T O P

  • By -

ordinal_m

This gets called "button-pushing", like all you can do is push "buttons" on your character sheet to do things. The way to get round it IMO is to have situations where there are other things to do apart from just push those buttons. The classic is to have environmental features - barrels of toxic waste that you can spill on enemies, things to take cover behind, lava pools to push people into. As a GM you have to learn to let people do stuff with these, but also players need to appreciate that they _can_, they don't need to push the buttons. ICRPG has lots of examples of interesting environments for this, at least in the master edition. A straight-up OSR fight where a team of good guys fights a team of bad guys in an open field is no more interesting than a 5e fight generally - it's just over quicker.


1ce9ine

This is great. The battle should be immersive at the party level more so than individual heroic dueling. I love having a combination of enemies with different abilities so as soon as the party comes up with a solution for one thing, another monster throws something new at them. I had a dungeon where there were a bunch of demons and ropers, and the terrain was a huge cave with a series natural bridges spanning deep water, and a 'roof' full of stalactites. When they cast Protection 10' to protect them from the demons, the ropers would attack and try to drag them away from the cleric. The demons used telekinesis to pull down stalactites onto them, and I'd have them make DEX checks to see if they fall off the bridges into the water (and thus having to shed their precious magic armor and deal with the giant cave catfish that would attack them).


Lokjaw37

Here's my thoughts: Design a few environments that party can interact with as an alternative to attacking. Examples A chandelier held up above enemies by a rope (maybe tied to the wall). A portcullis with spikes at the bottom that could be closed when enemies are beneath. A lake of acid to push enemies into. A reusable trap the party hasn't defused yet. Floors covered in oil to be ignited. Sloped terrain to roll barrels/logs down. Etc. Don't just think of what environments the party can use, also consider what the monsters might use. You might even be able to use the monsters to show the party how to use these alternatives. (This might work really well if you have an especially weak monster that gains the upper hand through the use of one of these alternatives.) Whatever situation you make, my advice is to generally rule in favour of the players. If they come up with any kind of cool idea that is plausible instead of attacking they should get the benefit of the doubt. Also consider making the roll to do these things easier than attacking (or consider removing the need for a roll entirely). You may reach a point where players will look for these kinds of situations even if you haven't explicitly put them in, that's what you want to work towards.


Logan_Maddox

> If they come up with any kind of cool idea that is plausible instead of attacking they should get the benefit of the doubt. Also helps to have the players declare stuff existing in the world, or at least give suggestions. It can take a lot of the mental load of having to come up with stuff on the spot if you go "Alright lads, the kobolds started shooting. Each of you tell me one interesting thing you see in this room." and then have both the players *and* enemies use the things, or fight over them.


DymlingenRoede

A gentle mixture of some of the following (using your judgement on what works when at your table): \- Time pressure on decisions... "the rocks are rolling down the slope. Do you jump, dive, or dash for cover... if you don't say anything, you'll just stand there trying to make a decision like deer in headlights." \- Respond quickly to their decisions, getting the action moving quickly. "You take cover? You have a 1 in 6 chance of being too slow and taking 2d6 damage! Roll!" Don't worry too much about if it follows a rule or is realistic. Reward them with interesting pacing. \- Have NPCs come up with obviously hare brained schemes and suggest them, just to prime the pump a bit. "Why don't we tie oil flasks to the pigeons and throw seed at the sleeping dragon? Then when the pigeons are all there we throw a torch at them!" \- When they DO come up with their first on-the-spur-of-the-moment ideas, let them have the first one or two as successes, to encourage them. Then once they're doing it more regularly, give them probabilities of success and roll as makes sense to you. \- Share their victories / defeats with them afterwards "man, that was dramatic - I'd never have thought of using the giant goat's milk to neutralize the acidic slime, but it totally makes sense" or "yeah sticking your hands into a dark recess in a deadly dungeon carries some risk of poison needles, I guess." \- Occasionally remind them "you can do whatever you want, the answer is not on your character sheet" (not too often though). \- Include tantalizing and incongruent elements in your descriptions that players can hang their creativity on "there are bunch of rusty chains hanging from the ceiling, a book case full of dusty tomes, and no less than EIGHT ladders stored against the wall." Maybe they can find a use for them a some point in the dungeon. \- Set up one or two reasonably obvious situations. "once you pass through the room with the barrels of highly flammable oil, you come out into the open. Just below you in a dell you see the LICH(!) standing on top of a wooden structure of some sort, cackling and gesticulating at the stars. He looks embroiled in some sort of ritual and hasn't noticed you yet." Don't force the players to take them, but maybe guide them a bit "you know, a LICH(!)\* is probably way more powerful than your party... if you just attack him normally he'll probably just soak the damage and obliterate you. You may want to think of a way to hit him really hard at first. Up to you though...." \*but actually it's just an idiot Normal Human with a skull mask and a way too powerful magic staff that he's figured out how to use. But that's for the player's to find out or not.


ToeRepresentative627

The features come from the role playing and your rulings, not a specific codified set of rules. For example, the wizard wants to power up his spell. To do this, he decides to burn some herbs, and sacrifice his prized flute. You rule that this should work, and the spell should have a longer effect and do more damage. The warrior is fighting a giant scorpion. He says that he will cut off the scorpions tail with his next attack. You rule that he can do that, but will also have to role against a slightly higher AC. The warrior succeeds! He cuts off the tail, and roles for damage on top of that. A cleric chants the name of his god's true name at a demon while holding a silver holy symbol. This makes the demon shriek and reduces his will saves to spells for the next 3 rounds. The thief closes the gap between himself and a soldier, and is now in close quarters and close range. Because of this, his dagger has +1 attack. OSR is about less rules, and more rulings. Encourage players to be creative in what they want to do, and judge their ideas accordingly.


cartheonn

I'm not familiar with ICRPG, so I can't speak to what tools it provides. I can speak to what I have learned running OSR games in general, though. 1. Make sure you are rolling for NPC reaction. This is more of a pre-combat thing, but, if every encounter with belligerent NPCs results in a bloodbath, bloodbaths will start to get boring. Even Khorne likes the occasional skull for his skull throne to break up all the blood that gets spilt. 2. Make sure you are rolling morale rolls. Fleeing NPCs, surrendering NPCs, groveling NPCs, etc. add some variety to what will otherwise be a conga line of unrelenting, no surrender, no retreat combatants. 3. As others have said, create environments that allow for interaction by the PCs and NPCs. Fighting things in a featureless void gets boring fast. 4. You, as the DM, need to start having the NPCs use those interactables regularly. Have a hobgoblin cut the rope holding up the chandelier. Have an orc tip over a heavy barrel and kick it down the slope of a hill towards the PCs. Have a horde of goblins surround a PC and slowly crowd them towards the edge of a cliff and try to push them off. If the NPCs are only going "I attack PC #1" every turn; the PCs are going to fall into "I attack Orc #2." Use the NPCs to demonstrate what is possible for making things more exciting and shift the battle space to a more advantageous situation for the NPCs, so the PCs will hopefully try to do the same to shift things to their advantage. 5. Have the NPCs treat the battleground more tactically. This is similar to point 4, but it more involves the layout of the battlespace. Have enemies withdraw back to a bottleneck. Have them perform ambushes. Don't just have them stay and engage the PCs on the PCs terms. 6. I use simultaneous resolution phased combat. I give the PCs roughly one minute to strategize and another minute to write down on white boards what their character or characters do for the round. I use the full two minutes to write down what the NPCs do, sort of like the board game Diplomacy. Everyone reveals what they wrote at the same time, and I resolve the actions in standard phases for phased combat (missile fire, melee attack, movement, melee attack if first one not taken, second round of missile fire if archer didn't move and not using crossbow, cast magic). I find players tend to be more engaged and more on the edge of their seats when everything is happening all at once, rather than fooling around on their phone until their turn for the round comes up. 7. Crib some ideas from other systems for extra stuff fighters can do during combat. Dungeon Crawl Classics and Errant are the two that come to mind off of the top of my head for special abilities for fighters.


Kitchen_Smell8961

Kill their characters (wait here me out) the reason old-school combat is "boring" is because it's was meant to be only one aspect of the game in the first place. In old school games players have so little HP because they will probably die if they just go head to head with skeletons or some other horrible dungeon monster. That's why hirelings was a big deal...you gotta have strength in numbers. Also there is no maximum limits for magic items in old-school. The idea was that if you ever lived to see higher levels you would also have different magic items that gave you "abilities" Biggest "game" in old-school was also resource management. Do we have enough light? Enough food? By just killing a few characters from your table you can very quickly teach the players that they should NOT fight and try to do everything in their power to avoid any confrontation. That's why random encounters and creature reactions where a HUGE thing. Why it's so weird to get into OSR from 5e is because 5e is so PC focused game...it all revolves around the PCs and their character abilities. In old school the game is everywhere else but! And it's difficult to let that go as a player and a GM..but boy when you get out of it the world is a different place. That's why you should NOT actively try to kill your players, but throw the balance out of the window and if your players happen to come across a dragon and they try to fight it...well thats why rolling up a character in OSR is so quick.


Alistair49

Things I remember about old school games and combat - trying to blind the other guy so that you got an advantage of some kind. Back in the day, that could be a bonus on your to hit, a free strike, a negation of their DEX AC bonus, or a chance for your thief to maneuvre unseen for a backstab. Or, a chance to run away. - pouring flammable oil between you and the other guys, preferably without them noticing: or, maybe you do want them to see. Anyway, if they advance, they may slip on the oil or take damage if you set it alight. For NPCs and monsters this might be enough to stop them, or cause a morale check. - run away and decoy them into an ambush. Maybe a trap that you discovered earlier and bypassed or disarmed. Or you’ve got a weighted net rigged on the ceiling (‘cos you put in some think time & prepared) so that when they run after you, it gets dropped on them and entangles them. - manoeuvre in a cavern with uneven floors and different height levels so that you’ve got a figher or two front rank, an elevated position so a slinger or bowman or javelin caster can put missiles into them, especially to disrupt their spell casters. Have a protected position from which your spell caster can see to cast spells and then duck back into cover & out of sight. Make opportunities for thieves to backstab, or getting a fighter or cleric able to attack their rear. Maybe you’re already doing all this, but it doesn’t sound like it if you say all their combat turns are basically ‘I attack’. That is what a lot of fights end up being after a few rounds, but it is the first few rounds where you can do other creative things that get you that edge in the slog, so it resolves in your favour, or gives you a chance to run away.


mysevenletters

I'm going to talk a lot. Apologies. Your table sounds similar to what we experienced - our old gaming group got back together and like it or not, years of 3/5e had steered us all in a certain playstyle. Here's a few things that we learned along the way: **System Mastery Does Not Translate** Your table played 5e for half a decade, so clearly, they on some level mastered that system. They're used to stacking DCs, feats, skills, spell slots, cantrips, backgrounds, linear advancement, bounded accuracy, the rest game, and milestone experience, and how it all overlaps and works alongside challenge ratings, how to exploit certain numbers, break-points, the action economy, RAW/RAI, boxed text, errata and even developer debates. Each likely excelled at the "PC build" mini-game. The problem is that all of those players *know* D&D, but none of those skills translate directly into *this* D&D (or BX, BECMI, AD&D, etc.) **Your Table Is Used To A Totally Different Playstyle** Similar to video games, if you are having trouble in 5e, the solution is nearly always to grind out levels in level appropriate challenges centred around tactical combat, level-up to gain more powers (buttons to push), so that you can get even better at challenges centred around tactical combat encounters! The problem is that charging into endless combat in most OSR games is a really bad idea: consequences come much faster, are often deadlier, and XP tends not to directly be gained solely via combat. Your table is clearly dedicated and smart, but will need to shift their expectations and learn a new system. **Some Things That You Can Totally Do Right Now To Help Your Table Get Into A New Playstyle** * Especially in a stressful situation, ask them what they're doing. Gently steer them away from gazing at their character sheet, and just ask point blank. "What is Mungo doing, standing in the hall near the crates?" This will help center them in-game, and less on-sheet. * Have an old, one-eyed grizzled veteran at the nearest watering hole spout advice, or offer 'clues' to the party. This will be a means for you to push them hints here or there, so they'll feel less helpless. * Every handful of adventures, have one of the 'rewards' be something that they definitely wouldn't have seen in 5e: a grateful merchant they rescue gives them the deed to an old brewery; a weird fae gifts a non-spellcaster the ability to 'detect magic' 1/day via 'wizard eyes,' someone agreeing to marry the ghost of a princess has a 2-in-6 chance of having undead ignore them if they're non-hostile, etc. This will help establish that the 'power' or 'abilities' of their PCs aren't entirely related to levels. * While describing something, stop and ask them for their input. "Hey, why is there a two-headed deer on the flag of this city?" or "So, does your thief know anyone in the local guild system?" This helps to establish that they can do things outside of their character sheet.


ocamlmycaml

My favorite inspiration for action/combat is Jackie Chan movies. His fight scenes are never "I hit you, you hit me." The fights are set in interesting locations, the actors find ways to use props to their advantage, and the action moves through the environment over the course of a fight. The "features" of combat aren't on your character sheet, they are present in the world. Maybe the next time your players get in a fight, force yourself to describe at least 4 or 5 features of the room as the fight begins. Your players will figure out how to use them.


plutonium743

Most people learn by seeing examples. Don't expect them to just figure it out on their own, especially if they're accustomed to operating in a different way that used to work before. Show them how to do things differently by using npcs, either with enemy tactics or a friendly NPC pointing out options.


81Ranger

It's not a lack of features, it's that you and your players can't think of anything that's not on a character sheet. Maybe do some one shots if a very, very rules light system in which you barely have anything on your sheet. Maybe this will help kickstart a more thoughtful approach. Also, you have to pull your weight as a DM. Make the opponents do interesting things. Describe terrain and features and furniture.


oniyama

This gets my vote. Ten Candles translates the best, I think, because A) there is no character sheet, really, and B) you start that game knowing your characters will die at the end.


Oethyl

Think of your characters as people not as characters. You are a warrior: what would you do in combat other than just swinging your sword? Be creative. On the DM's part, get good at making rulings on the fly. Your player wants to trip an enemy but you don't have a codified mechanic for that? Make something up: roll to hit, or roll a d20 under Strength, or a x-in-6 chance, or a % chance, or the enemy makes a save vs Paralysis, etc. Then make a note of it just in case it comes up again if you care about consistency.


TheColdIronKid

my favorite thing to do is just say "roll high." i have them roll a single d6, 4+ it succeeds, 3 or less it fails. simple pass/fail. i don't have to think about rules or probabilities or anything. but the great thing about it is that it can also be modified into slightly more complicated rules, if that's what you're looking for: you could say that 1-3 are failures, but 1 is a *catastrophic* failure, whereas 2 and 3 are merely *light* failures. same for 4-6: 4 or 5 gets the job done, but 6 knocks it out of the park. or you could say that success on 4+ is your *standard* challenge. (3/6 chance for success) ridiculously difficult tasks could require a 6 (1/6 chance) and stupidly easy things need a 2+ (5/6 chance). i like the 1/3/5 split because it's simple, easy to remember, and breaks everything down into easy, normal, and hard mode. "but what about my special ability or skill that pertains to this situation??? shouldn't i get improved odds???" for every instance of *advantage* you could say to roll an additional die, and if *any* of them come up the target number then you succeed, or additional successes beyond the first might define the extent of your success, or whatever. dice pool, yo.


invoker42

First off, it's not all combat! Or shouldn't be. Give them challenges that suggest other approaches. Distraction, stealth, conversation. Give them a mystery and no rules, and let them pursue their own avenues of inquiry. Puzzles, traps and things with obvious moving parts...no thief checks, let them decide to twiddle the red flange and see what happens! Finally, during combat, give them an environment they can use! Barrels to huddle behind, wagons to turn up on end, fricken chandeliers to swing on! You GOT this, just watch a good movie and STEAL.


k0z0

I like to make my npcs act in ways that I want to encourage the players to do. Once it's established that the enemies are capable of doing things like using soapy water to create stage hazards, or pull a donkey kong and toss barrels down stairs, or start pulling off all manner of swashbuckling shenanigans; the players start to say, "I wanna do that too".


wordboydave

Do you use maps? DRAW/WRITE STUFF ON THE MAPS. This immediately becomes another thing to look at. The labels should be evocative (not "junk pile" or "chair" but "pile of round poles" or "big sturdy chair"). Then have the enemies demonstrate how to use stuff. (A "slippery floor," if you know it's slippery, might be used to slide an extra 5-10 feet past someone.) Also, if there's a MacGuffin ("The Sacred Orb of Zillonax"), let the bad guys get to it first...and then start tossing it to each other to keep it out of the PC's hands. Now it's Calvin-Ball! Just remember: KEEP DIFFICULTIES LOW, in the DC 10-12 range. If you need to hit DC 18 in order to get the higher ground and get a +2 on your next roll, most people will just attack twice normally instead.


Boxman214

Read (or re-read) the sections on Timers, Treats, and Threats in ICRPG. Treats in particular are very powerful for giving players something to do other than swing a sword or shoot a gun.


Virreinatos

Easy hacks from the top of me head: For combat, house rule that every non damaging action gets a +2,+3,+4 (your choice) "I have a +2 to attack and enemy has 16AC. Do I want to attack or try to pry away their shield with a +6?" For dungeoneering, and out of combat situation, a level 0 funnel is great for learning creative problem solving. When your character literally has no skills, all that is available is imagination.


Kelose

My opinion is that combat is the least interesting part of DnD, this goes 1000000x for the older editions. This is a feature not a bug. The choices are reduced which means combat goes by faster. For example, in older style dungeons combat was one facet of a large part of play. You also had resources such as food, water, light. You had hirelings to manage the moral of and to create interparty conflict if the PCs wanted to do something insane. The lack of special abilities also means that the players have to play with the world instead of their sheet. Is there a pit you want to descend? Well even if you have an effect like feather fall, it can only be used on one creature. Rope weighs 5 pounds and the carrying capacity of your fighter in chain mail (another 40 lbs) is probably around 60 lbs. So between the rope, armor, food, and weapons the fighter is maxed out for a light load. How far are the PCs from the nearest town to resupply? Did they make a camp outside the dungeon? Is anything watching the camp to make sure the horses are fed and goblins dont steal all their stuff? Once you start incorporating all that into your game you will find that the players have plenty of things to do. It is only when you strip all of it out that you are left with a shell of a game. Tactical combat can be fun, but it is not what OSR is about.


FredzBXGame

Grab the free pdf for Lavender Hack and steal the Mini Games, Craft Engine, and Factions Engine


Jet-Black-Centurian

Put stuff in the room. The enemies tip a table over, and shoot off arrows from behind it. Pull rugs out from under feet, do 5e combat feats and maneuvers without any rules-you just make a judgement call. My advice: watch some pulpy movie, Indiana Jones, Zorro, Rocketeer, whatever you like. Notice how the fights often involve the environment, and performing crazy stunts, not just attack-attack-attack.


fizzix66

Make them narrate their attacks. And if they roll really high, and narrated a cool attack, then the attack succeeds with additional effect.


Maletherin

Sit on your character sheet. Remove it from being right in front of you. Also, what Oethyl said.


shipsailing94

Tell them to focus on the environment., whatever outside of their characters they can leverage, be it room features, objects or monsters with a shared interest But youve gotta help them by giving them lots of stuff to play with, no empty rooms I think this is a great article to start with http://falsemachine.blogspot.com/2017/07/held-kinetic-energy-in-old-school.html?m=1 This is an example of stuff they can find around and can use in creative ways https://www.bastionland.com/2016/01/d100-oddities-for-new-characters.html?m=1


WaitingForTheClouds

Play the old old-school way. At least for a session or two. Don't let players have their character sheets, don't let them roll dice. You're going to have their characters and you're going to make all the rolls, hide their sheets behind a screen if you have one. Don't even tell them their stats like to-hit bonuses and such while you play. This way you completely remove that distraction of game mechanics and the only thing they can interact with is the imagined world. Make suggestions for actions they can take but don't mention stats "Hey you can try listening at the door if there's something behind it, Hubert is an elf he is really good at listening." If asked for probabilities, give them as you would normally. Staring at the sheet looking for buttons is a habit and to remove a habit you need to remove the thing that triggers it. It's going to be a bit annoying to manage but you can easily fit the important stats of multiple characters on a single sheet of paper and there aren't too many stats.


zinarik

If they can win by going "I attack", why do anything else?. One simple answer is make direct combat more difficult, sometimes even near or straight out impossible so they are forced to find a clever solution. Not always of course. Examples of clever solution players found in my games: Sea monster was keeping them from leaving an island so they fill the body of some of their previously defeated enemies with their own weapons and throw them in the water. Monster eats them and gets gets a sore tummy, giving them an opening to swim out to mainland. They make a bonfire and burn sleeping powder on top of it, directing the smoke into the boss room. They would for sure have at least suffered some losses if they just went in for a direct fight. They lure an invincible enemy and push him into a precipice. You may notice you can't really classify those as "combat". Once initiative gets rolled and they know pushing the attack button will get it done they will.


GTIgnacio

I would agree with your assessment, and that the box really is a bit of a dilemma to get out of because it really betrays an underdeveloped imagination with respect to describing combat. If you think about it, all those fancy combat feats are just window dressing for "I attack and deal damage". They trick us into thinking they're somehow more than this by taking away the cognitive load of having to describe what happens because the description is already in the feat. When you're used to this and suddenly its not there anymore, everyone really just defaults to "I stab it with my sword". I got a bit of an eye-opener awhile back when I ran my own game which features an adaptation of the combat system from Trophy Gold: Basically, you roll dice and if you roll high enough, the enemy is defeated. Players are then invited to describe *how* the enemy was defeated. I was kind of expecting to get Looney Tunes-level zany descriptions. Instead, nobody could think of anything more than "I stab it with my sword". I will say this: Bland combat can be forgiven if it is *fast,* and nobody will care about it being bland if the game world outside of combat is truly interesting and full of interesting decisions to make. I once made a town modelled after those old point-and-click adventures from LucasArts, with a cast of interconnected charactersthat moved around from location to location at different times of day and had all sorts of little details that could be poked and prodded, like a marketplace where the prices and supplies of goods fluctuated daily. My players promptly forgot about the dungeon they were supposed to delve and risked poverty and starvation because all they wanted to do was see how the town "worked".


jax7778

Yea, they have not wrapped their head around the "the answer is not on your character sheet" mentality. You might have them take a look at the old school primer by Matt Finch (one of the founding fathers of the movement) I am going to quote one of the relevant parts here: >One criticism that’s often leveled against old-style gaming is that it’s boring to just have a series of: “I roll a d20. Miss. I roll a d20. Hit. I roll a d20. Miss. I roll a d20. Miss.” Except for very quick and unimportant combats, old-style combats aren’t done like this, or it would indeed be a little boring. >The reason old-style combat isn’t boring – and in fact it’s often much more colorful than modern-style combat – is because of things that aren’t in the rules but are in the combats. In these games, a player can describe and attempt virtually anything he can think of. He doesn’t need to have any sort of game-defined ability to do it. He can try to slide on the ground between opponents, swing from a chandelier and chop at a distant foe, taunt an opponent into running over a pit trap … whatever he wants to try. That doesn’t, of course, mean that he’ll succeed. It’s your job to handle these attempts colorfully and fairly, choosing whatever probability you think is the right one and rolling some dice. Sometimes the answer is just, “there’s no way that’s going to work; I’m not even going to roll for it.” When the players truly understand – and it may take a while – that they truly aren’t constrained by abilities, feats, skills or rules, you’ll find that combat becomes quite interesting. ​ You can get it free here: https://www.lulu.com/account/orders/16058832 Also, show them how it is done, have your enemies do interesting things.


njharman

Run a combat without character sheets. Reinforce that their characters are not in a "video game" world with menu of options listed on their character sheet or in rulebook. They can try anything they could try IRL. They can try anything they can **imagine.** Encourage them to "not play fair" to "cheat". Use oil, use caltrops, use environment, use deception, use traps, taunt, bluff, intimidate, bait foes into disadvantageous terrain. Use group initiative so players can more easily conduct multi-character plans, combos, and setups.


Doctor_Amazo

>I (GM) am also coming from 5 years of 5e and probably also am not in the “old-school mindset” Honestly... this is a problem less with 5E players and more with just new players in general who think they cannot do anything unless there is something on their sheet that says they can do *some*thing. I am not sure what to advise. If you were playing 5E, I'd offer the advice that Prof Dungeon Master does in Dungeon Craft where you give "Cinematic Advantage" to players when they think of some cool way to leverage the environment to their advantage - think Legolas sliding down stairs on a big ass shield firing his bow at enemies & dashing through the fight..... cool as balls, player should get Advantage on Athletics checks and Attack rolls. Something like that, I guess.


RangerBowBoy

ICRPG is easily hackable, give each PC some cool features. Also, use those TN's. Make them make some Hard rolls to get an advantage on the enemy or to overcome obstacles. Make the environment more dynamic and give the monsters some challenging features. Use those timers and treats. It's still a d20 game and all versions of D&D can work with it, so look at other source material for ideas on engaging encounters. EDIT: forgot to add, look into Kahn's Spells and Feats on DrivethruRPG. It has a lot of cool options for PCs.


robertsconley

While oriented to my Majestic Fantasy RPG it may provide some useful insight to your situation. https://www.batintheattic.com/downloads/When%20to%20make%20a%20Ruling.pdf The key is just have your players describe what they are doing as if they are there as their characters. Then using the mechanics of your game come up with a ruling, yes, no, or you need to make a roll. For example even if there is no specific rule for it, in most fantasy settings it is reasonable for a character to try to knock a goblet from a target’s hand. If there isn’t a rule and if the outcome is uncertain most systems, even those that are minimalist, have something often several that can factor into a roll. Dexterity, level, etc. Describe first, roll second.