Sean Merwin

yeah and then you might have 10 doors in the place and yeah precisely now you can say well that's the game i want and that's the challenge of a consequence for the players but if you give characters experience points for every uh every battle they fight every monster they kill every gold piece they get now you're actually not penalizing the players

yeah and then you might have 10 doors in the place and yeah precisely now you can say well that's the game i want and that's the challenge of a consequence for the players but if you give characters experience points for every uh every battle they fight every monster they kill every gold piece they get now you're actually not penalizing the players

and their characters for having those random encounters. You're actually giving them five times the experience and gold, assuming they survive, that this other group had who got everything on the first try or somehow used magic to bypass the door completely.

and their characters for having those random encounters. You're actually giving them five times the experience and gold, assuming they survive, that this other group had who got everything on the first try or somehow used magic to bypass the door completely.

So now you have to say not just how many checks and what are the consequences, but you have to look at your experience point system of your game. That's how integrated these questions are.

So now you have to say not just how many checks and what are the consequences, but you have to look at your experience point system of your game. That's how integrated these questions are.

And none of those games, none of those options that are in those games are wrong. But they could be wrong as they're integrated into the whole of the game, or they could be wrong for a certain play style. And so you need to keep all the things in mind. And another question that comes from this is, for a skill system like 5e D&D has, should

And none of those games, none of those options that are in those games are wrong. But they could be wrong as they're integrated into the whole of the game, or they could be wrong for a certain play style. And so you need to keep all the things in mind. And another question that comes from this is, for a skill system like 5e D&D has, should

the thing that I just talked about, the checking for traps, the disarming the traps, the picking the lock, use the same sort of setup that other skills use for doing diplomacy for making a medicine check to diagnose a disease? Or should they be different?

the thing that I just talked about, the checking for traps, the disarming the traps, the picking the lock, use the same sort of setup that other skills use for doing diplomacy for making a medicine check to diagnose a disease? Or should they be different?

And if they should be different, then should your skill system actually be different so that certain skills allow retries, certain skills don't? Certain skills make ticks of the box, certain skills don't.

And if they should be different, then should your skill system actually be different so that certain skills allow retries, certain skills don't? Certain skills make ticks of the box, certain skills don't.

5e tries to have the skill system one size fits all when one size really doesn't fit all even the game doesn't want one size to fit all uh so it it's it's a challenge to to try to think of all the ways that you might use skills allowing re-rolls having consequences for failure etc

5e tries to have the skill system one size fits all when one size really doesn't fit all even the game doesn't want one size to fit all uh so it it's it's a challenge to to try to think of all the ways that you might use skills allowing re-rolls having consequences for failure etc

Yeah. That whole there should be consequences for every role. It's a good mentality to go into the game design with. But as I've said so many times, that D&D is a great game with a storytelling problem, or a great storytelling game with a dice problem. And one of the consequences of a failure can just be the story. It can just be the, okay, you failed to do this. Nothing in the world changes.

Yeah. That whole there should be consequences for every role. It's a good mentality to go into the game design with. But as I've said so many times, that D&D is a great game with a storytelling problem, or a great storytelling game with a dice problem. And one of the consequences of a failure can just be the story. It can just be the, okay, you failed to do this. Nothing in the world changes.

But the story that comes from that, we are going to have fun with, or it will be dramatic, or it will be sad, or it will be ridiculous. And that's a completely fine... reason to have a die roll because the story, the things that we tell and joke and talk about at the table will change because of that die roll.

But the story that comes from that, we are going to have fun with, or it will be dramatic, or it will be sad, or it will be ridiculous. And that's a completely fine... reason to have a die roll because the story, the things that we tell and joke and talk about at the table will change because of that die roll.

And you're absolutely right in that rolling the dice is important to keep people focused and to keep the game in mind as well as everything else that's going on around.

And you're absolutely right in that rolling the dice is important to keep people focused and to keep the game in mind as well as everything else that's going on around.