PDA

View Full Version : 100 interesting things that aren't combat?



endoperez
2012-03-05, 05:01 PM
What factors make the players interested in the game when there's no combat? I'm going to GM an introductory roleplaying session to a group of people with little experience in RPGs and for whom combat isn't the main draw. Here's some stuff I think will be important, to get this thing started, and a few generic ideas I already have thought of. I'd appreciate general discussion on this, and further suggestions are also welcome.

Roleplaying!
Some people are happy to discuss their character's virtual lives and opinions with others. However, does that work during the first session? Does that work when one of the players is new? It might not. Most people come in expecting game elements in addition to the acting and role-taking ones.
However, this is one of the more important ones, IMO. It would be best if the other options encouraged this, in one way or another.

Players might be interested in following the story and revealing a mystery, finding out a secret. Just following the story could easily become railroading, so I believe the players should have a chance of changing its course. There should be some information that changes how the players act, once it's revealed.
Knowing that the murderer is left-handed is a nice example. They are now interested in finding out things about the NPCs that were just fluff to them, before, and it's also something that can be found out in many different ways.


There's the luck factor, too. Some sort of threat, a feeling of success or a chance of failure, makes the players interested. People like gambling, and getting to roll some dice is always fun. Seeing the GM roll the dice can be an unnerving experience. However, how will this lead into one of the other interesting things?

Greed is another fantastic one. It works with combat, of course, and can lead into combat, but that is only if the players make that choice.

Non-violent conflict could also work, although it depends on the system a lot. If a diplomatic encounter or a lie is resolved by a single roll of dice, this doesn't work that well. If they're traveling in a space ship, bad roads won't cause problems.

This isn't specific to D&D, and I'd prefer examples that work in one-shots as well.

1) The players are looking for a murderer, and discover that he was left-handed. They are now interested in the NPCs, and can't just ask them about it since they don't want to tip off the murderer.

2) The players find a lost merchant with a big purse, or a wounded, unconscious hero loaded with magical items, or a small child kindly asking them not to take these magical items. Basically, letting them choose between greed and good actions. Could lead into interesting character development, especially if some players disagree with what should be done.

3) NPCs give the players different information or contradicting tasks. A mage's guild hires the party rogue to sneak into a fighter's guild and steal a book, while the fighter's guild hires the party mage to guard it. Could be problematic since it basically divides the party into groups that are supposed to oppose each other, so should be handled with care.

4) A noble has grown fond of a stray horse the players have been tasked to retrieve. The horse is from another local noble's breeding stock, but the two noble houses are not in good terms. Thankfully, the noble doesn't know of this yet. The horse's original owners want the players to return it, the horse's current keeper wants to know where it's from, and the players have to decide whether they want to act as mediators or just get the horse back.

5) A giant has been raiding a local village for its sheep, but the players aren't powerful enough to fight it. The giant is very happy and very stupid, singing songs and composing love poems. It's in love with a girl, it claims, and she is fond of mutton. When the players investigate, they find out a giantess is duping out the giant somehow - perhaps with a wig, perhaps with magic, possibly by cheating on him. The players could also teach the giant to cook, so it doesn't need to go to the village.

6) The players are in a hurry. A few days after they left a town, they notice that a young lad has ran away from home with them / after them, and tells them a sob story about his poor home and asks them to take him with them. He refuses to go home.
The players are in a hurry, so they don't want to take him back. They probably won't just leave him there. They don't know if he's telling the truth.

Rorrik
2012-03-05, 05:44 PM
I'm currently running a campaign for a half-gnome necromancer who was trained by the evil gnome kingdom to be part of a secret weapon against the humans, the humans destroyed his school, and to avoid further human action the gnomes banished him after he had escaped from his captors.

7)Give the characters a situation they have to run away from, he was tracked for nearly a day and had to cleverly evade recapture.

8)The characters, unable to return to their home are forced to find a new place to make a life, or adventure. Everyone needs a safe haven to retire to after a hard day of fighting.

His safe haven was the village of likewise banished gnomes where he came to work as a healer. However, these gnomes were good and did not even like it when he killed orcs threatening the village.

9)Make NPCs the players respect who disapprove of their actions

10)Subject the PCs to good treatment from those who are not of their alignment.

A ranger from the human nation found him in the gnome outcast village and contacted him, asking him to join him in the castle of his master, the head of national security for the humans. The player accepted and was treated well. However, they asked him to not leave the outcast village.

11)Have the enemy treat the PCs well but ask them to be restricted in some way that hampers their desires in the game, forcing a choice. Or perhaps asking for information they do not wish to share.(Interrogations are fun.)

He has since encountered an ancient lich, half-orc king of the now scattered orcs, with whom he has allied himself for a war against the humans. He is expected to act as a liaison to the gnomes and help destroy the humans. The orcs had been the only enemy left for him to kill freely, now he is without targets.

12)Give the players more allies than they can keep without being turn coats. They will have to choose wisely and their characters will certainly play a role in the decision.

13)Have allies threaten groups close to the PCs or other allies.

14)Have allies expect tasks from the PC that on the surface seem easy(to the ally) but with the knowledge possessed by the PCs are nearly impossible(Eg, the lich sees a half gnome and thinks, ambassador, but he is branded as an exile and cannot return easily).

That's the experience so far, he's loving the game and is normally a player who likes combat and optimization. In fact, that was the purpose of giving him a necromancer in the first place.

Mastikator
2012-03-05, 06:09 PM
15) One of the PCs is cursed, or perhaps the entire group. They are to find a special item that removes the curse, the item is lost in history, the quest is to look for clues.

16) The PCs are hired by a king/noble person/whatever to spy on one of his enemies, they're explicitly forbidden from attacking as that would arouse suspicion from said enemy.

17) The PCs are trapped in an enchanted/cursed forest that is magically keeping them inside, though there are many dangers in the forest, the primary curse of the forest is that those who take sentient life will find themselves haunted by the dead of the forest. Their only hope of escape is to speak to the other inhabitants and convince them to tell them what they know about the forest, doing this will give them the puzzle pieces that when put together lets them know how to escape.

18) The PCs find themselves shipwrecked on a deserted island.

19) While on a cruise spaceship, the ship is attacked by space pirates, it steals all the valuables from ship and take several people hostage, including the PCs.

endoperez
2012-03-05, 07:46 PM
I'm currently running a campaign for a half-gnome necromancer who was trained by the evil gnome kingdom to be part of a secret weapon against the humans, the humans destroyed his school, and to avoid further human action the gnomes banished him after he had escaped from his captors.

I really loved the formatting of your post. It seems like a fun game, and many of the ideas were interesting. I especially like how you played up the NPCs' acceptance of the player character.

Rorrik
2012-03-06, 12:13 PM
I really loved the formatting of your post. It seems like a fun game, and many of the ideas were interesting. I especially like how you played up the NPCs' acceptance of the player character.

Why thank you, good sir.

From another campaign
20 Give the players an opportunity to take leadership and unite people against a common foe, but make it clear that such leadership will result in having to deal with conflict between the warring groups once the enemy is defeated.

Friv
2012-03-06, 01:22 PM
Weather!

21) A terrible storm hits, and the river is flooding. The players have to save the town they're staying in from the water rushing down the mountain / organize levies to stop the flooding.
22) A forest fire just started raging. It's time to get people to safety, or possibly just get yourselves to safety. The area can't be saved, but not everyone accepts that.
23) A horrible earthquake just hit the region. People are trapped in collapsed buildings, looting has broken out, and occasional aftershocks are triggering landslides and explosions (depending on the era of play). Race against the clock to save lives and win fame.
24) While traveling, the party is caught in a blizzard. Can they find shelter, venture into the storm for the food they'll need to survive, and wait it out? What interesting RP will take place when a group of people are literally trapped in a small room together?

Calanon
2012-03-06, 01:33 PM
25) Character building :smallredface:

Daer
2012-03-06, 02:05 PM
26) Party finally gets back to town after their adventure and goes to inn.. They are welcomed warmly and are invited to private room where food and drinks are just waiting them (maybe even cake!) When everyone moves to room the door disappears ( but group doesn't notice before trying get out or someone decides look that way. ) Now either by the morning or if they find other way get out they find the whole village slaughtered. (bonus for it being done with their weapons if tavern asks travelers to leave their weapons for safe keeping.) and kings troops coming to look what is going on there.

27) Table with tasty cake on it, middle of forest.

endoperez
2012-03-13, 04:15 AM
28) Players get to awe NPCs with stories of their adventures. Say, someone has to explain how he has come to own the sword of the legendary knight, thought to be lost in the horde of the ancient dragon that killed him ages ago. Cue players telling how they killed said dragon, and the NPCs listening in awe, informing the authorities, holding a feast in honor of the heroes, etc.

29) Shopping! Getting more numbers is always nice, but in addition, if the players can choose to have their outfit customized, it can add a bit of fluff to the game. If the noble buys himself new clothes to add to this social rolls, and gets to choose the color and cut, he's more likely to mention it in the future as well. If a cyber-samurai wants a part of his ancestral katana reused or embedded in his new sword, why not?

30) Giving players free stuff that's not more powerful than their old stuff, but has some interesting uses. For example, giving a character hired as a messenger the clothes that make him presentable in a court doesn't add to his combat ability, but might let him speak his way past a guard who mistakes him for a minor noble.

31) Encouraging players to find long-time goals and projects, possibly involving lots of money (if money isn't spent to directly increase character power), gathering people to support or work with the players, etc. Goals might be something major like building and supporting a temple, a guild or an organisation, or something minor such as transforming the adventuring party into a respectable, if small, mercenary company with its own reputation, insignia etc.

32) Characters need to move stuff from one place to another, but the car, cart, ship or horse has a problem that slows them down. It probably shouldn't be a total show-stopper, such as all the animals of a caravan dying, since the players can't work around that. Instead, it should be something like one or two animals dying, forcing the players to either drive the rest of the animals harder (risky), leaving something behind, etc. This should let players discuss their options and choose one of them, and then go forward with it.
This is quite similar to the number 24.

Doorhandle
2012-03-13, 04:49 AM
33) The BBEG's Castle has hundreds of anti-flight, anti-teleport, ****-you wards build into it, along with a gigaintic cliff ending in a moat of lava. You must build your own bridge in order to cross.
34) Have them sent onwards to set up a trade route.

Mastikator
2012-03-13, 05:26 AM
25) Character building :smallredface:

I like this one.
Sitting in front of a camp fire, each character tells a story about his past. Very easy on the DM too :P

Lemmy
2012-03-13, 12:32 PM
35) Leading a large quantity of prisioners through enemy territory.
36) Sabotaging the enemy supplies without being caught.
37) Trying to convince the king that you'd make a good landlord.
Being able to kick a dragon's @** into stratosphere doesn't help much when it comes to planting and harvesting food, managing supplies, feeding your animals and finding water.
38) Sparking a revolution.
Sure, fighting could help, but unless you have the planning and resources to convince others to join your cause, you'll end up fighting the tyrant's army all by your self!

Tyndmyr
2012-03-13, 01:35 PM
1. Gold!
2. Treasure!
3. Magic Items!
4. Innocently descriptive scenic pieces the GM described that can be made INTO treasure!
5. Kender!
6. Forgery!

Akal Saris
2012-03-14, 06:53 PM
(Kender might lead to combat though! :P)

39) Build a Castle! The PCs are responsible for the construction of a castle for their friendly town and have limited funds to design it. Alternatively, they come into possession of one and you ask them to design it as they would like it. Encourage them to use their class abilities for magic/fantasy materials and construction methods

Useful materials for building castles: 1st edition rules compendium has excellent rules that work decently in any edition (!), 3.5 has the Stronghold Builder's Handbook

40) Lore for EXPs! One step further up the rung on the creative end, get the players involved in creating lore and background for your campaign setting and their characters, possibly experience rewards for doing so.

41) Prepare for the siege! A huge army is on its way to the almost hopelessly outnumbered friendly town and will be there in X days. Have the PCs mobilize the townfolk and prepare as many defenses and traps as possible before they arrive!

Katana_Geldar
2012-03-14, 07:42 PM
42) One of the players is on trial for some past event he committed. One of the players has to defend him and the DM plays the judge, prosecution and any character witness NPCs that appear.

Doorhandle
2012-03-16, 09:37 PM
43) Reclaiming dungeons: What? You thought the king would just leave the Fesreting Warrens where it lied after you killed everything that moved?

Rorrik
2012-03-17, 11:35 AM
44 Tracking. It's not combat, but if the players have to track for an extended period of time it can be quite a challenge and reveal a lot about the thing they are tracking and the world they're in. Losing the trail and having to pick it up again can make tracking almost as do-or-die as combat given the right conditions.