Has anyone seen a list of plots/goals for more interesting combats? I know I’ve seen a really good list of ideas, so that fights aren’t just ‘combat ends when you kill that last guy’
Or if you can think of a one sentence pitch, we can start a list here.
Not sure if this is actually helpful, but your post triggered some neurons in my brain about a rather good script writing advice post I read some years ago:
http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com.au/2005/12/writing-action-scenes.html
His conclusion for movies is: Don’t write action scenes. Write suspense scenes that require action to resolve.
… which is I guess what you’re doing here. The stakes of a combat shouldn’t generally be “do the PCs survive”, but rather “will the PCs manage to achieve this additional goal during this combat, as well as surviving?”
https://bankuei.wordpress.com/2013/06/23/big-list-of-combat-stakes/
Thanks everyone. Aaron, that was it! Robert, I will look this over, too.
Less about goals but It’s always good to remember that enemies are usually intelligent, or have hunting instincts if they are monsters.
Enemies will set up ambushes, cover, and use distance and ranged weapons to keep players at bay, etc. because they actively don’t want to die. Just by making your enemies smart it forces the players to act smart, and combat gets way more interesting and intense.
Aaron Griffin, that’s awesome. Thank you!
I going to write down a few of these and put them on my DM screen.
Hold the line while the innocents escape. Throw in a quick risk/reward mechanic, like making them flee over a river, where directing them to take the bridge means taking time for maneuvering to it but swimming means accepting a certain number of drowned people.
A body-jumping possession means either killing an ally or taking sub lethal damage while trying to figure out the rules/mechanics of the possession.
A verbal parry-reposse while in a one on one noble/sports duel with a respected law abiding antagonist, before an audience whose option/alliance is important.