The real problem with "Rulings Not Rules" in DnD

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9 июн 2024

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Комментарии : 317

@QuestingBeast 3 месяца назад

@Calamindir 2 месяца назад

Great resources. RIP Google+

@SingularityOrbit 2 месяца назад

Original D&D told players to use the Chainmail rules to resolve combat, and to use the Outdoor Survival game to resolve wilderness travel. So the idea seems to be that most situations are handled by the DM ruling on the players' choices; uncertain situations are handled with a simple die roll; and chaotic situations are handled with a minigame add-on. That's what overland hex crawling and round-by-round combat are in D&D: minigames. That's why the game has both magic items that are "solutions without problems" (I love that phrase) and also +1 swords. The Immovable Rod is for normal play, whereas the +1 sword is for the combat minigame.

@paxtenebrae 2 месяца назад

Funny. I remember hearing Matt Colville, who I think it's fair to say is not especially OSR, talk some time ago now about how he prefers to develop challenges without specific solutions in mind for this very reason of it promoting better creativity. Fun to see different creators using different tools converging on similar solutions.

@donovanpeterson837 2 месяца назад

Maybe he reads Goblin Punch too. Also, he has done lots of gaming with Jim Murphy, so proto OSR.

@stewi009 2 месяца назад

This is a good example of how "Old School" and "New School" don't necessarily need to be either/or. You can mix the two styles if you're so inclined, to produce a game you (and your table, one hopes) will enjoy. You don't need to appease the whole internet, only your table.

@omarbenmegdoul8950 2 месяца назад

The difference is Matt is much more likely to say it's the DM's job to then "solve their solution", is willing to move a secret door to make it accessible to the players if they get backed into a corner, etc.

@danielrowan4716 2 месяца назад

I just had this conversation with my group. I don’t know or have a specific solution in mind for every problem / puzzle / encounter like it’s a video game or Choose Your Own Adventure. I’ve been playing with these guys for 35yrs and they never grasped that until now

@leonardorossi998 2 месяца назад

Well, coming up with creative approaches to non-obvious problems is the bread and butter in games like Shadowrun and Vampire: the Masquerade, which are pretty damn far from OSR, so it's not necessary for it.

@DungeonMasterpiece 2 месяца назад

I love the phrase "...then OSR tools are solutions without problems."

@Calamindir 2 месяца назад

I feel these 2 concepts could be expanded onto a dedicated video. Solutions without problems and problems without solutions, and the players connecting them.

@Calebgoblin 2 месяца назад

Baron & The Beast collab video when?

@helixxharpell 2 месяца назад

Baron, what games have you seen out there help to bridge the gap between OSR & 5e(new school?)

@DungeonMasterpiece 2 месяца назад

@@helixxharpell SHADOWDARK!!!!!!! and also five torches deep

@DungeonMasterpiece 2 месяца назад

@@Calebgoblin soon.... Very soon.....

@dragondreams5503 2 месяца назад

One problem I run into is that players want consistency in rulings, and they're usually right to. When I rule on something, that means I'll have to write down how I ruled, so I can remember to do it the same way next time. This is essentially the same as making a new rule. So, it's tricky. When do we want rules? When do we want rulings? When do we want to make new rules via rulings? What I've started doing is telling players how I will handle something before they take an action. Ex. PC: "my swashbuckler will swing from the chandelier, kick one guard in the head, and draw his rapier, and run the other guard through." Me: "Okay, cool! I'm going to call for a DEX check to swing from the chandelier. If you fail, you'll take 2d6 falling damage and lose the next round getting up. If you succeed, you'll surprise the guards, but you can only kick one of them in the face on one round and stab the other on a subsequent round. Do you still want to do that?" (Or however I rule... not necessarily saying this is how I'd really rule, just an example of how I'd let them choose a different action if they don't like how I'd handle it.)

@SeanBoyce-gp 2 месяца назад

I love that approach. It's very similar to what I do. A great way around that "locked in" thing is to say "in this instance, in these circumstances, I'm going to say 'x' because I think it's cool. But I might be wrong about that, so we can revisit it."

@andershusmo5235 2 месяца назад

Yeah, putting that info up front is something I've started making a habit of as well. For one, it helps make players feel in control of their own destiny, even if it does come down to the same die roll. Knowing the risks, they don't end up feeling cheated if things don't go as they hoped or expected. The transparency also fosters a more cooperative relationship between players and DM, I feel. But for me, the best part about doing it this way is to create tension. When you establish stakes and risks beforehand, that die roll suddenly becomes a lot more exciting. Particularly powerful when combined with the principle of rolling dice very sparingly - only in situations that involve genuine risk and uncertainty. If I can't think of an interesting or impactful consequence of a failed roll, I don't call for one.

@ericjome7284 2 месяца назад

Inspired by the sampo, I once gave the party a salt shaker that would never run out. Anything you put into it had to be a powder and you had to shake it to get that powder out, but it would never run dry. Of course, they put gold in it right away...

@ericjome7284 2 месяца назад

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampo

@michaelwoodbury1788 2 месяца назад

Meanwhile a local dragon wonders why she doesn't have as much gold as she used to have...

@xarthesailor 2 месяца назад

@@michaelwoodbury1788 Nice idea

@khpa3665 2 месяца назад

That reminds me of a legend of how the North Sea got its salt. A peasant acquired a magic hand-mill that could grind out anything, but needed a magic word to stop. He became rich because he knew the word, but it was stolen by a sea captain who asked it to mill salt that he could then sell (because salt was very valuable back then). The captain didn't know the word, and when it didn't stop, it sank his ship under the weight of all its salt and it is at the bottom of the North Sea to this day, keeping the water full of salt.

@torinmccabe 2 месяца назад

The quote by Thomas Sowell: “There are no solutions. There are only trade-offs.” is informative for open ended RPG game play. Move from the "solution" of reducing the monsters hit points to zero to the trade-offs of how the other factions in the world will react to your interaction with this monster

@kevincostello4905 2 месяца назад

I really love Questing Beast. Such a great job respecting the old traditions. As a 58 year old gamer who was there at the (not so much dawn, but early morning, lol) of D&D, to have so many love letters to OSR games and the good old days is great. Always enjoy you, sir!

@aaroncorbett6352 2 месяца назад

I love ALL of Questing Beast's videos. I either learn something new or come away with a new way of thinking about something every time.

@quincykunz3481 2 месяца назад

Rulings are always going to be necessary. The primary strength of ttrpgs is the ability for a human GM to respond and improvise to actions taken. However, I find that a lot of the time rulings can become inconsistent or have knock-on effects due to being essentially slapdash rules. Put another way, rules are just rulings made in advance with more thought put into them. Rulings buy flexibility at the cost of GM responsibility. Rules ease GM responsibility at the cost of rigidity. The more of a game-designer a GM is, the more responsibility they can take without causing problems in the game itself.

@jadoaesra3011 2 месяца назад

the primary function of the ruling is to interpret the applicability of a prior established rule.

@avengingblowfish9653 2 месяца назад

I commonly hear that it's the player's job to figure out how to solve the problem, but that never felt right to me as a DM because if I don't have a solution in mind, then that creates the possibility of no solution which I don't think is very fun. I prefer having a solution, but being open to the players trying something I didn't think of... this way, if the players are truly stumped, I can start dropping hints.

@HoplooWare 2 месяца назад

Solutions to that I feel is to have multiple paths in a dungeon/adventure, if one problem feels too utterly 'unsolvable' to players they can either try their chances with a different problem; or if it is REALLY unsolvable just treat it like a locked door and put some 'key' somewhere that will allow them to either solve or bypass it.

@hozie6795 2 месяца назад

Generally I'd say that for most TTRPG problems I try to brainstorm 2-3 ways I would solve it with common PC resources and if I can think of a few solutions then it's good to go. Sometimes I'll include some very standard problems (e.g. pits, climbs, spikes, darts, etc...) without bothering to think of a specific solution, because there's so many ways to solve them that it's really unlikely a determined group will be stumped for too long. Other times I'll include something with just one solution (e.g. a magic portal that requires a specific ritual to open) but then I'll make sure that the solution can be learned via some other diegetic source and I generally try not to gate progression entirely behind this sort of thing.

@atomzero1 2 месяца назад

Yeah, I like to have a solution or two in mind while remaining open to good ideas that the players come up with.

@petoperceptum 2 месяца назад

"What do you intend to happen?" is always a great question to ask players when they start describing actions. And likewise for players, if you explicitly tell your GM why you are doing something, they can better tell you if you succeed. So often I've seen something that started out looking like moon-logic turn into a good idea once everyone is on the same page.

@bobhill-ol7wp 2 месяца назад

Yah I often like to think of this as appraoch and intent, if a player can learn to describe their actions with how they plan to do it and what they hope will happen, leads to a lot of fun and even negotiating. Kind of like Blades in The Dark but with less specific procedure.

@kasperv967 2 месяца назад

Totally agreed! I have a hard time anticipating what my players will do more than often, so if they tell me their desired result, and what they want to do to achieve it, I can arbitrate the rolls and narration so much easier.

@zenithquasar9623 2 месяца назад

Yeah, prying the intent is so important imo.

@orkcol 2 месяца назад

"What is your intent?" And "If you succeed at the roll, what is it you get?" Are some of my most commonly used phrases at the table. Getting the intent let's everyone get on the same page and if discussion is needed we're all clear what we're discussing.

@theoldwarlock 2 месяца назад

Being one of those grognard guys, when I saw the title of the video without checking context it immediately got my hackles up. Should have known better - this is more excellent content. The statement at 7:23 about the fun of watching players overcome OSR style problems was spot on. It's definitely the best part of being a DM AND it tests and encourages my own creativity and imagination when creating the next set of challenges. The term/phrase "problem without a solution" is now part of my RPG lexicon. Off to check GP's blog now. Thanks for this!

@marktownsend2198 2 месяца назад

I'm really enjoying these blog synopsis videos. Great stuff and lots of material to follow up on in the links.

@Stephenmcabrera 2 месяца назад

Yeah same. In most cases I've already read the original blog posts but the recap and discussion from you is fun, and your curation is on point (you pick good posts!) Keep 'em comin'!

@jasonmenard3098 2 месяца назад

You should sign up for his newsletter, it’s full of these type of posts, thoughts and info.

@aaronsmith5055 2 месяца назад

Yes, but... I miss hearing BEN's thoughts.

@tombayley7110 2 месяца назад

OSR PROBLEM - a vampire medusa (30 years on and the DM who did that to the party is still chuckling )

@atinaroart 2 месяца назад

Questing beast is my favorite RPG channel all the videos are fire

@aaroncorbett6352 2 месяца назад

I love ALL Questing Beast videos.

@CastorGaming 2 месяца назад

When I think of “Rulings, not Rules” in the context of adding to the adventure, I am immediately hit with the feeling of making a roll, rolling low resulting in a failure, and being left feeling unfulfilled. When being the DM, if a player tries to (for example) pick a lock, and despite having proficiency and high stats, still rolls low, it can be souring to just move on. I’ll often try to add something there to explain why an otherwise talented lockpick failed what should have been quick and easy. Perhaps the lock is overly complex, which begs the question “why?”. This adds to the adventure, by complimenting the character’s skill, but also providing a potential hook to further drive the plot. What’s behind the lock? I can put anything I want there, and if that’s the direction the party takes, then I successfully turned a failed roll into a full quest.

@zenithquasar9623 2 месяца назад

Yeah, can definitely be utilised this way and help with more emergent stuff but could also be a nuisance if it is not in the service of the story/adventure or the goals of the players/DM for the game imo.

@pedrogarcia8706 Месяц назад

If the consequence of failure is just "the adventure stops" that's a poorly designed test. A character with high enough proficiency in lockpicking should always be able to roll a lock, but the roll can decide several things: maybe it takes a long time and some other time sensitive task has to be sacrificed. maybe it makes a loud noise and alerts a guard. maybe their thieves tools break. Maybe the lock is damaged so at a glance someone will be able to tell it was picked. There are lots of results to a "failed" check than just "you can't do it."

@JonathanAwesomeify 2 месяца назад

I'm conflicted on this. I read through the Goblin Punch article and landed on this comment which stuck with me: "There is no such thing as a ruling. The DM is making up a rule and adjudicating its results." I'm not super plugged into the OSR community, but from the outside a lot of it seems like an outsized reaction to 3.5. As if players literally can't look up from their character sheet; that if they don't have a "dispel magic mushroom circle" ability they just stop playing. My group has primarily played 5e and 13th Age and we've never had this problem. Maybe I'm lucky. But when I had a beholder ask them to sabotage a nearby cultist without it looking like a direct attack, they had a great time. (They convinced the acolytes to unionize and rebel, then tipped the scales of the fight in their favour.) Or when a father asked them to check on his daughter at a clinic who he wasn't allowed to see, they cast Minor Illusion on the halfling bard to make him look like a child and be admitted himself. Was that OSR? Was that rulings not rules? Maybe? It was before I'd even heard the term. I guess ultimately, if I were being snarky, I'd say I fall into the camp of encouraging creative use of abilities on their character sheet, not throwing their sheet in the trash and playing Calvinball. Instead of "rulings not rules" I believe in "good rules lead to good rulings." (Like Forbidden Lands! We had a blast with that.) Ok, semi-coherent rant over. I might change my mind in an hour. Thanks for the video anyway, I love all Questing Beast videos!

@tomykong2915 2 дня назад

Exaaactly, a firm set of rules isn't opposed to creativity, it's a great tool in enabling creative problem solving My favorite system is pf1e for this reason, a system where damn well everything you can think of can be accounted for by the rules, but thats just means your toolbox stays consistent, but that doesn't mean your problems stay equally consistent, it drives creative uses of existing abilities instead

@tbb4023 2 месяца назад

The main issue I always had with "rulings not rules" is it puts a lot of stress on an inexperienced GM, or even a GM just not used to a particular set of mechanics. I have been playing for so long, I can handle things, but the GM just coming up with rules for falling damage,. disease, poison, or whatever, is pretty hard without killing off a lot of characters while you get the nuances right.

@pistol975 2 месяца назад

Always love to see a Questing Beast video! Awesome stuff

@israelmorales4249 2 месяца назад

the "common sense" is the least common of senses....i preffer crunchy rules and only "rule" when there is no choice

@Joker22593 2 месяца назад

"Common Sense" always means "in agreement with my standards".

@badnewsBH 2 месяца назад

I don't mind a little leeway, but I agree, I'd rather have at least an idea of a rule than have to make it up all the time. This is a game, after all.

@Jeremy_Fisher 2 месяца назад

That's certainly one way of thinking. I know I have a player who cannot make a 'creative' choices and really wants rules laid out for acceptable actions. For that player, 'You can do anything' turns into 'You can't do anything'. Unfortunately, that player is at an OSR table and everyone else really prefers the 'rulings not rules' mentality.

@DrakeBarrow 2 месяца назад

Yeah, this is my take as well. I found that 3.x era D&D was liberating _because_ of the rules present, and they didn't get in the way of 'rulings' when those were necessary. I _want_ to know what my character can do, and 'rulings not rules' has devolved into nonstop 'Mother May I?' situations. You need a good DM _that is trustworthy_ to make a more free-form game with 'rulings' work.

@tomykong2915 2 дня назад

@@DrakeBarrowexactly, the more well defined the rules, the more likely expectations will be understood by everyone, even with strangers you're joining for the first time, it gives common ground and ensures that everyone knows what tools are available, allowing you to potentially apply those tools to problems in more creative ways

@captainnolan5062 2 месяца назад

The argument that just because something is not in the rules means you can't do it doesn't hold water. If it is not covered, then that topic is ripe for a DM ruling. Also, Matt Finch is not saying you should not use common sense in making your rulings.

@AaronManley 2 месяца назад

I think the intent of that statement was more along the lines that systems that lean toward "rules for most the things" vs "rules for very few things" can encourage a certain style of play wherein things are run almost procedurally to the point that anything not spelled out in the rules is considered out-of-bounds. Or, put another way, OSR kind of embraces the idea of "things outside the system _are_ inside the system" (hows that for irony?), whereas very rules-heavy games may tend more towards "things _not_ inside the system, are outside the system." Though by no means is this a mutually exclusive distinction.

@TourFaint 2 месяца назад

My player recently suddenly asked if they could use their magical bazooka, (savage worlds, weird science) to blast themselves forward during a chase scene. Instead of trying to find the ""rules for tf2 rocket jumping" paragraph in a rulebook somewhere, i just decided to let them roll shooting instead of athletics that turn for movement, and gave a bonus for the mana they spent. I'm sure there is a rulebook where someone considered solid and concrete rocket jumping rules and if there's not, i could make them, but its better to just decide on the spot and move along.

@Fo0tie 2 месяца назад

Great example for a non-osr system. Thanks

@perkinsdearborn4693 2 месяца назад

Excellent content! I love how you pick and present the OSR blog posts. I am struggling to get all 4 game elements going at the table. Prompting players is essential. The simple "What do you do?" can fall flat, if the flow of information has faltered.

@muddlewait8844 2 месяца назад

This is a GREAT comment. Thank you.

@drew-g-b3180 2 месяца назад

I love all Questing Beast videos! Thanks Ben! Also, i've found the Fable Table books to be a great resource on OSR style "items without problems"

@ClockMonsterLA 2 месяца назад

I'm an avid proponent of "old school gaming", but I think it is critical to acknowledge that most GMs don't have what it takes to run a good game without a lot of guidance from the rules and the game's detailed mechanics. The game world is a simulation after all, and so it needs to operate according to well-understood, logical and consistent rules/mechanics. The best games have flexible mechanics that allow the world to work logically and consistently even when a situation not explicitly covered by them comes up in play. But expecting your average GM to just come up with an "X in 6" probability on their own is completely unrealistic, particularly when you also expect "satisfying" results. A good game system shouldn't try to explicitly cover every single eventuality, but instead should provide the logical frameworks necessary to simulate everything in the fictive game world without asking the GM to just wing it according to their own judgment all the time. This is especially true in this day and age of GMs who rely entirely on "adventure path" books to do all the work of building the world and constructing the adventures for them.

@tombayley7110 2 месяца назад

The idea of OSR solutions can be extended to the character classes of AD&D. The AD&D illusionist, the AD&D druid, the AD&D monk, all excel at approaching problems side-on rather than from the front. This style of play can cause friction with a rigidly structured rule set. This might explain why the classes were effectively abandoned or re written from the ground up in later editions.

@jakestaples8498 2 месяца назад

I love all Questing Beast videos When I first got into D&D in the 80’s, my group made up magical items. Some of our favorites were a gem of teleportation, a gem of disintegration, magical weapons that didn’t have a bonus to hit but caused 1d20 damage, a ring of polymorph, and gauntlets that allowed the wearer to shoot darts and fly. We also made up cursed magic items like a cloak of disintegration but the villain wore a shell-like breastplate that prevented instant death. My character wasn’t so lucky when he tried the cloak on without the breastplate…

@alchemicalcreations 2 месяца назад

One of my favorite items that I came up with is the "book of faces" a book full of portraits of people that can transform into an assassin's dagger. When this dagger is used to take a life the book gains a portrait of the person killed. It can be a great story telling device when the party finally discovers what the book does and realizes some important figures in the world's history were actually assassinated.

@billcedarheath387 2 месяца назад

There is a quote from a prominent figure in this that also needs to be considered. “The secret we should never let game masters know is that they don’t need any rules.” Gary Gygax That speaks volumes in the rulings not rules theory imo.

@jadoaesra3011 2 месяца назад

I mean, they do if they want to stay GM.

@billcedarheath387 2 месяца назад

@@jadoaesra3011 I’ve been GMing since 1977 as a forever GM. I haven’t played as a player character since the early 1980s. I know that quote quite well and adopt the philosophy it speaks to. 💪 I must be doing something right to have that history. 👍

@oz_jones 2 месяца назад

@@billcedarheath387 Or you have old school charm spells :p

@akimdemianenco 2 месяца назад

And where exactly did you get this quote from?

@billcedarheath387 2 месяца назад

@@akimdemianenco it’s a well known quote of Gary Gygax. If you want to know more, Google is your friend. Search Gary Gygax quotes and you’ll discover all about this one and many more.

@ixis 2 месяца назад

My favorite trap is my annual "Shocker Lizard" trap. The original trap came from some old adventure from a while ago, where there was a room with a well of healing water in the middle, overflowing with water and healing anyone who steps into it. Along the walls are clay jars which are held up on wooden planks. The planks are trapped, and when the trap is triggered the jugs will fall into the water. The trick is that the jugs are full of shocker lizards, turning a healing font of water into a deadly trap. Every year I re-arrange the facets of the trap. Sometimes the lizards are in the water, and must be placed in the jugs. One year the well summoned infinite shocker lizards, and the jugs contained water. Once I switched it so the lizards were actually healing lizards, and the well was heated, with an electric coil on the bottom, so when filled with water it would shock players. Few referees use re-occuring traps, but I think they're great. They make it so you have to think up less traps over an adventure, and everyone can have fun figuring out how the aspects of a trap have changed, which encourages a new way to solve the problem.

@Sanguivore 2 месяца назад

That’s pretty dang good! xD

@themcchuck8400 2 месяца назад

I love all Questing Beast videos! Knave's 100 utility spells are well worth the price of admission. Put them in all your games. Let the characters find a wondrous item (ring, amulet, scroll, whatever) that allows them to cast a single, random spell every day.

@SeanBoyce-gp 2 месяца назад

I actually think the concept of old school vs. new school just comes down to "are you more interested in narrative logic, or are you more interested in mechanical logic." By Narrative logic, I mean (spoiler) when The Bride gets buried alive in Kill Bill Vol. 2, new school games are interested in the player saying "well, I'm still playing, so how do I get out of here?" and then the GM saying "Well did you learn anything in your training that could help?" and then you get this whole flashback montage style system. In mechanical logic, an old school GM and an Old School game will say "you're buried alive, what do you do?" and the olds chool approach is that you would expect them to have read the WikiHow on escaping from being buried alive or have already arranged for someone to find you and have a way to help you, you're just gonna die down there. I love all the design logic around what you're saying, but I feel like ultimately that's what we're taklking about: the difference betewen "being good" at the game being an expression of logic and an expression of storytelling. New school leans more toward the latter. Old school more toward the former.

@swirlingtoilets Месяц назад

That's the real kicker for me. In OSR style gaming, your character's ability to solve problems is explicitly tied to you, the player's, ability to visualize problems from storyteller descriptions and solve them logically in real time. It's the same issue with players who maybe aren't the most charismatic or charming playing persuasive characters; if your character's ability to do something is tied to *your* ability to do something, then you're ultimately just restricted by your own intelligence or personality, which can feel pretty shit. Now, when I fail to adequately solve a problem in-game, it's not that perhaps my character was ill-equipped to handle that particular challenge, now it's a negative reflection of me, the player. Talk about a buzzkill.

@timsanty3052 2 месяца назад

Ben is always coming through with great resources and insights. The patron saint of the OSR GM!

@fjordojustice 2 месяца назад

I always strive to give my players tricky challenges without a specific solution, and one tool they've gotten a lot of use out of has been an item that's functionally a portal gun, from the game Portal. I admit a portal gun is not quite an OSR style tool the way you described, since it's so clearly powerful and useful in a ton of different situations, but it fits the tone of my game and I've had a lot of fun seeing the wacky and creative things my players have gotten up to with it. I think even in high-power, high-magic games like mine, players really benefit from having open-ended tools they can use to leverage their creativity.

@uyaratful 2 месяца назад

This is so wonderful. We played dnd like that, 100 years ago, because we didn't know any better. It was so exciting, creative and strangely... intimate? I mean you were really close with the world, experiencing it via senses of the character, experimenting with everything. Best way to play.

@solaris_cc4353 2 месяца назад

This comment sums it up perfectly, thank you.

@ganzagaming1849 2 месяца назад

"OSR tools does one highly weird specific thing that you *think* is only going to be useful in pretty narrow circumstances," is the essence of the Cypher System. Getting slots for such tools is built into your PC.

@SingularityOrbit 2 месяца назад

I noticed two related elements of the video, one where Ben mentions adding simple mechanics to aid rulings into more complex games (such as adding percentiles or X-in-6 rolls to a game that normally doesn't use them), and later where he talks about letting players try things with a chance of success even if the DM isn't sure they'd work -- the players are trying to be creative, after all. Matt Mercer, the DM on Critical Role, does this in almost every episode. "You can certainly try" is practically his mantra. The specific example of adapting dice mechanics is his way of allowing spellcasters to flex spells in unusual ways: he uses the rule for Counterspell (basically, roll a d20 + spellcasting ability to beat a difficulty DC) as a way to resolve any weird spell effect. The result is that strange uses of spells in his games are possible, but unreliable, which actually manages to make 5th Edition spellcasting more magical (that is, strange and unpredictable) at the cost of some risk. I'm not saying everybody should do this, but just that it's one example of how the advice could be implemented. There are probably twice as many ways of using rules in unexpected ways as there are RPG systems.

@tombayley7110 2 месяца назад

Only the other night I was thinking about how important it is to trust your players and even to side with the players against the dungeon. It’s the dungeon that should provide the challenges NOT the DM.

@chriscooper7962 2 месяца назад

I love ALL of Questing Beast's videos. Great stuff Ben.

@zipperman1448 2 месяца назад

I love all Questing Beast videos!

@willmendoza8498 2 месяца назад

I think every OSR game Master should watch this and read that article. A lack of understanding of these principles is why I end up turning away quickly from most OSR actual plays and content creators.

@JS-tj9zl 2 месяца назад

I love videos like this one, Ben. Great showcase of Goblin Punch and its advice.

@equiter102 2 месяца назад

I LOVE all QUESTING BEAST videos! Keep up the great work!

@kayosiiii Месяц назад

I think my favourite of these types of puzzles I have created is also one of the simplest. A locked door with a pit in front of it where the door was flush with the wall of the pit (no overhang).

@QuestingBeast Месяц назад

Oh, that's a great one

@irvin_moe 2 месяца назад

I totally forgot about d100 tables from Goblin Punch! Those are amazing, thank you for the reminder. As always, such an interesting and cool video, thanks Ben!

@MemphiStig 2 месяца назад

You got a whole movement started with love for all your videos. Good going!

@victorsinger9265 2 месяца назад

Great tips Ben! I'm always excited to see your new videos.

@DalePoole 2 месяца назад

A brick/stone in the bottom of a long unused fireplace, that's feels slightly warmer than the surrounding bricks/stone. I watched a Paladin carry such a thing over two yeas of play.

@voodoocupcake2293 2 месяца назад

I love all of Questing Beast’s videos. One of my favourite channels!

@alantesser1645 2 месяца назад

This was very helpful in expanding past the very obvious parts of “rulings not rules.” Great job.

@reversegoat3260 2 месяца назад

I enjoy QB's videos, but these last three are pure gold.

@tDude666 2 месяца назад

The documents you cited in this are absolutely incredible! Great Video on the subject!

@Badepfropfen 2 месяца назад

Man. This video is a gold mine. Thank you for covering such important blogposts!

@haysmcgee801 2 месяца назад

I really like this type of video and the last couple as well. They are chock full of great and quick inspiration or just a simple perspective shift that can make all of the difference in the world.

@jeffstormer2547 2 месяца назад

I love all questing beast videos! the punch is great too! hats off to you, sir, for so consistently spreading the joy w/ munchkins too. nothing like watching kids light up in imaginative play and not have their noses stuck in a screen. also a fan of your games, too! just wish i could get more folks to at least try something other than The Game That Shall Not Be Named. another great post Ben!

@JeffreyKamo 2 месяца назад

This is great, I love the return to an analysis of game concepts and principles. I hope to see this trend continue with more blog posts!

@Loweves2 2 месяца назад

Great stuff here. And tye links are just pure gold as well.

@MacrosCazador 2 месяца назад

Such great content! I love all your videos about OSR

@natbarmore 2 месяца назад

My slightly different formulation of what makes a good magic item or spell is: • It shouldn’t directly give a numerical bonus (or penalty) [in play, the GM might rule that a particular use results in a bonus to a roll or taking less damage or whatever, but it shouldn’t just be “+2 to stealth”] • it should do or enable something that can’t be done without magic. Much like the prohibition on direct numerical bonuses, I don’t want a magic item to substitute for experience or experience levels. A 3rd-level thief with a magic item shouldn’t be the equivalent of a seventh level thief- the seventh level thief should still be better at thieving; the magic items should let the third level thief do things that neither of them could do without the Magic item. • be creative. Be weird. Come up with something specific and narrow in scope.

@Snoil 2 месяца назад

All I can say is you schoed what I have been doing since the 80s and as a forever DM, you are spot on!

@ShannonFerguson 2 месяца назад

Thanks for the guidance. I enjoy all of Questing Beast's videos.

@Goshin65 2 месяца назад

as someone who started playing and DMing in the "old days", you're spot on. Good stuff.

@samchafin4623 2 месяца назад

I don't always love OSR style play, as I think it often falls into traps of being a little bit directionless, and often slowly paced, buuut I ALWAYS love OSR style problems and OSR style tools- those are so much fun!

@kristianmagnusson8735 2 месяца назад

Once again, great advice and well structured presentation. Thank you.

@StrinrathWorldofFantasyA-to3vh 2 месяца назад

I love ALL of Questing Beast's videos

@marclehman3889 2 месяца назад

Awesome video, I've been struggling with this in my DMing, but hadn't been able to put it into words yet

@robertbromley5230 2 месяца назад

I generally agree with the “OSR” approach to problems. That said, myself and many of my friends have greatly enjoyed 3.5 and Pathfinder one, especially when it came to character building benefitting from a kind of creeping system mastery. In my experience, some of our best times, role-playing benefited simultaneously from mechanics on our sheets and creative problem-solving. I’m not suggesting our experience is somehow “one size fits all”. But I do think crafting problems like this benefit every game system, crunchy or otherwise.

@tomykong2915 2 дня назад

Yes, exactly, a system with hard rules enables more creative solutions to problems, rather than hinders them, like, yes, sometimes you can just brute force it, but that ability to know what you are capable of means you know that if you do this in this scenerio, this result will happen, and that result happening in this scenerio, will achieve our goals, even if the tool isn't normally used to achieve that goal, it's basic immersive sim video game logic

@enzobambino 2 месяца назад

Always love your channel!

@DUNGEONCRAFT1 2 месяца назад

I love Questing Beast!

@rangleme 2 месяца назад

I was concerned about the title, but quite happy with the conclusion. I agree 💯

@TalismancerM 2 месяца назад

One of my favourites was a corner in a corridor (Judges guild). Anyone who looked around the corner would scream hideously in terror & faint. When awoken they couldn't remember what they saw but could vaguely remember a gold door and something menacing. How do you get the party to the gold door? (is there a gold door?, a monster? In the end we never found out.)

@samuelteare8160 2 месяца назад

Very insightful and inspiring. Thanks, Ben.

@johncook158 2 месяца назад

Fuckin love goblinpunch. The better tigers article changed my everything for setting up challenges.

@oldmanofthemountains3388 2 месяца назад

What a fantastic video! I've been wanting to add more OSR items to my game but I couldn't quite figure out how to create them! Now I know!

@batmenic365StopMotion 2 месяца назад

That article is in Knock 1, it's a good read and really helped me improve my gaming back when I ran 5E. Your articles were also really interesting, Ben!

@aaronthomas8190 2 месяца назад

Once again, so much good advice! Thank you, Ben!

@JoelFeila 2 месяца назад

sounds like they want me to use my inventory not my spells in creative ways. Which given how spells work in D&D can be hard to do with spells. But I would see my self constantly going over my inventory and think of what my sheet lets me do, just not the spell part.

@GooberMcSnorford 2 месяца назад

I love all the videos on Questing Beast!

@DrakeBarrow 2 месяца назад

You need good DMs who are trustworthy to make this work. Ive found those to be rare.

@andrewjoy4084 2 месяца назад

Thank you, I've been looking for a nice way of explaining the approach to my friends and this video seems perfect 👍

@IM-Silviu 2 месяца назад

Questing Beast videos are of higher quality and I find them irresistible!

@mikehallaron 2 месяца назад

Great content Ben. Thank you!

@oskar6661 2 месяца назад

My favourite RPG at the moment is Dungeon World which is HEAVY on players figuring stuff out - with very scant character sheets. I found my D&D players struggled, looking at their character sheets and thinking "this is all I can do...", instead of just playing 'in the world'. My players, as long as I've DM'ed, also know..I'll gladly put them into a tough situation or problem without having a solution to it in mind. Now, I won't just kill them off for fun, and if they put a good try forward, I'm lenient on the problem solving...but watching them solve a thing which happened organically via the story is very fun.

@MrExit181 2 месяца назад

love it. thanks for turning me onto a great blog.

@_Grimblewedge_ 2 месяца назад

I love these videos. My only complaint is they weren't around when I was fumbling around for a GM style after the DM Guide left me with more questions than answers.😂.

@richardfortier 2 месяца назад

Thank you for pointing to those lists, they will be useful :)

@bobkarstenson1792 2 месяца назад

Love all the questing beast videos

@BDCSam 2 месяца назад

I love this type of video. So simple. Time to get back to these roots in my game.

@AndrewCooperSooperGenius 2 месяца назад

Thanks for a great video, Ben. I love everything by Questing Beast.

@helixxharpell 2 месяца назад

I LOVE every video question beast!

@deathbare5306 2 месяца назад

Love the Questing Beast content and the email list is useful!

@lowRolls 2 месяца назад

As always, great stuff! Thanks!

@ivancarabano 2 месяца назад

I love questing beast videos!

@Minodrec 2 месяца назад

Telling me you wtach dungeon craft without telling me you watch dungeon craft.

@ChrisBrown-iu8ii 2 месяца назад

Thank you thank you thank you. I am forwarding this to all my DM friends.

@keithvanboskirk7327 2 месяца назад

thanks for highlighting goblin punch

@the_beast_among_sheep 2 месяца назад

Once you decide on a rule, it has to stay the same unless made better. A DM's or Judge's rulings have to stay consistent

@Game.Master.Allen83 2 месяца назад

Thanks for the fantastic insights on the OSR's 'rulings, not rules' philosophy. I wholeheartedly agree that the attempt by modern games to codify every conceivable action into a rule seems counterproductive in a medium that thrives on the boundless nature of human imagination. Your discussion highlights a crucial point: the importance of encouraging creativity among players and the role of GMs in fostering and rewarding this creativity, rather than boxing it into predefined rules. This approach not only empowers players but also enriches the game, making each session unique and memorable. After all, TTRPGs are a journey of the mind, and like any skill, our ability to navigate and flourish within these imaginative realms improves with practice. The game evolves as we do, getting richer and more engaging the more we play and grow. Your video is a reminder of the magic that happens when we let rulings guide us, not rules. Thanks again for such a thought-provoking piece.