Most non-combat D&D adventures are doomed to fail

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@theDMLair 4 ай бұрын

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@lukasz88888888 4 ай бұрын

Recently, my team and I discovered that it is not the bard, but the rogue, who is our most social character. After an attack on a visiting aristocrat from a neighboring country, in which our ranger took part, it was the rogue who talked to the local authorities and nobility, trying to remedy the situation. The scariest thing is that the rogue is also the most sensible character in the party.

@juwebles4352 4 ай бұрын

Kinda makes sense tbh, why wouldn't an experienced criminal in a band of adventurers be like 'these idiots are gonna get us caught!"

@MagiofAsura 4 ай бұрын

I'm guessing expertise in puersausion and deception.

@lukasz88888888 4 ай бұрын

@@MagiofAsura nope, just proficient

@eddarby469 4 ай бұрын

But, if your Rogue has a great Charisma score, and the Bard's is not so terrific, that can be a big difference. But, I'll bet on a typical Bard build to out perform a typical Rogue build any day. The player might make them very different, but the PC is what we're talking about.

@EruditeDM 4 ай бұрын

B/c your thief “on paper” was well played by a real person who was a better roleplayer than the person playing your bard. Nothing to do with #’s, skills or feats on the character sheet. 😊👍🏼 That is a cornerstone of the OSR.

@TheBearProphet 4 ай бұрын

Nice Pathfinder art. Those are two of the iconic characters in the thumbnail.

@FinK-gz9xv 4 ай бұрын

In theory you CAN run a combat-less D&D, but you’d be working against the system. There’s countless better systems to use.

@Malachi_Marx 4 ай бұрын

wrong.

@Keemin 4 ай бұрын

@@Malachi_Marx o man he added a period at the end that's how you know he means business

@ARatherDapperTapir 4 ай бұрын

@@Malachi_Marx what's wrong? You can run just the social and economic rules. You would be ignoring a lot of the system. There is no reasonable method of counting the better social systems, published and otherwise. All checks out to me.

@T-Squeezy23 4 ай бұрын

Very true. D&D has too many variables where combat is pushed and leaned into through the leveling system and classes in almost every capacity.

@TheTerrainWizard 4 ай бұрын

Agreed.

@cermence3931 4 ай бұрын

3:25 Social Adventure sample + Create the Villain(s) 5:52 Create the Plot 7:06 Goal 8:14 Determine the Inciting Incident (Plot Hook) 10:14 Determine & flesh out Relevant NPCs 11:24 Information 12:37 Starting Attitude 13:33 Desires & Goals 14:54 Secret(s) 15:33 Plan Events 17:22 Plan Encounters 19:06 Plan the Location(s) 19:55 Plan the Climax 20:58 Plan the Resolution 21:53 Run the Adventure

@AndrusPr8 4 ай бұрын

First step: find a game that focus on social roleplay

@mkklassicmk3895 4 ай бұрын

No need. Games that are "focused" on social roleplay just have a bunch of rules that are completely unnecessary. D&D has all the rules for social encounters you need.

@Stray7 4 ай бұрын

Or you could let people play the game they are already playing. I'm kinda sick of this "D&D is bad, find another game" bullcrap. You think you're being an evangelist for other RPGS? Well, no one likes it when Mormons or JW's knock on their door at 8 am on Sunday to preach the "good word." And that's what you sound like when you shit on other people's fun. Instead of trying to be snide, why don't you make a case for a game you think does social encounters particularly well? You aren't superior just because you don't like the Dragon game.

@Diamondarrel 4 ай бұрын

I did that and then realized I hate mechanized social conflict.

@AndrusPr8 4 ай бұрын

@@mkklassicmk3895 An example of a bad social focused TTRPG?

@mkklassicmk3895 4 ай бұрын

@@AndrusPr8 All of them but for the sake of argument I will say The Burning Wheel. However, to be fair, I feel that way about most RPG systems in general. Most usually violate my core philosophy when it comes to RPG's rules. Generally speaking, more rules does not make a better system.

@griselame 4 ай бұрын

Some of the best sessions i had involved no combat. I suppose it dépends what folks are looking for in RPGs

@giannig5258 4 ай бұрын

100% this. And the best combat sessions were ones where rule of cool defied metaknowledge (like using shape water to weaken an incomin fireball)

@saintsinna 4 ай бұрын

There's a big difference between a session with no combat and an adventure with no combat. Combat gives a goal that the story can be framed around, and even a simple "beat those badguys over there" can lead to good RP. But without a solid goal it leads to a bunch of unrelated conversation and a general lack of knowing what to do. A combat goal isn't a need, but it's just a really easy goal to add.

@zerdafox 4 ай бұрын

Dnd doesn't lend itself to as good of non combat roleplay. Sure you can cook an entire meal with chopsticks but a different system would lend itself far better to a non combat story! Maybe he should try covering non dnd systems that are best for non combat stories...

@PigOfGreed 4 ай бұрын

The title is exaggerated for the sake of getting more people to click, from the video it doesn’t seem like he actually thinks it’s impossible to do no combat, it’s just tricky. Which is why he says they’re “doomed”

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

@@PigOfGreedAlso people like negative stuff or already want to hear him. Wish he would try and make a "Proper Framework" execrise to get people more thinking theb buying.

@darrenmchaffie553 4 ай бұрын

I find it better having these types of adventure along with general exploration & discovery sessions more than combat sessions. It helps set up the times they get in combat, and finding out about truly evil or dangerous the villain, their minions, and monsters are.

@morsonproductions 4 ай бұрын

Personally I think that non-combat adventures are honestly one of those "5E Only Player" side effects, if you want D&D but without the combat, or very minimal, you should honestly try a more roleplay heavy system! There's plenty out there, especially if you're injecting a ton of modern elements into dnd, it might just be plain better to play a modern RPG.

@salty-nick 4 ай бұрын

What are some more roleplay heavy systems that you'd suggest?

@faylinnmystiquerose2224 4 ай бұрын

@@salty-nick Shadowrun comes to mind, while roleplay is not the focus, it can play a significant part in say the information gathering process, because without planning you'll be in for a bad time, and you generally don't want to be getting into open combat most of the time because that can draw the attention of the authorities, Knight Errant for instance, and they can readily ruin your day. It's a d6 system though, and there's a LOT of contested rolls, the players will generally want to keep combat low-key, and it's best to 'clean up' afterwards too, so that it's harder for you to be tracked down later. Mage the Ascension seems like it could be more roleplay heavy, but I don't know much about that one, and there's the Warhammer Fantasy RPG which apparently encourages players to avoid combat if possible since it is quite unforgiving in that department.

@hectorguevara4188 4 ай бұрын

@@salty-nick Wharmmer fantasy roleplay, combat is brutal in this game, PCs are encourage to avoid combat as posible. the game have careers instead of classes, you can be a soldier, a mage, a lawyer, a farmer, a landlord or a prostitute, you have plenty of options for non-combat campaings.

@ginger-ham4800 4 ай бұрын

@@salty-nickCall of Cthulhu. Most adventures are 99% investigating, exploring and then at the very end you fight the eldritch horror that will instakill you if you didn't bother to properly investigate, explore and prep up.

@salty-nick 4 ай бұрын

@@ginger-ham4800 Thanks! I saw a few actual play videos but it was never quite clear to me how to leverage the game rules to create the sense of horror. Thoughts?

@cp1cupcake 4 ай бұрын

So haven't watched the video aside from the intro yet, but my answer for what to do with a group of characters who doesn't like combat is pretty simple: drop D&D and go for a system like Call of Cthulu where combat is meant to be avoided.

@Stray7 4 ай бұрын

Or you could let people play the game they are already playing. I'm kinda sick of this "D&D is bad, find another game" bullcrap. You think you're being an evangelist for other RPGS? Well, no one likes it when Mormons or JW's knock on their door at 8 am on Sunday to preach the "good word." And that's what you sound like when you shit on other people's fun. Instead of trying to be snide, why don't you make a case for *why* you think CoC does social encounters particularly well? You aren't superior just because you don't like the Dragon game.

@danielbrandao130 4 ай бұрын

One reason I only use milestone as my level up system, is because it makes the players think about what they REALLY wanna do in character, without metagame knowledge pressuring them. They won't feel like they are weaker just because they spared the bandit kid. (Another reason to use milestones is because xp is a really messy and not balanced at all)

@viktord2025 4 ай бұрын

You could just give the XP reward for the diplomatic solution as if they "defeated" the monsters. Has the same effect in my experience

@scoots291 4 ай бұрын

I use milestones to discourage murder hobos. Instead of them grinding for xp I've noticed they try more rp and get invested more with the world

@MJ-jd7rs 4 ай бұрын

@@scoots291 I've noticed with milestone the group constantly asks if they level, have zero intrest in engaging with anything that's not direclty 'plot releated', won't take sidequests, and just wants to speed through any content so they get to the next 'level up'.

@danielbrandao130 4 ай бұрын

@@viktord2025 That is also a possibility , but doesn’t remove the problem that if you still use monster XP the game can still get broken quite fast. A simple dungeon can quickly make new adventures into demigods if run poorly. It completely ruins the story in my experience

@danielbrandao130 4 ай бұрын

@@MJ-jd7rs I simply give quick updates at the end of the session on how close they are to the level up and never had any problems. Quite on the contrary, players sometimes want to take too many side quests and I have to find a way to link them to the main story so not to kill the pacing.

@rommdan2716 4 ай бұрын

Games you could play instead of DnD for Social Campaigns: - Vampire the Masquerade - Powered by the Apocalypse - FATE Core - Lasers & Feelings - Genesys System - Cipher - Burning Wheel

@0FredEx 4 ай бұрын

@@rommdan2716 i would also like to suggest cloud empress!

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Vampire the prom and wank barely has proper vampires. The best game is the one someone makes to spark out all the others in one field.

@NiagaraThistle 4 ай бұрын

Why would one play Dungeons & Dragons but have zero combat? I'm not saying "any" RPG, but specifically D&D. I mean that is literally one of the primary things this game was created for. Maybe there are other games that were made for non-combat play, but that's not what D&D was made for. I mean social experiences are PART of the game, but so is COMBAT...and it's a pretty large one. I mean that's what I think. What do you think? Put your replies in the comments below mine.

@notshotgun4852 4 ай бұрын

I agree with you; D&D 5e is in intrinsically combat focused game. Minimal thought is given to rules outside combat because WoTC essentially relies entirely on "DM FIAT" to actually handle everything outside of combat generally. As for why people insist upon making D&D a social game; I believe it mostly comes down to a lot of people play TTRPGs, but D&D itself has such a dominating share of the market that most people genuinely don't realize there are other systems that are *much* better at social/non-combat play than it. Another broader issue is that people are generally averse to trying newer systems because D&D is 'proven' or 'easy to modify'. Then after spending 150-200£ on it they go "Well I'm invested in the system now, just a couple more tweaks or some third-party content and it'll be perfect"... repeat forever.

@Deafwing 4 ай бұрын

@@NiagaraThistle I know that the group I play with will be EXTREMELY bored if it's ONLY talky talk. Especially if it's largely NPCs talking to each other (which I've sadly seen multiple times). On the flipside, they'd also be bored if it's nothing but combat.

@MangaMarjan 4 ай бұрын

@@notshotgun4852 I think it also has to do with how most people nowadays are introduced to the hobby through live-plays. These are basically guided performances that have very little in common with the classic D&D dungeon-delving and dragon slaying.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Also there a big issue, most people cant think to save their lives. They hold on to the "rules" so hard.. you think they were in a force cage getting spanked by the elf girls 😂 The only rule is make your friends and party have fun by a n y means. 😮

@notshotgun4852 4 ай бұрын

@@MangaMarjan Honestly hadn't considered that; But, I think that is a very astute observation. Thank you.

@volairn70 4 ай бұрын

I have run campaigns in D&D where there were multiple sessions in a row without combat. It just takes into account what the players want. You don't actually *need* rules for roleplaying, or mechanics. You need everyone to be engaged, and for that to be the thing they want to do. That's all, honestly. That said, there are so many games with mechanics for social play built in, I walked away from 5e a couple years ago. In my opinion 5e doesn't even do combat well anyway. So many games do combat--even D&D combat--much better than 5e. I can run an entire short adventure in Shadowdark in the same time it takes to run one large combat encounter in 5e.

@nipahholiday9302 4 ай бұрын

Same here regarding the RP sessions. We had like 3 sessions that were just RP because the players gained a lot of information, met the resistance to the BBEG's, geared up a lot and just had a session hanging out in a spa (there idea not mine) which 'til today was our favorite session so far. They knew there would be exploration ahead of them which might include a lot of combat depending on their roles ... and those dice wanted to fight after that much RP. I love this group since they enjoy RP-heavy sessions as much as combat sessions.

@chazzerine7650 4 ай бұрын

The party's divination wizard on his way to cast detect thoughts on the main villain (giving him a 2 with Portent ofc) and thus achieving their goal/completing the 4 hour adventure in 5 minutes: Moral of the story, give all the prominent figures rings of mind shielding.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

I had this fun idea that a group of bad guys modified themselves to mask or psi blast any stuff like that. Also isnt it surface level thoughts? So if i was like "I want to steal that guy cake" i am not goint tk keep thinkjng about it.

@Mercedes4321 4 ай бұрын

@@Subject_Keter You can probe for deeper thoughts (which is where the portent to auto fail the saving throw comes from). If a character has a large hidden plan their running, it would almost certainly be detected by the deeper probe as it explicitly detects for hidden agendas.

@dacksonflux 4 ай бұрын

I do not understand this. Why would you give them all the information so easily? Are you stupid?

@Muzzleflash1990 4 ай бұрын

Usually when you spend that amount of time with the main villain they are usually monologuing "how they already won". But even if didn't counterspell the initial casting,,probing deeper doesn't mean the entire plan will be revealed instantly: even with proper questioning you only get the answer to something that "looms large in its mind" , for example, "the Thieves guild better make good on that delivery of Black Soul Gems!". If the casting didn't trigger initiative, then the action to probe deeper will, so now you gotta make those concentration saves in addition to winning the intelligence contest.

@2g33ksgamingttv3 4 ай бұрын

Then the parties wizard either getting kicked out of the masquerade entirely or being brushed off completely from the Faux Paux of public aggression because they are obviously casting a spell, not to mention the potential they'll have to fight the guards who now think they are attempting to assassinate one of the present nobles. Also, if some random person off the street randomly accuses a well-known noble of being some sort of sinister cult leader who will honestly believe them?

@JervisGermane 4 ай бұрын

You can have pseudo-combat trap room puzzles so their combat skills don't go to waste, needing to cut a log into a specific shape and shove objects across a floor. But you can also have set-piece puzzles they have to solve by cooperation. You can have riddling sphinxes who completely ignore attacks and damage but just won't budge until their riddles are solved. Their are scores of alternative challenges that don't require or use combat mechanics.

@Malvisk 4 ай бұрын

The last social session I had my group encounter, I offered to the Bard to take disadvantage on their roll in order to give advantage on everyone else's roll. They were so distracted trying to help everyone throughout the night, that they weren't able to do their best. First this gave all the other characters a chance at success, to include those that used Charisma as their dump stat. Second, when it came to the Bard's roll, it added more stress and made sure it wasn't an easy gimme check to close the night out. To feed the bard's player some fun, I gave them a one-on-one encounter to start the night out, and it was a banger. Had someone (competing bard) openly accuse the bard and their group of not fulfilling a promise they made of donating to the community's church.... which they hadn't. It was an AWESOME night.

@jasonnewell7036 4 ай бұрын

Best way to do that? Play a game that isn't D&D.

@xKingLx 4 ай бұрын

This.

@marioreyes7971 4 ай бұрын

Blades in the dark, Fate, Dunegon world would be much better

@Stray7 4 ай бұрын

@UndeadMark 4 ай бұрын

This. I don't understand why anyone would even want to play D&D in the first place who are not interested in the core mechanic of the game.

@blakehudson478 4 ай бұрын

One of the biggest issues I’ve seen with non combat focused 5e games is that players will go through multiple sessions just hanging out and doing backstory therapy without anything actually getting done. It slows games to a crawl and makes anyone without spells or high social skills just sitting there without much to do. Like you’d have mages casting Sending multiple times a day to send texts, scrying and encouraging the team to stay in town so they can rest and scry again, and doing a lot of sometimes fun but unproductive role playing that doesn’t really go anywhere. In B/X role playing felt a bit more important and not just fluff due to a lack of constant extra spells and social situations being mostly based on dialogue and little else. The lack of social skill checks I felt was a boon as it let everyone, Martial classes included, be able to contribute and not get stat walled from doing anything. It also did have players spending weeks at a time in towns but roleplay was a lot more focused on accomplishing things than just characters brooding about their backstory. You talked with lords and kings to settle issues, commissioned alchemists for potions, took time to make magic items and research, spent time recovering from wounds or sickness that took weeks in game to heal from, or rallied up retainers and henchmen for your next adventure. Felt like there was a lot more progress that way, and as you leveled up the role playing became more important as your characters became land owners and nobility themselves and had more sway.

@williamknudson8414 Күн бұрын

One thing I like about "stat walls," for what it's worth, is that in the event you have a less social IRL player playing a social character, they have numbers on their side to let them live out the fantasy of being socially adept. Otherwise, I tend to see social encounters default to the player with the most IRL charisma or the most extroverted. I'm sure it can also be handled OOC, but I just wanted to bring up a case where having the "stat walls" to encourage a particular player character to be in the spotlight can be a good thing.

@sleepinggiant4062 4 ай бұрын

The first thing you do is leave that game and find one with combat. Our DM once made the mistake of letting us know that we didn't have to fight anything in a certain adventure he was running, so we skipped every combat from then on out. Good thing it was towards the end. Unless you make the character playing the fighter lift weights to make an athletics check, social interaction skill checks should be based on what the character would say, not the player.

@dieterhinzmann5559 4 ай бұрын

We played a 2-year campaign that started quite normal. Until the rogue managed to not only talk a bounty hunter out of taking him in, but persuaded him to "invest" in his business where he would double the funds within one year... From there on the whole campaign became some sort of business tycoon simulation... Materials were gathered, products invented, trade routes established, a certain image honed and so on. In two years we had about 5 combats... But invented new methods to work gems, became the Karl Lagerfeld of waterdeep and established the first shopping mall... And the annually held beneficial gala event became so famous, that every year one of the seven sisters came as an honorable guest... It was damn fun!!! 😁

@ZanderSabbag 4 ай бұрын

D&D is a system focused around combat. Just look at the rules and how much more fleshed out they are for it, and how the classes are 80% combat abilities, some of which can also be used outside of it. The other 20% are occasional RP and exploration abilities. Of course people can have fun without combat, but that’s mostly not because of the rules, it because of the roleplay itself. If someone wants a campaign about political intrigue, or a social adventure, go play something else. Idk any fantasy games tbh, the closest one would be Vampire: The Dark Ages.

@JJV7243 4 ай бұрын

Thats kinda the majority of TTRPGs - the vast amount of "detailed rules" involve combat (or combat aspects) as people like this aspect of games to be more technical. I think the best way to evaluate how good a system is for non-combat is to see the quality (not quantity) of rules for it. In general, however, non-combat is so broad that most systems just leave it up to the DM/GM to adjudicate.

@rommdan2716 4 ай бұрын

Right?! He should be just playing FATE instead

@rommdan2716 4 ай бұрын

@@JJV7243You are judging a fish by it's ability to climb a tree

@ZanderSabbag 4 ай бұрын

@@rommdan2716 I don’t know the system, why do you think it would be a good fit?

@rommdan2716 4 ай бұрын

@@ZanderSabbag Quick an easy to make characters with motivations and flaws that do matter in roleplay, can be learn in 10 minutes, well implemented metacurrency and it's free to play

@thiccboicory9964 4 ай бұрын

I personally run role-play heave campaigns. We do have alot of combat but with using alot of theater of the minds we normally run story driven combat for alot of moments. But big story event battles I always use maps and go over the top with it. I do love running a good dungeon craw and event based for large city's and royal meetings.

@TheTerrainWizard 4 ай бұрын

I wrote a one shot competition style adventure called “Sir Geoffrey’s Gallant Games” based on the television show American Gladiators and the Kentucky Derby. Two thirds of the adventure require skill challenges and 1/3 is combat. I feel like it’s a D&D game and we require combat.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Ooo that sounds fun. When ny college work lightens up, I want to do 2 dungeons back to back, Adapting Fallout 2 "Temple of Trials" into a DnD starter course and a Arena complex where the PC plan on winning the gold, the fame and a powerful item for their class.

@TheTerrainWizard 2 ай бұрын

@@Subject_Ketersounds fun.

@dacksonflux 4 ай бұрын

I'm running a homebrew Lovecraftian campaign and by far the most difficult part is writing a compelling story. If you have a story worthwhile, the players will enjoy it. If you don't, it will feel like a slog and they'll resort to violence more often. I have to constantly think on my feet to keep up with the party's ideas because it also helps to just let them be right. If they have a theory about the villain, maybe just let them have it. Players LOVE figuring out the villain.

@pokemontraineralthur3130 4 ай бұрын

@@dacksonflux Do you own Sandy Petersen's Cthulhu mythos for 5e? As that has mechanics for dread which is really cool, plus it has loads of Lovecraftian monsters / gods stated up

@zombiehampster1397 4 ай бұрын

My problem with DnD 5E in its vanilla form is that for a game that revolves around combat (yes you can have roleplaying story/player driven games, but lets not lie to each other either about the basic premise/conceit of the DnD meta) it sure doesn't really involve much tactical decisions, and instead revolves around class/race/spell choices. The combat system is really boring and that is supposed to be the main theme of most games, which resolves any conflict with an eventual fight. And then I'm fighting to stay awake.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

I never can get this, if you ordered a meal worth of DnD quality to your house and it arrived like that... You are tellint me most people would eat it as it or you know do the "adult" thing of modifying it to a proper feast.😮 Rules dont make the path to vampire abd other game systems too boring to insult, the rules are suggestions and "would be nice" so would be nice if most people stood up and added on. If i was to make a proper Vampire in V:TM.. who is going to stop me? Aint no clan vampire going to get me 😂

@zombiehampster1397 4 ай бұрын

@@Subject_Keter Well for one, Vampire's rules and system aren't combat-centric and as they stand they're not good combat rules in general. But then again, I don't play Vampire either, its not my type of game. What's it main aspect? Roleplaying. And "modifying" is something that can be done, IF your GM/DM is going to do that, but homebrewing / modifying comes with its own balancing issues because not everyone is a good judge of balance. My critique is that the base rules, not modified, are boring.

@Calebgoblin 4 ай бұрын

I don't remember who exactly I am quoting by this, maybe it was Ben from Questing Beast, but "The majority of the rules are for what the game is Not about." That is to say, the lack of rules for role-playing is because It is assumed we do not need rules for role-playing. I would even go so far as to say that most people do not have a problem adjudicating roleplay scenarios without the help of a book telling us what to do

@taragnor 4 ай бұрын

Quite honestly, I think that take is awful and nonsensical. D&D has tons combat rules, therefore the game isn't about combat? Wizards have pages and pages of spell choices, therefore the wizard class isn't about casting spells? On the other hand, there are no rules for baking cakes in D&D, therefore the game is about baking cakes? You don't have rules for things that are deemed less important and not often to come up much. There aren't detailed persuasion mechanics for talking the bad guy out of taking over the world, because you don't expect your PCs to talk him out of it, you expect them to kill him in a big fight.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

@@taragnoron the flipside, there nothing saying you cant do that. If my friend wants to play a Blood fueled Knight.. what page does it say the Pinkertons are going to stop me? If the rules dont summon me to court then just change what you need.

@taragnor 4 ай бұрын

@@Subject_Keter The quote I was criticizing on wasn't about house rules and homebrew, it was about negative space. In other words, parts of the game that are poorly defined that you just let the DM ad hoc. If you write your own rules for a blood knight PCs, then you now have rules for it and that's code to all of your players that "our game is going to include blood knights."

@williamknudson8414 Күн бұрын

I think a better way of thinking about it is "the majority of rules are about topics the designers feel need adjudicating," which can highlight either important or contentious areas, or both. Given that roleplay is less likely to result in the DM declaring you're no longer allowed to participate in this encounter/campaign (at least with this character,) but combat absolutely can result in the DM saying "Your character died, we'll bring in the replacement character next week," D&D having a lot of rules for combat is entirely reasonable.

@Dreamfox-df6bg 4 ай бұрын

Just a few addendum's There is one NPC that will always have the same fear, for the party to be a catastrophe. If there is an NPC who wants the party to be a catastrophe, they probably don't want to be seen as the organizer of said catastrophe. This might end the party early, which could make the group fail in their goal. So the group has to stop the sabotage of the party without making a scene. The organizer will have an eye out for any disruptions of the party and will have servants doing the same. A party could also be the place of events that go beyond this adventure. A player might become aware of a clandestine meeting in one of the rooms. That could be about everything, from business, to romance (Romeo & Juliet anyone?). Depending on the player's reaction, this meeting could end successfully or be discovered. This could give the players a thankful and valuable contact or an enemy later. It might also deepen a connection or enmity. Lastly, a masked party in a D&D setting... do I really have to elaborate on rich people and magic items? Some of the people at the party might not wear masks, but illusions or have actually changed their shape and you really have to look out how they talk and behave. You thought perception checks are only critical to discover traps and Ambushes? Guess again. On top of that, having a different shape might give them abilities they usually would not have and bring equipment to the party that they usually could not hide. Of course some of them might have 'True Seeing' masks, glasses or monocles.

@ThreatLevelGod 4 ай бұрын

I'm in an 8 year campaign that is still going and I can count the number of combats we have had on both hands. We are just really good at finding non-violent ways to solve things. And we have been having the best time regardless or we wouldn't have been doing the same one this long. Though recently we have decided to try an put in some more combat, but it's rarity has never hampered our fun

@Comicsluvr 4 ай бұрын

This is a perfect example of communication during Session Zero. This is when the players and the DM get to express what sort of campaign they want to run/play in. If the DM says that his campaign will be about half combat, 1/4 roleplay and 1/4 noncombat stuff like travel and puzzles, the players can state whether they like that mix. If one player says that they don't like puzzles, but they're fine with others tackling them, then they need to say that. Actually running the noncombat portions of the adventure doesn't need to be difficult, but the DM has to remember what the characters can do. If finding the clue or convincing the noble requires a skill that nobody in the party has, then the DM has to make allowances for other ways to move the plot forward.

@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982 4 ай бұрын

I ran The Wild Beyond the Witchlight module using the non combat option. It was great and a real challenge for the players.

@carsteneckhardt6572 4 ай бұрын

Great video and ideas! The most important thing to remember when running an adventure is,... that it is just called running an adventure, you don't actually have to run.

@beardyben7848 4 ай бұрын

I think this is valuable advice and I will be keeping it in mind as I plan my next tabletop session. I also want to encourage y'all to have the enjoyment and new perspectives on social rpg play by playing different games. "Swords of the Serpentine" or any game with the GUMSHOE system is a distinctly different approach to RPG adventures. There are Blades in the Dark types, the old or new World of Darkness games, Call of Cthulhu, and Indies like Crown and Skull, Shadowdark, Mothership, and Death in Space. The world is huge! Pick up a new one and learn a different perspective! Most of all, have fun, and explore!

@wagz781 4 ай бұрын

Also worth mentioning, it's always a good idea to familiarize yourself with 5e's social rules (yes, it does have them) on page 244 of the dmg.

@magnuskno 4 ай бұрын

Thumbnail are two iconics from Pathfinder, Merisiel and Valeros. Checks out.

@cavalcojj 4 ай бұрын

Always the problem I've had with social events is that normally one person does 90% of the talking, questioning, and wheeling and dealing. Those that don't talk much tend to shy away and don't talk. And the rest end up resenting the one that steals the limelight. This is with me trying to get other people involved by the way. It isn't like I'm just letting the monopolizer go without trying to curb their "enthusiasm."

@leatherguru8904 4 ай бұрын

Yep, and shopping sprees are so BORING! It becomes a slog

@cavalcojj 4 ай бұрын

@@leatherguru8904 So I have fixed shopping in my games. You can never find magic items or spells, in shops. The magic items are in the dungeon, the ruins, the haunted mansions etc.. That way shopping is fast, replenish arrows, bolt, or bullets, and get back to the good part of exploration, meeting strange peoples, fighting evil monsters that want to eat you, and collecting all that sweet sweet loot!

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

For me the fun is crafting. But mainly you should do the Fallout 4 thing of tying each part of the game to other. Do Quests, Buy supplies, raid dungeons for materials and loot, vendor or tinker with stuff AND have a quest line or offer kf powerful items lead to next area. Repeat.

@Username-2153 4 ай бұрын

Enjoyed the video though have something to add unrelated to the topic. My favorite intro is still "Hi, I'm Luke Heart and I've been high since Dungeon Master School." and I miss the skits. I'd like to see the skitz just as standalone youtube shorts, you were really good at them.

@DavidB-tm5et 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for this video! I’ve been wondering how my party might figure out that it’s not the mayor herself, but actually her closest advisor, who is a disguised demon bent on corrupting the city and bringing it into the abyss as part of their collection. I think I will likely be adapting this adventure, it’s perfect!

@rickybrooks2971 4 ай бұрын

Great job coming out with a video about how to run a noble ball infiltrated by cultists 2 days after I ran a noble ball infiltrated by cultists. 😂

@shadomain7918 4 ай бұрын

I run a lot of adventures with little to no combat, but honestly, I don't use and 5e based system for those. If I want to do that I'll more likely use FATE, Cypher or something like that.

@trombaritone86 4 ай бұрын

My current DM is always surprised when we try to talk our way out of a fight. I think his experiences playing have generally involved more of a "shoot first ask questions later" mentality. Probably because 5e is really a combat game with other things tacked on (There's a reason so much online content is based around damage output and building characters specifically toward that). That being said, the best session we've ever had was one without fighting. We had previously ousted the mayor of the town, and we set up an election for the town and forced our fighter to run for mayor. The rest of us were cackling during the debates and coming up with questions to ask the various candidates.

@johnschwartz1641 4 ай бұрын

If you don't want combat, then stop playing a game that evolved from wargaming. There are so many indie RPGs that would meet your needs if you just give them a shot, and they're almost all very easy to learn. It's too bad 5E players would rather hammer a square peg in a round hole than support independent creators.

@Stray7 4 ай бұрын

@fhuber7507 4 ай бұрын

visiting a shop is supposed to be a noncombat encounter. If the PCs resort to violence at the shop, which should have been a friendly encounter, I do not award EXP. They will have negative reputation imposed in the form of wanted posters.

@bmole6072 4 ай бұрын

we had a court trial session and it was one of the best sessions ive ever had. We tend to have one session with combat and one without alternating.

@SamuelDancingGallew 4 ай бұрын

For a non-violent Combat: Sports. Basketball. Football. Soccer. Baseball.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Personally I would like a Arena in my future Campaign. Mainly to show off things to my friend and he likes "learning how to do X in the field of battle" It all good since you can a mage bubble the loser or wrap them out to be healed up.

@cavalcojj 4 ай бұрын

Guild Ball!

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

@@cavalcojjimagine a magically augmented Football game or like Wii resort sword fighting.

@Just4Adventure 3 ай бұрын

Hi Luke. Thanks for your interest in RPG!

@Privateer_24 4 ай бұрын

My players are 3rd level and just had their first fight. They have been enjoying my homebrew which includes Ghosts of Saltmarsh with all of its intrigue and investigations.

@NiLowther 4 ай бұрын

I'm planning a campaign combining Princes of the Apocalypse with Dementlieu so I'm stokes to hear as perfect a scenario as looking for cult leader at a masquerade 😆

@Scott-sk1rb 4 ай бұрын

I hope whoever was hosting the masquerade ball had bacon available for the attendees!

@ScrubDaddy265 4 ай бұрын

Again this is why I like the Risus system by S. John Ross. It’s simple and clean and can resolve the tedium of all the saves, checks and streamlines “conflict resolution” including but not limited to violence.

@mentalrebllion1270 4 ай бұрын

I love my sessions that are majority noncombat. I mean, when combat shows up, sure, I like a challenge and being rewarded for being tactical, but I also just like being able to tell a story with my friends in a collaborative way. I like to think of the combat mechanics as the part of the game where it’s laid out so you don’t have to think about it yourself but the rest is open to be creative. I like the creative side. I like being able to have that back and forth with others. I want to invest in their story and enjoy when they are also invested in mine. I love seeing how it all mixes together and creates something even better from all of those ideas we weave together. But that’s me and I know some people play dnd more for the combat. I play in some campaigns like that. But those are also the campaigns I’m likely to drop if I ever have to cut down on the number I play, even though I enjoy the people I play with. It’s because I don’t put as much investment of what I like into the game and don’t feel investment back. Roleplay and storytelling heavy games, especially ones that have intrigue and exploration at the forefront, tend to be more my style of preference. I get fulfillment from playing out the nuance of feelings and relationships with other players and npcs. I like doing my part in combat but I mostly want to have meaningful moments that aren’t all about fighting. Heck, one of my favorite sessions for a campaign I’m in, one of the ones that favor a more traditional dnd style, we spent three sessions infiltrating and information gathering a cult. Despite the lack of combat, the tension was there and exceptionally fun to play. When we finally set things off to kill our target and take down this section of the cult, we did so in a bombastic and fun way. It was still difficult but the moment was so cool because of the infiltration part. Same with another game I play (though style of this one is roleplay/storytelling heavy) where one of my first missions with the group wasn’t combat related but was us infiltrating some fiend-pacted pirates to rescue a druid npc friend of ours. We tricked and distracted the pirates while the other half of the party started breaking the npc out. At some point the monk even seduced the pirate captain and my character, pretending to be monk’s bodyguard, bossed around the pirate minions to keep them away from where the sneaky team was dealing with the break in. We ended up succeeding but did get found out, but by then it was too late, we accomplished our goal and took off without much in the way of injuries. In fact, monk and I wouldn’t have even been found out if we didn’t have to break character (in-character as characters not as players, remember we were pretending so we could infiltrate) to go save our cleric who had been found out and was soon to be surrounded. We ran forward as if to help the pirates and….then attacked the pirates and took off with our cleric. So yeah, we won that. Very little combat, maybe not even a full round and that mostly was to break the line trying to prevent us from leaving. I don’t think we killed more than a single minion and that was the one who found the sneak team so, being that there was more of them, went down fast. Seriously though. I prefer minimal combat. There is plenty of ways to build tension in dnd without needing to make every event and encounter about combat. Above board secrets, intrigue plots, infiltration, mysteries, meaningful roleplay moments, all of those can make a very investable experience and that is the part that makes me feel fulfilled and committed to returning to the table each week. But! Not for everyone and I get it. I am just glad that my groups allow me the leeway to make my own fun even those that aren’t as roleplay and storytelling focused. And that they enjoy me putting those moments in there. Like the time I got complimented for the “childhood friends tense reunion” scene where dm and I had my character reunite with her childhood friend, one who had joined the cult the party was infiltrating and fighting, to find the friend has a position of leadership within it but…that the friends cared for each other, deeply, and may both have some unspoken romantic feelings. Also blatantly dropped the lore bomb of the friends being parted by a narcissistic father of the friend who forced a deal on my character while young that force that parting and kept her silenced with the social standing he had (basically that father used a “reward” for saving his daughter as an excuse to send my character away for an “apprenticeship” he was “sponsoring,” which was an apprenticeship but there was no choice in saying no). The friends cleared the air on that and, while the matter of the cult still was an elephant in the room, they had a happier reunion, albeit, still tense and with tons of secrets between them and some uh…unhealthy manipulation on both their sides (I never said these two are mentally healthy) and implications of being codependent. The group really loved the scene and I got asked about the nuances and was proud that the group not only picked up on them but that dm and I conveyed them well enough that the group picked up on them. Not to mention that they cared enough to pay attention to notice them at all which showed me that I did well in entertaining them too. So that’s what I mean. I like being able to invest like that. And I love being able to see such moments from my fellow players too and watch how their stories change over time too. Heck, often stay back after session and hash out things with them, ask questions, and get all excited about it with them over such things. But that is how I and they play. I know it isn’t everyone’s thing nor what has them be all excited about. To each their own. I’m just glad to have fun and to know others do too. My main fulfillment is in knowing we are ALL having fun and getting what we enjoy out of this. You only win at dnd if you and your group are having fun playing dnd after all. That’s my philosophy.

@waylonoconner9121 4 ай бұрын

Some of my favorite adventures, across all systems, were social in their entirety.

@tocadohawke 4 ай бұрын

"Most non-combat D&D adventures are doomed to fail", said the clickbait.

@grumbolaya 4 ай бұрын

Step 1: create a social contract detailing expectations of behavior in the game world Step 2: uphold social contract. Thats it. That's all you need. If your players murderhobo, and break the social contract, kick them.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

You forgot a fun step, have the murderhobo be a bad guy and yeet them off a tower. 😂

@jierdareisa4313 4 ай бұрын

I love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤

@milesmatheson1142 4 ай бұрын

Well, what sod anyone expect in a combat focused system?

@Lupostehgreat 4 ай бұрын

DnD is simply not a system built for interesting resolutions to non-combat encounters.

@Stray7 4 ай бұрын

@OverBlackSands 4 ай бұрын

Modern D&D is a miniatures game disguised as an RPG. Everything is not only combat focused but also non-combat inhibiting. Resource manangement? Nah, we got cantrips and goodberry for that. Light in dark places? Who cares about torches when you got the Light cantrip on command. And of course... the Perception check lol.

@jasonwageman658 4 ай бұрын

Great video, thank you!

@alexandrosioannidis 2 ай бұрын

Great advice!!! Thank you

@tsavin 4 ай бұрын

Honestly the key problem is non-spell casters like Barbs or Fighters. They don't get enough skills or stats to get even investigative or perception skills to a high level. Let alone charisma. Spellcasters: my 8 CHA wizard can give himself Expertise in persuasion or Advantage on all CHA checks or read the enemy minds or use Suggestion on them all. Plus he has great perception and investigation and insight. The gulf is vast.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

If you had a wizard pointing a fireball at me to "fix" that, I would make special tomes from Adventures of Yore that improve X by giving info and tips on what they found lacking. Just do Fallout 1 skill books and "helps the big dumb barb focus or understand the talk once per day/week"

@tsavin 4 ай бұрын

@@Subject_Keter I'm sorry, I genuinely don't get the point you're making here.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

@@tsavin Either you adapt to fix the issues. Or you complain and enjoy the slop. It not hard to fix these issues and sure it might need to fixing to be "in line" according to your table. But complaining about something you can fix is sad.

@barbarianandy 4 ай бұрын

I keep seeing people say "Play something that isn't D&D!!!!" Which like, that works if you're wanting to run an entire campaign with 0 combat, but even what's being described here is just an *adventure* that isn't combat focused. Sometimes you just want a lull in the combat and want to run a less combat focused adventure. Switching to an entirely new system is impractical for this purpose. Idk why people think thst you either have to run 50 combats per session or you play something that isn't D&D. Everything has to be one extreme or the other for you people.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Pathfinder 2e melted their brains 😮 They are only consoomers.

@dodhethompson4841 4 ай бұрын

These work yes, but what you really want to make sure is that you tell your players if it's happening and heavily advise everybody either play a spellcaster, A half spellcaster, or a rouge Because being a barbarian or fighter in a game like this means you're spending the whole session doing nothing

@johndavidson2365 4 ай бұрын

Non combat DND sounds as fun as listening to public television.

@talscorner3696 4 ай бұрын

To my experience as both a GM and a game designer, you can *try* to "pacify" DnD, but that attempt will fail the moment your players notice that they're only using the top left column of their 3 page sheet, which should tell you that there are more productive uses of your time, like looking for a game with a higher focus on social encounters xD

@McManthony21 4 ай бұрын

I am playing in a game where combat has not just taken the back seat, it's in the bed of the truck. We have it but it's maybe 1 every 12 hours of game play. I am usually the DM so this is on of my players who wanted to try running the game. He is doing great, a fantastic narrator and has grand ideas, but man i miss combat as a player. In our game I'm running I've almost turned to use even more combat so there is a balance, so i get it there, but I am hoping not to form the habit of being SO combat heavy. (Two separate campaigns with the same group we alternate every 3 weeks)

@Doodle1776 4 ай бұрын

I use XP but I outright tell my players it's XP for treasure. So avoiding combat is an option if you can get their stuff. I also give XP for driving away monsters and avoiding them entirely. Though monster XP is low, they still get it. It's funny though how many people who have never played nor understand XP for treasure mock it over XP for combat or doing milestone leveling. Though I'm also a firm believer that each class should have its own individual progression rate to keep the party balance in check. Because some classes scale to being far more powerful as they level than others but slowing the rate of leveling for the ones that get more powerful in comparison to those who don't maintains that check. It also makes classes like fighter more appealing because you can rise upward at a faster rate than a wizard. It makes a lot more sense than too many today want to give it credit for.

@panpiper 4 ай бұрын

A D&D campaign I've been in for over a year just ended. It too used 'milestone' leveling. Over the course of that year, we leveled once.

@tyrrollins 4 ай бұрын

Just give XP for the session regardless of what happens. Give bonus xp based on good rp and risk taking.

@Doodle1776 4 ай бұрын

@@panpiper that is insanely slow on the other side. I got into two conversations so far with people who claimed that you can give XP and milestones. I have had to point out twice how that doesn't work because the system that I use doesn't have the flat "everyone levels at the same rate" system and I run sandbox games. There are no storybeats or a point where they've completed enough of the "story" to level up. More so since there is no required level to move forward to the next "part of the story" to continue. But XP for treasure makes complete sense if your goal is to encourage exploration and creative thinking over simply killing stuff.

@Doodle1776 4 ай бұрын

@@tyrrollins I didn't want to go into insane details but I do also include XP for saving people, deduct it for killing a NPC that wasn't a threat (like a goblin baby, for example) from the player who did it, helping others like giving someone in need money gets an individual player(s) XP, as well as picking locks, disarming traps, and other random things. Basically good actions and creative solutions. Most of it is pooled and it is divided among everyone there for that session. Only individual acts that stand out get the player their own additional points.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

@@panpiperSounds like it was badly made or you guys had like.. 3 sessions every decade? Milestones should be hooked up to easy to reference actions like "Forming a team to defend the Mega Temple as we raid it" easy to quanitfy and do. Making you cross the US to get a level up is bad and you should flick the DM badly.

@Tubiega07 4 ай бұрын

What happened to the white ikea bookshelves in the back??

@panpiper 4 ай бұрын

I absolutely suck at mysteries, puzzles and intrigue. I do NOT enjoy that sort of play at all. If I was in a party who 'did' like that sort of thing 'and' were good at it, I could stomach such play happening occasionally, taking a back seat and just being an audience for the others, but unless the other players are great roleplayers, I would not be enjoying myself. If it was anywhere close to the majority of scenarios, I would politely bow out of the game.

@adamjones9180 4 ай бұрын

Very cool adventure idea 👍

@martinschubert7031 4 ай бұрын

I play pathfinder 1e in two groups, and both GMs awarded full XP for using cunning or diplomacy to circumvent a combat.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

I say why not both? Just do the "think carefully what you say and do" + "what you do is weighted then "i rolled a 19" for solving issues" and bam.

@leracrique 4 ай бұрын

Last week i've been playing in several one-shots in online group with strangers. We've had only 1 or 2 trivial combats in 3 sessions! I was so bored without any dungeons, traps, combats. I had no chance to use any abilities of my monk character. Felt frustrated.

@SakraIgor0qNomoko 4 ай бұрын

I feel ya. My online group hasn't had a combat, trivial or otherwise, in 2 months. One of the group spent an hour irl on an in-game phone call, just his character and the npc yapping away. Once I run out of snacks, Imma leave lolz

@role4success 4 ай бұрын

What are the activities PCs do in a dungeon crawl? Combat monsters, overcome obstacles, investigate mysteries or puzzles, discover and avoid or disarm traps, socially interact with each other factions. Combat is only one of five activities commonly done in a dungeon crawl. Does combat take up more than 20% of your dungeon crawl?

@jimgauth 4 ай бұрын

I fell asleep after six minutes. I miss that Tactical Studies Rules (TSR) game called Dungeons and Dragons.

@MarcusVipsaniusAgrippaLXIII 4 ай бұрын

We’re on session 75 in my campaign and probably have had 40 sessions without combat.

@nathanmorgan3647 4 ай бұрын

DnD is not, and has not been in a very long time, a role playing or story telling game. It is a medieval superheroes tactical miniatures wargame.

@JonathanLong1974 4 ай бұрын

This is really cool!

@israelmorales4249 4 ай бұрын

Grat advices! THX for the video!

@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046 4 ай бұрын

I find that D&D has always been great for role-playing & non-combat, but that it is the rare player who wants that…

@panpiper 4 ай бұрын

Every time my character tries to engage in roleplaying conversation or the like, I run into the wall of my Charisma being a dump stat and me having no relevant skills. These kinds of non-combat scenarios might be great for a party of bards, but I do not see most GMs orchestrating a non-combat scenario that doesn't absolutely suck for anyone not a bard.

@samuellove9619 4 ай бұрын

It might be worth trying to engage with soical encounters not with the objective of 'winning' them, but with the intent to express your character. Of course this is also high dependent on the dm being willing to make the 'fail state' of these encounters enjoyable and not crippling.

@schwarzerritter5724 4 ай бұрын

Yes, a barbarian's ability to drink his bodyweight in beer is only limited useful.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

Imo there should be a "Baseline" concept. Sure if you never used 2 hands you may suck with it or swing slowly but you /can/ swing. So i would say "Tell me what you say to the NPC and roll to see if it start swaying them" Like how Thanos in thr MCU had big charisma but like -1 social intel. Man would destory way more then 50% of people but the way he talked convienced people.

@dacksonflux 4 ай бұрын

I was going to say, that's on the GM. Roleplay comes from the character; their backstory, background, race, class, etc... A GM worth their weight will study each of their players' characters and setup rp opportunities for each one. Right now in my campaign, my players are visiting the hometown of the barbarian. We're meeting his family and helping them solve some issues. Do you need a charisma check every time you talk to your sister? No. So I'm not going to do that to my barbarian. I also use other skills to convince NPCs. Do you need charisma if you know what you're talking about? No. Why shouldn't a survival/nature check work when explaining why an NPC shouldn't travel into the forest alone?

@rohanv18 4 ай бұрын

I have purchased both the books they are awesome but can we get a version of it converted to DC20 as that's whats great at my tables now mainly monsters

@WinterIgnatius 4 ай бұрын

D&D was founded from a wargame, so "social combat" and the such will almost always feel forced, but games such as Burning Wheel or Fantasy Age have social elements that can pull off non-physical/non-magical "social combat" with ease.

@JJV7243 4 ай бұрын

Wait - I LOVE to run combat lite TTRPG pre-made adventures. Do you (or anyone else) have a recommendation for some? I'm system/genre agnostic.

@tooslow4065 4 ай бұрын

i've always wondered if you could run a d&d game more like a vampire:TM game and just roleplay the whole thing with barely any rollplaying.

@Subject_Keter 4 ай бұрын

To me that seems weird, you should be doing something or it barely a game.

@justinashley9529 Ай бұрын

Bacon is delicious. I liked bc of that. Also love the videos

@koxacbka 4 ай бұрын

you don't need rules to roleplay in a roleplaying game. you just roleplay. as for exp: you assign exp value to each scene. and when pc advance in any way: you are awarded exp. even if it was peaceful.(dnd have rules to give you dc for any roll you want, even unexpecged one) and if it's sill not for you: just play more suitable system. there are many to choose

@AJBernard 4 ай бұрын

Great stuff!

@Bryito 4 ай бұрын

There are plenty of ways for a party to avoid combat you just need experienced players and 1.Wizard. 2. Cleric. 3. Druid. 4. Bard. And maybe a Sorcerer or Warlock. There's many spells in D&D 5e.

@stephengilbert8166 4 ай бұрын

Combat is rare in my group (same campaign been running for 19 plus years)... combat in my game is RARE and exciting. Being in a fantasy world is far more important for my group (most my players are older 40 years plus), with combat being a deadly last resort. Works every time.. however, most DMs/GMs and players who are weened on computer games like X Box think this is the only way its done. Sad really.

@korbentherhino 4 ай бұрын

in real life diplomacy is always more tedious than resorting to violence. But its worthy as long as it leads to a real change. If its endless diplomacy that doesnt carry over onto the others in the region or in that group than it will feel like a drag. what if diplomacy saves a village, or unlocks a normally enemy race as a ally to fight with you against a bigger threat?

@Drudenfusz 4 ай бұрын

Or one could simply use a system that is much better to handle such things than D&D. I know, crazy idea.

@aronlinde1723 4 ай бұрын

D&D just doesn't focus on combat and the structure for outside combat isn't there.

@markusturunen7929 4 ай бұрын

My way to run D&D is that combat should be avoided whenever possible because it's deadly. And I have taught my players to use diplomatic and stealthy ways to play the game but sometimes when peaceful methods fail it escalate into combat.

@PanicSatanic 4 ай бұрын

> The first thing you need to create is the goal That's not my style, as GM or player. The players create the goals, by roleplaying PCs that will have goals, as all sentient creatures do.

@mitchellwelch9135 4 ай бұрын

Luke dont have thumbnails with a red line at the bottom! It makes me think i watched it already!!!! 😮

@omniscientbeing4224 4 ай бұрын

I would like to get an opinion on a thought. I realize this episode has nothing to do with this thought. my brother and I have played star wars RPG for over 20 years. a few days ago my brother gives me a bit of a spoiler on his session idea. this is a one off, but it will be utilizing younger versions of mine, and our friend Mat's 2 previous characters. my brother tells me he will be altering our characters to have a bit of prefabricated and homebrew classes, he will be adding a new feat that we never had before, and will grant us specials to make our characters better. I called him arrogant for wanting to force changes on a character I created and worked on for 20 years. technically this session would take place before our characters started to adventure. I know people always say the GM is god, but my understanding of this was that a GM's control stops at player autonomy and agency. I completely agree that when in game a GM can say anything, and it happens, but a GM cannot tell a player "you have to go left, instead of right." in game a GM can set up a trap or hazzard to alter character sheet, but out side the game a GM cannot suddenly make a players character sheet have -5 to stats or alter their skills. at least not with out discussing it with the player. my brother's plan was to force some of these things on us during the session. I admit, we didnt even start the session, so I can't deny, he may have a reason to make these changes in game, but it really sounded like this was gonna be an alteration that we would start the session with. what is the opinion on GM control over player characters?

@omniscientbeing4224 4 ай бұрын

I forgot to note, that yes this session will take place before our characters started to adventure, but I have old notes on what my character's build was up to the level we would be playing as, which was a level 8 soldier. I feel like the GM shouldn't be able to suddenly say I will now have fringer class, or I am now a noble or something lol.

@luisgabrielnazario7949 4 ай бұрын

The way I see it, their should be a balance between combat and rollplay. The way I do it I do a huge world we're the main approach is combat but also have other alternatives if the players don't want to fight and vise versa