I'll CC the blog on an email I wrote just now...
My honest opinion is that DND should *all* be about the plot and as little as possible combat.
Combat takes (much) longer than it would do real time, and the uber slow speed is just unbelievable.
If I were a DM these days, I'll give 1000's of XP for "plot completing" and give a 10x bonus for "negotiating" bad guys rather than fighting them.
The last game I played was where everyone was high level and we basically had 2 fights with high level monsters per session. The plot dragged on at a snail's pace. Characters died the whole time, and recreating new ones is almost as tedious as the combat were that killed them.
I'll give a lot to be back in my brother's game world. We started out as two character's offering to transport a package from Ten-Trees-at-River's-End to Tremien (? - can't remember the town's name... and my character came from that town)... and ended up by us being wanted by the biggest church of the game world, as well as half of the underdark's elven kings.
We started off as level 1 characters and worked our way up slowly but surely up to level 6... Which in terms of today's games arent that high.
We had a half-crazy half-ogre accompanying us, who'd do all kinds of crazy things like throw his sword (bastard sword) at the enemy to distract it, and then run in with his fists and "bite". Also he was very fashionable... or so he thought. Warrior wannabe-bard with extravagant clothing (something quite a lot of the loot he got was
spent on).
I think (but I am not sure) his name was Janu Whitherbee or something like that... A self proclaimed name he chose because it sounds sophisticated. I'd say he had about 11 intelligence, but liked to think he had 16 or 18. :-)
It's amazing how I can still remember these characters that was part of my life probably more than 8 years ago. It was because my eldest brother is a pro story writer, and maybe my own imagination was/is so strong.
A great DM makes for the best game there is, that I'd love to play again.
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Here is something I found just now which will hopefully help DM's who may be reading:
A simple tactic you can glean from the best published adventures is the idea of incorporating all of the heroes' senses into the descriptions that you create. Don't just tell the players what they see in the dungeon; tell them what they hear and even what they smell when appropriate. Done effectively, this will take some of the pressure off your shoulders by making your environment seem more real, allowing the players' own imaginations to fill any gaps or accidental omissions.
This was quite an interesting read, which is where I got the above part.
i don't think that combat is boring......i think though that more should be given to sneaky combats involving recon work etc.
I hear what you are saying...
Lemme rephrase... "Random Encounters" hampers a good game.
I can envision a combat where you face the much gossiped about NPC... I dunno if you remembered the battle we had with the little boy necromancer.
That was fun, very memorable. I liked the way the DM made us understand that we are not to take him on at that stage.
But facing yet another round of nameless orcs, or wolves or skeletons... ugh...
Even though it may sound corny... but having a good "you have met your doom" session with the enemy beforehand helps "personalize" the battle, and it's not just another combat session.
I'm sure that I have something interesting and witty to say here, but all that comes to mind is Cheetos and Mountain Dew.
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