D&D General Wishing Away The Adventure

[nevin]

This seems to be a 5e thing, since he said there does not seem to be anything to spend gold on. He will also walk into the bar and throw a bag of coins to the barkeep and says, this ought to cover things.

well if the gold has no other purpose in the game might as well spend it like a pirate.

 

[Reynard]

You just said that being unable to threaten PCs with bandits in 5e is a failure of DM imagination. Please prove me wrong. What would you do? The only restrictions are that you are utilizing the rules of WotC 5e and that the bandits are what those rules would consider a challenging encounter. There are bandit statblocks in the MM. Feel free to use anything that would be appropriate to the fictional situation within that ruleset.

"Bandit" is a job. Maybe the leader is a Mage or a Berserker. Maybe they keep dogs or have a trained bear. Even if you want to stick just to the bandit stat block, you can implement traps and ambush tactics. But what's their goal? Murder, or robbery, or something else?

 

[overgeeked]

Again, if the DM and players are cool with it (as in certain games) sure. BUT, this was expressly presented as not that situation.

And even in a sandbox, improv etc. A player that avoids all conflict would likely be an irritant for the rest of the group, that's trying to solve situations together. Especially if its not individual xp, and that player gets the same rewards as the rest of the participating group.

I'd suggest that a player trying to avoid the pre-determined linear conflict of the game is a clear sign that they don't actually want to play in a pre-defined linear game. If you go from a pre-defined linear game to something more open and character-driven and the player is still avoiding all hooks and conflict, then it's clearly a player problem. Far, far more likely the player agreed to a game they weren't enthusiastic about simply because it was the only one on offer.

 

[nevin]

"Bandit" is a job. Maybe the leader is a Mage or a Berserker. Maybe they keep dogs or have a trained bear. Even if you want to stick just to the bandit stat block, you can implement traps and ambush tactics. But what's their goal? Murder, or robbery, or something else?

"Bandit" is a job. Maybe the leader is a Mage or a Berserker. Maybe they keep dogs or have a trained bear. Even if you want to stick just to the bandit stat block, you can implement traps and ambush tactics. But what's their goal? Murder, or robbery, or something else?

There are players who play to be hero's and would rather die than give up. Not everyone can be scared with the idea of thier PC being hurt.

 

[nevin]

I'd suggest that a player trying to avoid the pre-determined linear conflict of the game is a clear sign that they don't actually want to play in a pre-defined linear game. If you go from a pre-defined linear game to something more open and character-driven and the player is still avoiding all hooks and conflict, then it's clearly a player problem. Far, far more likely the player agreed to a game they weren't enthusiastic about simply because it was the only one on offer.

or it may be that the choices being given may just be unacceptable to them. I have myself on a few occasions refused to take any of the options the DM wanted me to take because we had a "SERIOUS" difference of opinion of what Alignment or character morals or goals meant.

Usually I find that happens when the DM wants to play around in shades of Grey and the Player hits one of those shades and says that's the line I wont' cross. generally followed by a lot of explaining and rationalizing by DM and the player just says NO.

 

[overgeeked]

or it may be that the choices being given may just be unacceptable to them. I have myself on a few occasions refused to take any of the options the DM wanted me to take because we had a "SERIOUS" difference of opinion of what Alignment or character morals or goals meant.

Usually I find that happens when the DM wants to play around in shades of Grey and the Player hits one of those shades and says that's the line I wont' cross. generally followed by a lot of explaining and rationalizing by DM and the player just says NO.

Right. The referee has defined A or B as the only viable options. That is a pre-defined linear game. The player rejects those as the only options, i.e. they don’t want to play in a pre-defined linear game. The player wants actual, meaningful choices. Not a menu or dialogue tree to pick from.

 

[nevin]

Right. The referee has defined A or B as the only viable options. That is a pre-defined linear game. The player rejects those as the only options, i.e. they don’t want to play in a pre-defined linear game. The player wants actual, meaningful choices. Not a menu or dialogue tree to pick from.

while I agree with you that's not what I'm saying. Sometimes the DM's idea of meaningful choices and what is acceptable alignment wise does not match players. for example. If you attack the pirates who do slave trade they'll attack the city enmasse and DM expects you to have a nitty gritty negotiation with the scum of the Sea and the CG mage just says no and starts negotiations with a fireball, or leaves and refuses to support party who are trying to mitigate damage to thier home. Sometimes DM's get too invested in making choices hard and meaningful and the players just refuse to play. it's actually the opposite of your linear take choice A or choice B because there are 100 different variables that could be in play but the player just rejects the whole grey deck of cards. but similar outcome for similar reason.

 

[Micah Sweet]

"Bandit" is a job. Maybe the leader is a Mage or a Berserker. Maybe they keep dogs or have a trained bear. Even if you want to stick just to the bandit stat block, you can implement traps and ambush tactics. But what's their goal? Murder, or robbery, or something else?

Let's say robbery. A bandit in real life can train a weapon on someone and reasonable expect they will behave. No player I've ever met would stand for that, low level or not. Certainly in 5e they would see the gamist wisdom in just risking an attack and then going to town.

 

[Reynard]

Let's say robbery. A bandit in real life can train a weapon on someone and reasonable expect they will behave. No player I've ever met would stand for that, low level or not. Certainly in 5e they would see the gamist wisdom in just risking an attack and then going to town.

That's a roleplaying problem. I bemoan PCs never acting like actual living people on these boards all the time. But there's no solution for it. You can offer incentives, threaten punishments and include mechanics, but in the end players gonna player.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's a roleplaying problem. I bemoan PCs never acting like actual living people on these boards all the time. But there's no solution for it. You can offer incentives, threaten punishments and include mechanics, but in the end players gonna player.

Deadlier combat with consequences that last longer than a single night would help, I think. Otherwise, I sadly have no counter-arguement.