Remember D&D 4e: Top 12 Ways to Stop Sounding So Damn Metagamey? Of course you do! Fortunately for us, D&D 5e is not gamey at all compared to its immediate predecessor.
But it’s hard to forget how gamey D&D was not too long ago – the rules were many, rigid, and often lifeless. Quite simply, the rules use to get in the way of the story. Adventures often felt like exercises in dice rolling and finding every mathematical advantage around every corner. Who among us didn’t often forget why our characters were doing what they were doing as another grueling crunch-fest-filled hour dragged by?
Thankfully that’s all changed in 5e! Beautiful edition, recalling the wonder and balance of the classic storytelling and gaming experience that truly is the heart of D&D. I love it! And so does everyone who plays it, novice or veteran. Just check ratings, reviews and sales and it’s obvious D&D 5th edition is phenomenal.
(Note: To be clear, D&D 5e’s astounding quality and “soul” means we’re mostly reduced to nitpicking a few minor rules – like in this article – rather than criticizing massive chunks of the game like in last edition. What a relief! So with this understanding clear, let’s get to the point of this piece.)
However, there is one awkwardly placed section in the PHB that recalled some recent gamey-ness. The “Inspiration” rule may have been well-intended, but it doesn’t quite feel right.
Giving small bonuses and awards for awesome or brilliant character class, background and alignment-based play isn’t anything new to D&D. Early D&D even awarded separate, bonus XP for class-specific activities, such as rogues opening locks or disarming traps. And in Faster Combat, there’s a lesson where I offer lots of ideas on how to reward tremendous player creativity or brilliant play.
But Inspiration’s mechanics are sort of new – and at least a bit clunky. The closest thing the idea behind Inspiration reminds me of is last edition’s Moments of Greatness.
The first time I heard about Moments of Greatness was from the D&D Encounters game session events at game stores a few years ago. I remember reading a few live accounts of adventures and exactly how Moments of Greatness awards or even tokens (e.g. +1 or +2 to hit for use later in the game) were awarded. I loved the name – Moments of Greatness – because it encompassed so many types of cool moments during the session. Basically, if you helped created an awesome scene or memory – whether it was shocking, impressive or hilarious, your DM awards you.
Inspiration almost reaches Moments of Greatness’ quality and elegance. My initial reaction was and still is – that Inspiration is not quite right. I don’t even like its name. It makes me cringe. D&D – the whole RPG genre! – is about inspiration, so why the hell game-ify and transform this awesome word into some awkward game mechanic?
That smacks of last edition, so it’s no wonder neither of our D&D campaigns has ever even used it. Inspiration hasn’t even come up on either side of the table. I mean – we’ve never even talked about it! Now it is placed in the PHB just before backgrounds, so it can be easy to miss – you could easily argue it fits better in Part 2: Playing the Game. Still, maybe we weren’t impressed enough or liked it enough to make it “core,” even though I supposed it is. There’s something missing or perhaps too gamey about it. To be fair, I like the attempt at a cooperative or collaborative element where you can “give your Inspiration” to someone else so they can use its bonus on a roll.
However, I don’t like that you “lose” the Inspiration bonus you’ve earned yourself. Seems counter to rewarding everyone for excellent play. Why not instead just modify it and make it group vote starting with the DM from the beginning? Or just lift the lose part of the trade-and-lose it rule. No need to punish yourself while rewarding another player. This should be one of those “everyone wins” deals.
Personally, I’m fine not using Inspiration. D&D works beautifully awarding and getting bonus XP or small circumstantial bonuses (e.g. advantage… wait, isn’t this already in the rules? Why do we have Inspiration rules again? Oh my head…) in 5e for Moments of Greatness instead of playing with Inspiration. I think a Moments of Greatness-style approach fits that niche just fine without sounding or being too gamey. I think we’ll just go ahead and keep up our “small-i” inspired gameplay.
Do you use the Inspiration mechanic? Or do you use something more like Moments of Greatness? Or neither? What’s the best approach to reward tremendous game play and why?
Kilsek
I don’t have an issue with Inspiration as a mechanic, though I agree that it doesn’t seem to “flow” with the rest of the game design. Then again, I’m a far better role-player than roll-player. I like having a free “do-over” to mitigate my evil dice when I come up with that super-awesome-inspiring-speech-to-the-NPC-to-convince-him-to-do-what-we-want and then roll a 1 on my skill check. I’ve even had the GM reduce the DC of a check to 5 and STILL fail it.
So having that free re-roll really comes in handy for me, and the fact that I’ve earned it via quality role-playing just makes it that much sweeter.
Great points David! You’re right, it’s brutal when you deliver some great roleplay and that 1 turns up. Maybe in rare cases, it’s best not to roll dice and the DM basically just decides you “win” – because what you said or did was that awesome!
DMs seem to vary on this continuum of how often to roll or whether not to roll, as the rules discuss briefly. Both approaches have their appeal, though I think hand-waving the dice too frequently can lead to a slippery slope where it becomes expected or asked for too often.
As gamers, we love to roll dice and the bit of randomness that is core to D&D. Me, I like giving out all the advantages possible in cases of truly great roleplaying or creativity, but usually then let the dice decide – with heaps of bonuses.
Because it can be just as fun to have the fates decide. Epically timed successes are great, but “failed” rolls can still take your story on memorable twists and turns!