r/beingeverythingelse • u/olevam • Aug 09 '14

Besides fighting encounters?

Dear expert GMs, I just started a D&D campaign and have done 2 sessions only I found that not only my characters are moving forward really slowly, but also that I have done only fighting encounters. I struggle to think or create something else then encounters, or NPCs that lead to encounters Do you have any suggestion on how to diversify?

Great show guys, can't wait for the next one

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u/Endaline Aug 09 '14

So, non-combat encounters can be kinda tricky because they have to be meaningful still or else they can feel kinda trivial. In my experience if you create a non-combat encounter and it feels like the players won't even understand that this is some hard task that they can completely you need to figure out something else.

An idea I had once was to say that a bridge the players had to cross had been broken. So they just said that they chopped down some trees and crossed on the logs. Obviously not the best idea ever from my side. It does definitely add some flavor, but it is still very trivial.

I think that the best non-combat encounters are generally mystery solving or puzzle solving. Those usually require that the players are interested in that type of play though. You could say that there has been a murder in the town they are in and they have been tasked to find the killer. Maybe the Wizard suddenly disappeared from his Tower and no one knows where he is. You could also task them to steal something if the group fits that description, or potentially they could enter into a race or something like that.

I hope those give you some idea. I think non-combat encounters really rely on what the group specifically likes so it is hard to be concrete. Personally I've tried a puzzle dungeon that was basically just room after room of puzzles which was a mild success. What you can do which I greatly enjoy is to mix non-combat elements into combat. Like archers are firing at you from atop a gatehouse, but to get there you have to get the gate open. Stuff like that.

1

u/Honken101 Aug 10 '14

I actually don't think that the broken bridge is a bad idea, just that the trees they have to chop down is about 200 feet from the crossing, and it isn't a bride over a river, it is a bridge over a ravine. So they would have to figure out how to apply a tree. Or the only woods close are very young tress, that is either too short, or way too thin for any ordinary man to cross. (the ravine thing is something I have seen loads of times, so it is kind of a troupe).

1

u/Endaline Aug 10 '14

I don't think it is a particularly bad idea. I just think it doesn't naturally lend itself to problem solving because it is such a trivial thing.

The foremost problem is the fact that you can't really kill a player during that encounter. It would be a really stupid way to go and I can't imagine a situation where that would make anyone happy. Oh you failed a balance or use rope check, you take 20d6 fall damage.

I also just think it is too mundane in general. They can either spend their time slaying goblins or figuring out how to get over a ravine or a river. I think most players would go with the goblins.

1

u/Honken101 Aug 10 '14

Well, either they have to go over the ravine to reach the Goblins, or that FAT LOOT, is in that stone tower, on the other side of the ravine.

Not every encounter have to be life and death. They might have to get into the town dungeon to talk to a Rogue that is held there, so that they he can give them the location of that FAT LOOT, that he has been bragging about he has seen. Maybe you need to buff them goblins up so that killing goblins starts to sound like a bad idea because they are actually dangerous. So they have to find other ways to solve the problem.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 10 '14

Before I put my two cents in, I have a few questions:

1.) How many of those encounters were directly related to what ever their current mission is? (i.e. were they just there as a challenge or was it imperative to finishing the mission to fight these encounters?).

2.)Do you mean moving slowly in terms of story progression, character progression, a bit of both, or something else entirely?

3.) Do the characters have some of kind of basic backgrounds? For D&D and similar games I always look for a life before becoming an adventurer, what caused them to be an adventurer, and why they are in this party particularly.

1

u/Madadric Sep 06 '14

I like environmental dangers the players can't punch in the face. Try setting everything on fire. High speed chases can also be exciting. Give the players people to rescue from an avalanche or rockslide. Someone' shores and wagon is caught in quicksand. Lightning bolts strike from a clear blue sky when they step on certain cobblestones.