything of interest in the room from the sheer fact that they thought to check something. You want your players to feel like they're constantly winning, because that's how combat works, no? Nobody is having fun if everytime a fight happens, the DM hands the party's arse to them and makes them feel incompetent. A dangerous battle they can't win here or there is fine, but the party really came to the table to overcome challenges together, not to constantly be defeated. If they don't feel like they'll ever win a combat, they'll dread the thought of rolling initiative because it's another opportunity for the DM to bully the party.</blockquote>

Verification