D&D designers often think of encounters as a choice between combat, stealth or negotiation, but there are other approaches we could foreshadow. Diversions (burn the haystacks!), environmental traps (blow the dam!), misinformation, etc. The Hitman video games are always good ref.
— Will Doyle (@BeholderPie) July 12, 2021
I like to think of combat as being a thing that happens as a layer over another situation. Example: your goal is to cross the bridge. Apes swinging from vines impede your progress. I design better when I focus on the goal and the combat elevates the goal.
— Alphastream – Fully Vaccinated And Masked (@Alphastream) July 12, 2021
“D&D designers often think of encounters as a choice between combat, stealth or negotiation, but there are other approaches we could foreshadow. Diversions (burn the haystacks!), environmental traps (blow the dam!), misinformation, etc”
Wait… I’m confused…
Aren’t diversions just an element of stealth? Isn’t destroying a dam to sweep away enemies under a wave of water just environmental combat? Isn’t spreading misinformation just a form of negotiation?