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Combat vs RP
(lemmy.world)
Come play World of Darkness, where that's the main focus!
Combat can be fun, but DnD in particular reeaaally drags sometimes. An excellent DM helps, but even Dimension 20 takes a full session for a big combat encounter, which is usually just exhausting IMO. I much prefer systems like PBTA that keep combat pretty breezy and improv-friendly.
Most ttrpgs are a roleplaying game glued to a strategy game and we flip flop between the games as we play. PBTA is a roleplaying game end to end. I love it with a group that enjoys roleplaying and doesn't care for strategy.
It isn't just D&D. I've picked up Cyberpunk RED recently - combat is more streamlined, but it can still drag.
Yeah fair, most of the more granular systems go that way. I know Pathfinder fights can take a minute as well.
B/X is good. When characters have d6 hp and it's instant death at 0 the combat becomes way more serious and tense.
D&D 4e was unpopular but honestly I loved how streamlined it made combat. I wish they hadn’t entirely done away with it when making 5e.
I DMed a lot of shadowrun, and I really do love both of them equally. RP makes the world fun and meaningful, while combat gives it physicality, makes it real.
I miss it, if only I could afford to spend 10 hours on prep every week :<
I'll expand this and say encounters. Sneaking past a patrol, disarming a trap, or charming a suspicious cook having a break at the service entrance... Those encounters often require some rp, but damn if there aren't stakes.
I have the math kind of autism so I prefer combat
Thank god, I'm not alone lol I also prefer combat
My favorite group I have ever DMd for was at a convention, it was 2am, and nobody had ever met before except the two couples in the mix of 9. I just ran part of a campaign I was working on for a different group.
I barely had to interact with them for RP stuff unless it was to drive the plot, or play a character they convinced to join them.
It was great seeing a large muscular guy dressed like a Dwarven blacksmith role play a halfling, and the smallest person there was playing as a half-orc barbarian from the plains of icewind dale.
And of course since it was a convention, and some of them had LARP gear with them, a friendly competitive sword fight broke out during a rest and instead of rolling, they just went ahead and used foam swords and stepped away from the tables. And borrowed dialogue from the princess bride.
Most groups definitely prefer combat, and to be honest so do I unless I'm running the game. Maybe I just haven't played with the right group or character, or more likely I just suck at it. Either way...
I think everyone has "that one group" they wish they could play with forever and never have scheduling conflicts...
This made me miss srgrafo's stuff on reddit. He's the artist who made the original. https://srgrafo.com/ i really like reading the white rooms.
Me too
I've played a lot of different rpgs, and I've noticed that combat drags the most in games that care the most about tactical combat. Interestingly, the game I've played that dragged the least in combat was GURPS, despite each round lasting for 1 second of game time. I think this is because the tight time window on your turn means you get to do exactly one thing on your turn, and if you are doing something intensive like casting a spell you might be spending several turns doing nothing but the occasional step or defense roll. Contrastingly, Shadowrun 5e had a 2 second turn, and combat slowed to a fucking crawl whenever someone wanted to do something more complex than moving and hitting due to the amount of dice being rolled and decision fatigue; we even banned grenades at one point because the chunky salsa technique was just too tempting to exploit.
I haven't played a lot of other RPGs, but GURPS is one of my faves - I didn't realize the turns went quickly compared to other systems!
Shadowrun can drag though - I felt guilty as a rigger unleashing my drones, didn't realize when I set them up I'd be monopolizing combat time the way I did...
Quick grain of salt: when I say combat in GURPS goes faster than other systems, I'm only comparing it to other games that focus on tactical combat. The fastest combat I've seen was in Trail of Cthulhu, which paid so little attention to combat rules that your combat turn can be summarized as "roll 1d6 and pray"
Horror RPGs in general have very succinct combat. Prolonged battles don't really fit the vibes. It's pretty much either you die quickly, kill the monster quickly, or run away.
Shadowrun is amazing and is one of the top systems I hate combat in. Agonizing combat.
Completely agree on both counts, though I can't speak to 6th edition.
Some of the community likes a Blades in the Dark conversion for Shadowrun, though.
I love Classic Deadlands.
Oh my God does combat drag like hell. Everyone can have multiple actions each round, up to five, and everyone draws from the same deck except the gm, so if you have a lot of people, you are drawing like half the deck each turn so chance for that black joker goes up.
But the setting? The roleplay??? Where's the heart eyes emoji. That shit is my jam. I miss you, Jewish Blessed trying to track down a golem he made. You were a good character.
I love DnD roleplay, it tickles my brain very well
It goes the other way around for daddy.
this is exactly why I switched to pbta systems. the combat is role play!
this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2025
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