Parts of a Game Session
Encounters
Combat encounters are the core of the game and take up the lion's share of the rules, the general idea being that fighting is fun (D&D grew out of war games, after all). Combat encounters are active battles against deadly adversaries of all kinds. Noncombat encounters include dungeon traps, obstacles, puzzles, social interactions, and anything else where you have a goal that is accomplished by tools other than killing. Believe it or not, this does happen in D&D.
Exploration
Exploration takes on three general modes:
Space
Confined to a spacefaring vessel or flotilla, your party uses navigation techniques to chart a course through the heavens, tracking an anomaly, location, or other vessel. General transit between claimed lands and certain unclaimed lands is trivial thanks to technological advances: you generally skip this kind of transit. Seeking out unknown or unpositioned elements requires other techniques, and is not trivial enough to simply skip.
Surface
Atop a planet surface or orbital platform, characters use travel and navigation techniques handed down from generations of planet-bound ancestors.
Subsurface
Many planets and bases contain dungeons deep below the surface. Whether created or natural, these cavernous expanses each require special treatment and careful wit. In each case, exploration generally leads to encounters. Explore well, and you can enter encounters under favorable circumstances. Whether it is a cloaked raiding vessel, an enemy troop waiting in ambush, or an alien horror from the deep places lurking in the shadows, danger is everywhere.
Some things to try while exploring:
Space
- Chart a course
- Embark on a charted course
- Establish bearings using local coordinate systems (LCS)
- Attempt bearings with remote coordinate systems (RCS)
- Hail passing vessels
- Communicate with base
- Avoid or approach heavenly bodies
Surface
- Plan an overland path
- Choose roads and paths
- Avoid obstacles
- Create obstacles
Subsurface
- Interface with dungeon systems
- Move through hallways and portals
- Force or destroy secured portals
- Search rooms and alcoves
- Create or modify security measures
Your character is a canny, trained, and well-armed person from space. The DM decides if what you are attempting to have this person do is trivial (no dice rolling, it just happens), challenging (dice rolling involved with degrees of success), or impossible (no dice rolling, it just doesn’t happen).
Taking Turns
Be considerate. There is no set turn order for actions out of a combat encounter. Combat encounters have a set order for actions called team initiative. The DM may use an out-of-combat initiative if the party is being too catty, or if one or more players is being left out.
