If your TTRPG doesn’t integrate long sections of detective work, research, roleplaying, kingdom building / retinue management, downtime, or social skills, then it’s not a TTRPG, it’s a combat simulator. If all you do is spam the same few attacks and focus on “builds” for minmaxing, then why don’t you play a video game?
>>98274805tell us about your games
>>98274805>then why don’t you play a video game?Because video games are very restricted.
>>98274805Which video game has infinite adventures, total customizability, is multiplayer, turn based, and can feature any setting I want?
>>98274805Games like D&D specifically ARE combat simulators. 5e especially has basically 0 fucking rules for any of the other things you list, and of the rules it does have, they're dogshit.Things like CoC or VtM however, are not combat simulators.Just play other games and you'll find this problem disappears.
I mean not everything has to be Sherlock
>>98274842I literally posted my one shot from Foundry in the OP image. It’s a whodunnit set in a religious colony and isolated farming community where a gnostic cult of “knowing ones” begin publicly displaying sacrificial victims to force more conversions to their “old ways”.
>>98274876>I attack the cultistsMystery solved.
>>98274876>whodunnit>battlemap
>>98274805Name one video game that's perfectly adaptive to player wants and needs.
>>98274805Can't tell from your modules, but those token circles look like tokenizer which means you're probably running dnd5e. I'm reading your post as a complaint, and I assume you are complaining because your players approached your mystery like a video game. I have to admit, I'm with >>98274945 here. I've been on running on Foundry online and in person for a few years now, and I find that, consistently, players react to "battlemap" with "it's time for combat", regardless of what it's a map of or what your intentions or presentation is. Consider using cinematic art as scene backdrop like Alchemy VTT style and only break out the battlemap after initiatice has been declared, and your players will be much more likely to engage with what you are presenting and to find non-combat solutions to problems.I spent ages on making detailed maps, npcs, dungeons with automated npc chatter, automated shopkeepers, loot containers, glittering points of interest, before I realized that I'm essentially presenting a video game, so why am I susprised that my players are treating it like a video game.Is that about your experience? Also ask me anything, I guess
>>98274805Why should every TTRPG include kingdom building or research? Those are very specific things, and they don't suit every game.
>>98274876dull as fuck lol
>>98274805>kingdom buildinggay
>>98275231Kingdom building = cool but it's like post-apoc games in that it needs to have something to do for the non-logistics autist playersOtherwise the spergs will play their accounting sim and everyone else will sit on their hands doing fuck all
>>98274805What does kingdom building and retinue management have to do with an urban fantasy game?
>>98275334Maybe you're making a vampire PMC or something? Limitless opportunities
>>98274805Have you tried not playing DnDogshit?
>>98275118nta, I also fell into the trap of making or using battlemap style maps even when combat was not expectedit was a mistake and I have learned from italso I kinda went the other way and started to believe if you want combat then you should play skirmish wargames instead and use secondary RPG systems like campaign rules etc if you want more
>>98275565Hey! That's where I went too. I'm picking up Eldfall Chronicles. What skirmish games are you playing?For ttrpg stuff, I do theater of the mind pretty much exclusively now, but do break out a battlemap when someone is excited about using their minis or ask me to. Kinda wild, I went through all that effort only to realize that the simple approach was the best one all along
>>98275629>What skirmish games are you playing?Nowadays Clash of Rhyfles and Space/Sword Weirdos. Bit far from the RPG formula and style, but I have a few systems on my list that are closer.I prefer theater in TTRPGs too, but I've taken a liking to zone systems when a little bit more ordered or systematic approach is needed. I don't like gridmaps, I can only stomach hexes, but even that I only like to see in my Battletech matches.I think the problem for me was that I got into the hobby a bit before/around Covid and started using FoundryVTT which dragged me into this spiral of more and more "useful" modules and videogamey automatisation chasing with elaborate multi level maps etc.
>>98274805got some alternative recommendations for pathfinder/traveller/swn to run space opera without being combat centric?
>>98276367That level of automation can be fun to set up, yeah, but I think it's ultimately more fun for the GM than the player. Unironically, look at the Godot game engine if you like that kind of thing. Making videogames is a deep rabbithole but it's really fun and actually knowing programming is becoming a more and more relevant skill in the modern age (yes, you need programming knowledge *way more* now that LLMs are a thing, not less. Never been more relevant for humans to know their shit)
>>98274805>kingdom building / retinue managementDomain play is such a fucking meme that I'm convinced people only say they like to sound cool, like insisting that Gold as XP is a core pillar of true RPG play, but I fundamentally agree with your general point. D&D, especially, pretends that it's a world emulation system about deep roleplay and exploration and telling evocative stories, but it's a combat game. It's a game about murderhobos going from fight to fight, cycling through one or two strats to do optimal damage every turn until everything is dead. It's an inferior combination of a modern war game, a TCG, and minor elements of roleplaying.
why do people ascribe moral judgement to dumb things like how much combat is in the game?
>>982748545e isn't d&d.
>>98277047>without being combat centric?What do you want to be focused on? There's always Space Wurm VS Moonicorn but I'm not sure if that's where you're aimed. Crush the Rebellion looks neat, need the right group for it though. There's always Kingdom. Uncharted Worlds is another pbta, basically modelled after traveller. Haven't looked at the Expanse game but might do. Transhuman Space if you're a GURPS enthusiast.iirc there's a Legacy splat for both the ship to Alpha Centuari for slowboat internal difficulties and a planetfall one for when you need to return to Planet.
