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I wrote another GM Corner titled “Challenging Encounters” back in 2023. The blog talked about balancing an encounter so as not to be run over by your players, or accidentally cause a TPK (total party kill). However, it didn’t really go into what it actually means to be challenging.
I know several GMs out there think a challenging combat is one that has high risk with strong tension, the characters could actually die. That can be a thrilling combat, but it is not necessarily challenging. If you encounter this at every session, it becomes exhausting to your players. Taking that on week after week (session after session), and expecting them to be okay with it, is asking a lot of your group. The challenge in my combat does not put them in a life or death situation. It could happen that way, but that is not my goal. I do not set out to knock them down to one hit point and watch them crawl away from the battlefield licking their wounds. I want to challenge them intellectually, as characters and as players. When I set up a combat, I start by asking myself “What do I want to accomplish?” Do I want them to work together? What would they do if they couldn’t work together? Will they back down and run away? How would they handle one of their own suddenly getting pulled into another dimension? Setting up a combat to find out these answers is my challenge. Learning the answers is a challenge to my players. The players need time to think about what is happening in the battle in order for their character to react. As GMs, we have to remember that the players are NOT the characters, they are simply portraying them. The player does not have the character’s instant reflexes or combat training (usually). The monsters they face cannot hit them so hard that they don’t have time to think up a good solution (unless I want them to run away). I want to inspire my players to think outside the box, not feel trapped to always use their most powerful attack because if they don’t, they could die.
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I’ve been asked on a number of occasions if I planned on switching over to the newest edition. Let me be honest, I have not actually opened a 2024 Player’s Handbook as of today. I have only what little I’ve read about it, snippets, and videos discussing its content to go by. It does not draw my attention.
For me, 5e has been a blessing. It has brought my family back together and I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of people by sharing a love of tabletop gaming. It is open enough to be creative in my own homebrew adventures, yet has a good structure to run combat and guide me in the rulings I make during the game. On top of this, there are plenty of source books and third party content to garner ideas to throw into a campaign. So what is wrong with 2024? Perhaps it’s too open. Races are not inherently good at anything anymore, half-races don’t exist, and backgrounds seem to have become more important than classes, these are just a few of the things that I believe are not good. Now, don’t come after me! I know that not every elf is focused on magic, but I believe this should be an exception. I believe that the newest edition is trying too hard to break stereotypes and be super inclusive for a GAME. If you push that hard on character creation and breaking the “norms,” then what can you consider a “bad guy” (they have just been misunderstood). On the topic of half-races being removed because they believe them to be racist (IN A GAME!) is racist itself. They disguise this decision with the idea that half-races imply that they are inferior to either of their parent races. Since they are putting real world issues into a game of pretend on a mechanical level, then let’s reverse it. They have just implied anyone who is mixed-race is inferior to either of their “parent” races. In a world where diversity and inclusion is applauded, I’m honestly surprised they did this. That aside, I have access to a lot of the material for 5e (2014). Comparing that with what I’ve heard about 2024, I don’t think I could run a long campaign with the newest rule set. I struggle to make a good, balanced encounter with the OP characters that are present in 2014, I know that 2024 got stronger (or more broken, depending how you look at it). AND, from what I understand, it is not really backwards compatible like they had originally claimed. Overall, the shift made for 2024 was for the online gamer, in my opinion. With AI game masters a very real thing lately, this new edition is designed to work with that. AI game masters won’t forget monster stats, do not pull punches for story effects, and will not allow players to step out of the box mechanically to do really cool things. Therefore, the mechanics have to include stronger, faster, bigger actions. That’s not really for me, so I’ll stick with 2014. I am feeling the pressure from all directions. Work has laid some extra responsibilities on me (including an annual review), my application for graduate studies is coming due, and of course I am working on getting a new campaign ready to take off. As I work through all of this, I cannot help but be excited.
Going through school and projects at work, I have come to realize I work well under pressure. I can become more creative when I hyper-focus on the task at hand. “Just get something down on paper, you can fix it later,” I tell myself. Most of the time, when I take a second look, only a little adjustments are needed to complete the assignment. This is a huge relief of course since the deadline is probably in five minutes. It is commonly known that if you want something done, usually ask the busy person to do it. They are often the most focused since their schedule is packed. I am that busy person right now. So much so that I hesitate to turn in my application for school since I may have to give something else up. I am not willing to give up anything in my life right now, so should I even go through with it? What does this have to do with being a GM? Well, nothing really. I just wanted to share a bit about what is going on in my life. Perhaps you are feeling the same way. Too many things you want to do and not enough time (or money) to do it. I do know regardless of my future plans, I will continue gaming on Tuesday nights with my friends and family. Why? Because that is my fun time, my release from the stress of the world, a chance to play pretend and forget about any responsibilities. I’ve been running on fumes of late. I need a chance to stop by the station to refuel and refresh. Tonight was my chance to play “catch up” and I’m trying to take full advantage of it. Checking off the boxes of my list is quite satisfying…until I discover more that should get added.
The last couple of gaming sessions were semi-prepared. All the notes were in my head, but nothing was written down. I had no monsters picked out, no loot to find, no real plot points to hit, but that rarely stops me from coming up with something. I felt good after the session and hoped my players didn’t realize I had nothing ahead of time (I’m making up this story as we go along, just like they are). Am I too comfortable with this? Probably. All those missed plot hooks, all the monsters not encountered, they’re coming out now! My GM tool box is getting used generously. Sometimes my players benefit the most when I’m underprepared as I just pull out the loot table and make rushed decisions on item abilities. These will come back to haunt me later, of that I am sure! If you find yourself in this position, you could go either way. If you are comfortable with improv and coming up with a story on-the-fly, then go for it! Your players will have fun and you’ll have given yourself another week (or more) to prepare for the next session. On the other hand, if you are not comfortable with this, it’s okay to cancel or pull out a board game. This still gives you more time to prepare and your players will be okay with this decision too. It really is about getting together with friends and having fun! |
AuthorJodie 
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October 2025
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