Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: Peaceful Solutions to Violent Problems
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8635434"><p>The single biggest thing that has made a difference in my own campaigns and games is lethality and consequences. If combat is more like real life (where say drawing a gun is a very risky proposition), it tends to produce less combat. You still might have plenty of violence. I run a lot of crime campaigns for instance. So you can have plenty of mob cinema bloodshed, but if the system is lethal, even when things are moving towards a violent climax, folks are way more cautious and often try to resolve things through non-violent means first. If you know your character can be killed easily by a bullet or by a blade, you tend not to rush right into combat in every instance. </p><p></p><p>In a fantasy campaign with a system more like D&D, I think there the key is to give players reasons to not always kill whatever it is they encounter. Not every encounter has to be about combat. This is often more about giving monsters and NPCs, even evil ones who could easily become combat encounters, more depth in terms of why they are there in the first place (presumably if they are encountering the party, they aren't all out there just trying to ambush and eat them, many have their own agendas). Also making good encounter tables. I try to include a lot of things like officials, sect members of organizations, etc. Sometimes those kinds of encounters will lead to conflict. More often I find they lead to role play heavy situations. </p><p></p><p>Another is reward system in the form of XP. I like to give XP only for significant combats that are challenging (i.e.. beating someone equal to yourself). I also give XP for things like finding lost treasure, making a major contribution or causing significant change in the setting, etc (and you can only get 1 xp for each thing on the list each session).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Guest 85555, post: 8635434"] The single biggest thing that has made a difference in my own campaigns and games is lethality and consequences. If combat is more like real life (where say drawing a gun is a very risky proposition), it tends to produce less combat. You still might have plenty of violence. I run a lot of crime campaigns for instance. So you can have plenty of mob cinema bloodshed, but if the system is lethal, even when things are moving towards a violent climax, folks are way more cautious and often try to resolve things through non-violent means first. If you know your character can be killed easily by a bullet or by a blade, you tend not to rush right into combat in every instance. In a fantasy campaign with a system more like D&D, I think there the key is to give players reasons to not always kill whatever it is they encounter. Not every encounter has to be about combat. This is often more about giving monsters and NPCs, even evil ones who could easily become combat encounters, more depth in terms of why they are there in the first place (presumably if they are encountering the party, they aren't all out there just trying to ambush and eat them, many have their own agendas). Also making good encounter tables. I try to include a lot of things like officials, sect members of organizations, etc. Sometimes those kinds of encounters will lead to conflict. More often I find they lead to role play heavy situations. Another is reward system in the form of XP. I like to give XP only for significant combats that are challenging (i.e.. beating someone equal to yourself). I also give XP for things like finding lost treasure, making a major contribution or causing significant change in the setting, etc (and you can only get 1 xp for each thing on the list each session). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Worlds of Design: Peaceful Solutions to Violent Problems
Top