Mechanics Improv in D&D

Who says improv is just for dialog? I’ve been running a pen ‘n’ paper Dungeons & Dragons campaign for my coworkers, and it’s been tons of fun because of mechanics improv. I’m usually not a big fan of combat-oriented roleplaying, but this let me hit the swashbuckling highs and lows I want from RPG combat.

If you’re interested in making combat more dynamic and over-the-top, give the thoughts below a try and let me know if they help. This is mostly aimed at D&D, but it can be easily adapted to any other rules-heavy combat that you want to feel creative.

Invent bullshit mechanics, then stick with them. Early on in this campaign, we had an Indiana Jones minecart combat, and players started shoving enemies off the edge – then they asked what happened if they pushed enemies into other enemies. Once I decided that Enemy B got a save to avoid getting pushed as well, my players made that a standard tactic, and eventually were pinballing enemies off the environment to break terrain. My players got more tactical space to work within, and encounters tended to have more flourishes.

Roll to confirm crits and fumbles. 4^th Edition went the wrong way with critical hits, in my opinion: Automatic max damage actually takes away from the drama, because then there’s no roll for damage. By using the old 3^rd Edition rules, you’re adding drama with the roll to confirm, plus the potential for higher damage. Similarly, fumbles inevitably lead to “that one guy” who has bad luck with everything, so everyone can laugh with him.

Side note: Another reason crits work is because they give justification to break the rules, because crits mean you were just that awesome. The party defender confirmed a crit when saving against a blast attack, so I gave him a minor action; he used it to jump over and shield the barbarian, who fumbled the save.

If a player makes an intuitive leap, they’re usually right. The more creative and MMO-like your encounters are, like “this monster heals when bloodied”, the more people are going to try to figure it out, and they’ll start explaining their theories to the other players. If they decide that they have to destroy the mystical pillars to keep the boss from healing – hey, maybe that’s a cooler idea than your original encounter design. Hey, take the credit.

Move quickly. This is less “how to be dynamic” than “how to avoid being un-dynamic”, but nothing hurts creativity or awesome action than stretching it out over ten-minute turns. Try to keep the game moving quickly, then people are more likely to try interesting things instead of playing cautiously. I feel like having single-encounter sessions also helped us move quickly, or feel like things were happening rapidly, instead of just getting through turn X of encounter 1 of 3.

Use the Awesomeness : Rule-Breaking ratio. If a player wants to do something that breaks the turn order, I’m not going to disallow it, but I’m not going to let it be super-effective. I had a dragon about to use a breath weapon, and the barbarian asked if she could throw a golden demon head on a chain at it (don’t ask) to block to attack. I decided she’d roll a d4 and reduce its damage by that much: It didn’t have much of an effect, but it felt cool and did have some kind of impact. All anyone wants is to feel like they’ve accomplished anything, so you can always bend the rules to an amount that’s commensurate with how much more fun it’ll add.

I’m not sure how to foster this, but encourage the “Holy shit, you can do that?” moments. This campaign’s gone through about six encounters at Level 1, but every fight brings out a power that makes everyone double-take. Last session, it was realizing that the monk’s daily could let him punch about fourteen guys at once; sometimes, it’s just a massive buff. I’m not sure if there’s a good way to keep this self-discovery happening, but if you can, it’s very fun for players.

Hopefully someone out there gets some use from these thoughts – I’ve really enjoyed running this campaign, even though it’s turned into just a combat campaign, which I normally don’t enjoy. It doesn’t hurt that this mechanics improve helps keep my prep time down, because instead of having to create deep encounters, I can combine a few ideas with a few monsters, and during the session we find ways to make it dynamic and fun.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think.