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Author Topic: Love of gaming  (Read 1412 times)

dmariz_BlackUnicorn

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Love of gaming
« on: December 23, 2020, 06:25:23 AM »
How finely detailed do you/your DMs go into when you run the typical combat? Do you  mention what sort of armor the combatants wear? Do your NPCs shout tactics at each other? Do they always fight to the bitter end or do they eventually drop weapons and flee when their commander is felled?  Tell me how you guys run your fights, god knows I could use all the help I can get.

Warder

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Re: Love of gaming
« Reply #1 on: January 06, 2021, 04:03:16 PM »
Well, when i ran my games(i only played the ones set in amber rpg lately) i had to try setting up the enemies able to combat pcs who were rather more capable than them. I always left the element of chance in play, but actually i didnt do it completly narrativly like the game is supposed to be played. I did use dice, allowing for an element of chance to come into the conflict. The details werent that focused on but i did the blow by blow, i also tried to make the conflicts clear, of course holding some information back, which is necessary in amber imho. The enemies didnt shout tactics, depending on their goals they had a strategy and were quite determined to exectute it. Of course, that was for mooks, the villains had drama that made them chew the scenery. Anyway, i hope some of this helped:) Good gaming to you.

Eirikrautha

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Re: Love of gaming
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2021, 02:30:54 PM »
How finely detailed do you/your DMs go into when you run the typical combat? Do you  mention what sort of armor the combatants wear? Do your NPCs shout tactics at each other? Do they always fight to the bitter end or do they eventually drop weapons and flee when their commander is felled?  Tell me how you guys run your fights, god knows I could use all the help I can get.
Depends on circumstance.  If combat is moving smoothly and quickly, I'll narrate a little ("You smash him on his head, causing a rush of blood" "The arrow whizzes by his head").  If it's moving slowly (usually due to players not being ready, thinking about tactics, didn't follow whose turn it was closely, etc.), I'll try to keep the pace up by being very dry about it ("You miss, then it misses you").  I'll usually mention important features, like armor, so that the players can gauge the difficulty of hitting (though I usually also just tell them the AC at their first attack).

Different types of enemies react differently.  Because of D&D 5e's (which is what I'm running now) general monster design, most monsters end up being just a bag of hit points.  So I use their tactics to differentiate them.  Undead attack the nearest creature and fight to the death.  Kobolds gang up on the weakest looking or most isolated party member, then retreat when the numbers equal out, only to swarm the next isolated member.  Goblins attack in a disorganized fashion, usually from range, and frequently hide after attacking, but are likely to flee when the chief or hobgoblin leading them goes down.  All of these will make the monsters and combats more unique and memorable, rather than just the same old "slaughter every creature as they march towards you" stuff the game can turn into...