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Worlds of Design: Peaceful Solutions to Violent Problems
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<blockquote data-quote="Kostchei" data-source="post: 8629670" data-attributes="member: 6881606"><p>As a result of war in Europe, I don't just want to avoid encounters where things get killed, I want to avoid having things that get hurt.</p><p>Or at least provide an option. </p><p>That means</p><p>1. Give belligerents a motive. Something like "temple of elemental evil" where the players are crusaders won't work, but, bounty hunters, tribes looking for resources, wizards looking for components, you just stole their stuff- they can be reasoned with<strong> or </strong>not further annoyed/not annoyed in the first place</p><p>2. Make a good portion of combats with things that aren't "people" - animated objects, skeletal undead, elementals, </p><p>3. Have an alternative option to a standard fight- realistic retreat, feed it, sneak past, negotiate. As a GM I mentally prep the encounters to always have another option, a part from combat- And I assign milestones based on xp navigated, not necessarily defeated </p><p>and if that fails</p><p>4. Have combat options where decisions mean something- give the monsters weaknesses as well as powers. </p><p>5. Half the combats are medium, half are deadly. There should feel like murdering stuff has a risk. and encourage players to think twice before drawing a sword/spell</p><p></p><p>Recent Example</p><p>Huge icy nature spirit guards a mountain pass/ridge (reskinned large intelligent yeti as a wildheart)- it is a deadly encounter- and that is made obvious to the players by the dead (evil) mentor they find frozen nearby. The players communicate with it at range and establish that they can either "challenge the mountain" or "the pure may pass". It will probably reform from the natural nexus if defeated, and many wicked have been halted by it. So it is quite fearless and self-righteous. The players purified themselves- requiring knowledge and a little mysticism (success!) and left behind chaos warrior platemail and a shattered probably-once-magical blade, in case those were corrupted. some took cold damage but no fight happened as they passed.</p><p>That is an encounter where the players have agency- and if they went all in on combat- (fire vulnerable but CR9 vs a 3rd lv party is still deadly)- they might have won. They certainly would have had a different story to tell, but passing through the "path of enlightenment" as "pure" might <em>also</em> be worth kudos to the right audience.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kostchei, post: 8629670, member: 6881606"] As a result of war in Europe, I don't just want to avoid encounters where things get killed, I want to avoid having things that get hurt. Or at least provide an option. That means 1. Give belligerents a motive. Something like "temple of elemental evil" where the players are crusaders won't work, but, bounty hunters, tribes looking for resources, wizards looking for components, you just stole their stuff- they can be reasoned with[B] or [/B]not further annoyed/not annoyed in the first place 2. Make a good portion of combats with things that aren't "people" - animated objects, skeletal undead, elementals, 3. Have an alternative option to a standard fight- realistic retreat, feed it, sneak past, negotiate. As a GM I mentally prep the encounters to always have another option, a part from combat- And I assign milestones based on xp navigated, not necessarily defeated and if that fails 4. Have combat options where decisions mean something- give the monsters weaknesses as well as powers. 5. Half the combats are medium, half are deadly. There should feel like murdering stuff has a risk. and encourage players to think twice before drawing a sword/spell Recent Example Huge icy nature spirit guards a mountain pass/ridge (reskinned large intelligent yeti as a wildheart)- it is a deadly encounter- and that is made obvious to the players by the dead (evil) mentor they find frozen nearby. The players communicate with it at range and establish that they can either "challenge the mountain" or "the pure may pass". It will probably reform from the natural nexus if defeated, and many wicked have been halted by it. So it is quite fearless and self-righteous. The players purified themselves- requiring knowledge and a little mysticism (success!) and left behind chaos warrior platemail and a shattered probably-once-magical blade, in case those were corrupted. some took cold damage but no fight happened as they passed. That is an encounter where the players have agency- and if they went all in on combat- (fire vulnerable but CR9 vs a 3rd lv party is still deadly)- they might have won. They certainly would have had a different story to tell, but passing through the "path of enlightenment" as "pure" might [I]also[/I] be worth kudos to the right audience. [/QUOTE]
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