Anchor.fm/Clerics-Wear-Ringmail:
Episode 12 - I Hate Health Potions
(Or on YouTube!)
Description
I hate health potions and so should you! For the next half an hour, I explain why.
Then some call ins!
Theme Music by XTaKeRux, Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/XTaKeRuX
Show Notes
- 00:00 - Intro
- 00:27 - Theme
- 00:54 - Three Arguments Against Health Potions
- 01:43 - Short Circuiting the Full Experience
- 06:53 - Bastardizing the Cleric Archetype
- 11:14 - You Should Listen to Tale of the Manticore!
- 11:49 - Pounding the Point Home
- 14:34 - Cleric as Physician and the Loss of Roleplay Opportunity
- 18:04 - Implications to the Fiction
- 22:28 - Conclusions on the Main Topic
- 23:07 - Call In: Joe "Huggsie" Richter!
- 28:49 - Call In: Karl Rodriguez!
- 34:30 - Call In: Randy of Biggus Geekus!
- 36:24 - Outro
- 36:40 - Theme and Legalese
Links
Karl of The GMOlogist Presents: https://anchor.fm/karl-rodriguez
Joe of Hindsightless: https://anchor.fm/joe-richter9/
Randy of Biggus Geekus: https://anchor.fm/biggusgeekus
...or on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyVze8TfIB16j0PdmE4lOJg
I don’t like healing potions either as I like to keep them as pretty potent magic items, but I’ve found that without decent access to healing, players become incredibly paranoid and unwilling to engage with the game. It turns into a “one encounter syndrome” where they will engage with only one encounter at most before running back to town to heal up. Although I don’t like making healing potions freely available, I think some balance is needed to encourage players to take more risks.
ReplyDeleteAlso it’s 2021, everyone who plays RPGs is familiar with healing potions, so it’s not like the 1970’s where we can keep them hidden and special.
> one encounter syndrome
DeleteTaking me back! I remember introducing some coworkers to DCC in 2016 - the first thing that happened in a one shot, the wizard lost his spell, failing to cast it. IMMEDIATELY wanted to rest... literally in front of the tower they were exploring... to get it back! I was so surprised I didn't kill the party for it! That wizard would die later, in the sewer under the tower, so no sweat on that front. But I can feel you on the "expectations" issue.
To that end - some players are going to suck regardless of what you give them - but thinking about it, maybe have the engagement start with non-combat encounters and challenges? I once ran a dungeon with no monsters in it at all - party was on the edge of their seat the whole time, though, because somehow I'd happened on the right combination of explorers of the tomb and players interested in the lore-dump encoded piecemeal into the artifacts they recovered. Alternatively - maybe smaller dungeons - or base-camps in relatively safe spaces in the dungeon, allowing for shorter forays - might be the answer? Let them ease their way into the water until they get use to the cold.