Make Your Tabletop Combat Better | How to RPG

[@johnkfriday]

This is all great advice. Anything to make combat encounters less time-consuming and less creatively numbing for the GM ("The goblin, uh, slashes at your achilles tendon, again, I guess, while their comrade leaps on your back. Again.") is always welcomed.

[@TheDungeonCoach]

Honestly I am impressed by your content and love your style/ jokes/ points/ perspective. Well done sir!

[@StreamofBlood]

Many thanks for the watch and the kind words!

[@martinmyggestik292]

Please Jared, for the love of everything sacred, continue this series. It's amazing!

[@StreamofBlood]

Thank you! We are definitely continuing - the goal is to eventually get one up per week, but will be a bit more sporadic as we ramp up. Thanks for watching!

[@Erdnase23]

Excellent advice. Concrete, specific and highly useful, unlike most of the stuff that you see on the internet about making combat less boring which usually boils down to an unhelpful and missing the point ‘do more narration’. Really appreciated it.

[@mln_]

3, 2, Done! from V5 is a gem. I even say it doesn't have to end the contest/scene, maybe the GM just switches locations or adds an element so that the combat regains some of its uncertainty.

[@llc_opacity7531]

my brother has made his own table top RPG, and the attack/fighting was a little uninteresting and took a long time compared to the Roleplay aspect that we had a lot of fun with. This will be a great help in making the fights more fun, thank you.

[@Drudenfusz]

"Dude, we are playing Tails of Equestria!" You killed me right there, how can I not subscribe after that line?

[@kathryngordon5115]

I just wanted to say thank you. I've been playing VTM for 20 years, but now I'm trying to make the jump to Storyteller and I find your videos on this subject invaluable.

[@MrZauberelefant]

I understand that these techniques are commonplace nowadays and many systems employ some, but 3/4 into the video, this is FATE Core. All of it. Anyway, great video!

[@tehryanx]

I have something similar to a doom mechanic in my game timeheist. PC's are travelling through time trying to pull off a heist, but occasionally they have to travel into the same slice of time more than once. When they do that they generate paradox points. The GM basically collects those and can spend them to make ridiculous stuff happen that doesn't make any sense for the timeline.

[@orangedragoon2773]

Damn. I'm working on making my own ttrpg and these ARE definitely some rules im including! You just earned yourself a new subscriber mate, and keep up the good work!

[@amfdfireinside]

This was so incredibly helpful. Thank you

[@MrThrashman666]

Great stuff and greatly narrated! The style reminds me a lot of Day9 from SCII, with its jovial attitude and an enthusiasm that clearly comes from knowing what you're talking about

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

DnD5E as a Walmart is the one of the most accurate analogies I've ever heard

[@opendoorgames6413]

Devils Bargain is interesting. I will have to look that up. Thanks!

[@IllusianCeniza]

damn i was searching for good combat enhancement for a long time, thank you!

[@CraigShipman]

Devil's Bargain and Clocks are great ports for other games

[@kmultra59]

This was super insightful for a fresh game dev. Thanks!

[@shawnthefriendlymonster9480]

Thanks man I'm a gm and this really helps!

[@ollywright]

Great advice! I too like Pelgrane Press. Dramasystem / Hillfolk would make a good addition to your streams imho.

[@yzap_]

THIS VIDEO IS SO GOOD

[@ספיראלוני]

very cool rules. inspiring. thank you :)

[@NotARussianDisinfoBot]

Wow. This was great information. Thank you.

[@Avebelivable]

one theme you keep going back to is that it is a dance or exchange between players and DM. Yes the DM can arbitrarily do things but remember this is a game and that is not "fun" or "interesting" when the players have agency, get something in exchange, or feel like they are giving you permission to do something extra then you get your buy-in and build trust.

[@benjaminparent4115]

I wouldn't say that wargame and RPG can't mix together. Playing VS the DM is actually a pretty common game mode amongst the battletech community, it is actually so popular, Catalyst game released the chaos supplement a system with the express of goal of helping player and GM creating battletech campaign that tell interesting stories. Even the fan application megamek come with a campaign manager on top of allowing you to play the wargame on a computer.

[@justing2324]

Peanut butter and regular butter sandwich is f’n delicious

[@teenageapocalypseusa5368]

Useful content starts at 3:06

[@dkbibi]

Peanut butter and melted butter toast is excellent. Try it out!

[@armando7682]

How do you treat the action economy with the mook rules? Like how many attacks do the enemies get? Thanks for the video!

[@StreamofBlood]

That answer is probably specific to whatever system you happen to be playing. But a fun option is to allow a swarm of mooks at least as many attacks as they have an adjacent reach to the PC's hex or square. This allows for a swarm of mooks to surround a hero and become a real threat OR for the hero to create a bottleneck and get to play an "I'll hold them off!" scene; a one-man Battle of Thermopylae.

[@TheJaredLogan]

@@StreamofBlood Yeah I think I mention that Mooks move and attack just like any enemy. The only difference is that damage to one carries over to the others.

[@CraigShipman]

@armando - Check out how Minion groups are handled in the FFG Star Wars system. It allows for large combats with tons of mooks without slowing things down. It also approximates how deadly a group of mooks can actually be. Strength in numbers! Another one to check out is how being outnumbered in combat works in Dungeon World.

[@liamcage7208]

I like the 3, 2, Done rule. Too often the battle is decided there are just stragglers left but there doesn't seem to be an elegant way to wrap it up other than just fighting until the table is cleared completely of bad guys. I don't like just saying; "okay its done". I do like the idea of the players tell me how it ended, I think that would be much more satisfying for them. The Mook Rules sounds interesting also. I like mobs of undead but you can realistically manage individual undead initiative, attack, damage and hp and still expect the combat to flow. I will have to do more research on this.

[@rathemoor5712]

You: Never owned a toolbox Me: Yep, seems about right lol Had to, but pretty damn good information. I am in the process of creating a "fast paced" TTRPG system and stumbled across this vid. Never did like the individual, turn based, combat. It always seemed/was boring to me. You're all excited to get to your turn having spent minutes and minutes planning and strategizing what you wanted to do, but combat ends before you get to your turn...40 minutes later. You have given me some pretty good idea. Thank you. Again, good content, man.

[@Choppasama]

My Dad loves peanut butter and butter sandwiches. These people exist, and I don't know why.

[@JelloImpact]

good video

[@RobertWF42]

To speed up combat, why not go free style - dump turns & initiative and simply let everyone move, attack, roll at the same time? Maybe have players roll d4 or d6 to move their characters on the battle grid to avoid complete chaos.

[@benjaminparent4115]

Because as you said it will be completel chaos, it is pretty hard to keep track of things when everyone is moving at once you can even end up with paradoxal action. There is one thing that might come close to your idea and it is making player decide what they do on their turn at the same time. Basically a round would go like this, everyone decide of their action, they then reveal it, then you solve it according to initiative order. I know of a combat rpg Board game that work like this. it is called gloomhaven, and in this game people have a deck of action card, each card have, top action, a bottom action, and an initiative. At the start of the round every player need to choose two card, they can discuss between them what they want to do, but they can only talk about their intent and can't give precise information like their exact inititave or the exact action selected. Once everyone has chosen their two card, they all reveal them, and they also draw random action card for the monster. The turn is then solved following the inititave order of lowest to highest. Player need to play exactly one bottom action and one top action, and they need to play one action from each card. Their turn intitave is determined when they choose their card, bascially when they select their card but before revealing them they need to indicate which card is the leading card, and they will play their turn during the leading card initiative.

[@adamhulett6507]

I do! I love peanut butter butter sandwiches ! I make up all the time ! I eat them all the time. so you can't use that analogy that peanut butter and butter don't go together.

[@MrXacus]

You're right, Doom is not about screwing the players, it's about making the story more interesting. You asked for help and karma is sneaking up on you on a later point. I play a lot of 2d20 games, but not all gm's get it or like that kind of player agency or the bargains you make.

[@ThunderStruck15]

Actually peanut butter and butter sandwiches are delicious

[@personman4011]

I like the Doom rules a lot, but it has the problem of me not being able to think of cool things to happen on the fly. It requires a lot of creativity.

[@TreGrisby]

OMG! So funny 🤣

[@christophera2606]

Made it to 02:40 and I feel I deserve a medal

[@TheArcturusProject]

hello sobs got immediate like

[@TheArcturusProject]

i take my like back. my favorite toast is with butter, peanut butter, and peanuts on top. i call it peanut peanut butter butter

[@Valandar2]

With respects to "3, 2, Done" ... The only fights I've been a part of in 5e that lasted longer than 3 rounds (in either direction) have been Boss Fights. And Boss Fights are explicitly the encounters you don't WANT to use the "3, 2, Done" rule.

[@Redbeardblondie]

That peanut butter and… butter.. sandwich allegory earned you the “Like” alone!

[@SirGeekalot88]

My Daughter will fight you on the whole "Peanut Butter and Butter Sandwich" thing. A childhood favorite in our family.

[@DnDOldGuard]

The look rule is the minion rule from 4e. Yes it isn't a trash game.

[@priestesslucy]

That pronunciation of mook threw me off for like a whole minute lol

[@acromax-yt]

The intro was really loud compared to the volume of your voice. This video is 3 years old but please be aware for future content

[@peetamontrose7954]

3, 2, done .... Maybe i would agree, really sounds like an okay tactic... but not after the fight, when it was okay and mundane for a few rounds, and just then player came up with... genius idea to test his new skill - thunderwave. Came too close to enemies and paladin - took one enemy down, knocked him unconscious with this spell - great. Second one - he did nothing. Paladin - pushed him away (closer to the second enemy). The third, and most powerful enemy was not in the range (bard made sure to not get him in the range, to not get his attention.... but he did pushed away paladin who was stopping the big evil one from getting to the more fragile part of the PC's group...) Three rounds more the bard was DEAD (as they all made terrible job at saving him, literally like not taking into account that the BBEG will kill him if they will leave those two to fight in melee alone). Or i should say is dead - player has now a new character... (which isn't bard, i wonder why~) This was detrimenntal, and nothing was suggesting this would happened, so if we would be using this rule - it wouldn't happen as we would "finish" the fight before it could occur. Also - encounters, combats, are a tool to use up PC's resources. If it were to be skipped who is there to calculate, to say how much of the resources PCs used up to defeat the enemies to the end? Did they used their action surge or manage to win without it? Are they out of spellslots? Almost out of HP, so they need to take rest? If the fights are so simple that you can tell after just a few rounds who is there to win and who will be defeated then... what's the point of them actually? To stop game to make a long roll for initiative? And then just make it doesn't matter, because "you are winning this combat anyway, no matter what good or bad decisions you do" Isn't it raiload? "You already know you are no much to him, no matter what you do you will be defeated today!" After just three rounds? Being able to say that? Make harder (or inn the second situation - more balanced) encounters (unless you and your players literally don't like the combat after all, so sure, go ahead)

[@atugak]

What's S O Bs?

[@sammy-ix3eh]

Bro put butter on your peanut butter sandwiches.

[@bi-furious5565]

Wait it's not normal to add butter to a peanut butter sandwich? What are you supposed to do just eat peanut butter and bread? That's gross 😣 I always add butter to my PB sandwiches lol 😂

[@Gnarrkhaz]

The reason why combat in RPGs sucks (and it absolutely does) is not because combat is like a tactical board game. It's because that board game doesn't allow the participants to make interesting choices. Shortening or skipping it doesn't change that. It's not just D&D's fault though. Pretty much every RPG has boring combat rules. Savage Worlds is still the best in that regard, and that was heavily inspired by tabletop wargaming. Not a coincidence i think.

[@Keaggan]

I see where you want to go but these are just MORE rules. Aka MORE mechanics. If you want MORE RP and less wargame then stop treating NPCs like they are in a wargame. If ALL NPCs have motives, goals, fears, wants, desires then they will act accordingly. They will flee because they are cowards or because they need to warn their clan. They will surrender to save someone or something they care about. They will ask to join the party because they think strength makes the best leaders or their previous leader was corrupt. This goes on and on and on if we first treat NPCs like REAL PEOPLE and not fodder then we will have more interesting combat because there will be a REASON for it.

[@benjaminparent4115]

To be fair game mechanic and RP can go hand to hand, RP wargaming is genre of itself, and it generally work by creating scenario more complex than just a fight to the death. Just giving side objective, soft or hard turn limit, and alternative win condition can go a long way to make combat better, and they work because rules can be a great ways to model motives, goals, fears, wants and desires. Of course a DM should always bend the rule when it suit the narrative, but preparing rules about when the enemy start to flee and other things, can help a lot in making a fight more interesting without having to make stuff on the spot.

[@jtramelli5464]

Morale rules 👍👍.... Everything else sounds terrible.... Combat is a crucial part of the game, no need to get rid of it

[@Manweor]

The advice is good, especially the first suggestions, but I really felt like the premise was a bit irritating. I think I have just come to dislike the Narrative side forced by GM or players more and more.