More "Dear JB" Advice

Maybe I should number these?

Dear JB:

DMs how did you teach your players not to try to kill everything they encounter? 😆 

Edit: So a lot of good insight. I thought I'd hear some of the gory stories that result from those learning experiences...sigh, I bet the players recall that green dragon, or looking at their party members saying "we can take them". Good times. 

Edit2: So again our world is rote. Most everyone assumes I'm asking so I must be a noob, has anyone on this thread heard of Chainmail, the game? Im a story teller, I like to immerse my players in the game. I like players that read fantasy more often than math for fun . I really wanted to hear some stories I guess, about that encounter where your noobs encountered something they shouldn't try to take on but consider it or try. I might consider these sessions "one off' knowing some or all of them might die. It's exciting for me as DM as well I don't like knowing everything that can happen, and that makes it challenging for me. I always have a few badies or tricks in case it gets bloody or I have to lead the party back on script. I don't want to sound like a dick to an entire generation of players but so far most of the examples sound like the campaigned doesn't need a story just dice and a calculator. If that's the thing now, why pay $60 a book full of world building content just to do arithmetic for a few hours?

Don't Do It!

[the edits are responses based on "helpful" advice provided by the Reddit commentators, all of which I'm going to ignore. However, I leave the edits here as they provide some insight into the writer's stance and background]

Dear DDI:

D&D is a game. It has objectives of play. It has game mechanics (i.e. "rules") that reward certain behaviors that facilitate those objectives of play. Beginning with 3rd edition D&D, the most prominent reward (and the ONLY non-subjective, non-arbitrary reward) is gained through defeating enemies. Combat, in other words. How can you fault players for wanting to engage in the only behavior that ensure they will be rewarded with the only tangible gaming reward that matters? Specifically: experience points. Which, in D&D allows the players to level up their characters, increase their in-game effectiveness and (hopefully) open new content for exploration.

Don't hate the player, DDI. Hate the game.

Now you could play an older version of D&D, such as the more sensible/coherent AD&D (1st edition only), which sets combat experience as a secondary reward mechanic...however, based on the further elaboration in your edits, I imagine such an idea seems untenable to you. Your reference to "Chainmail," I infer, is with regard to the 2001 tabletop skirmish game, not the original war game of the same name which preceded Dungeons & Dragons and provided much of the basis for the original game. Regardless, your disdain for any game that fails to provide ready elements of "story telling" is clear.

Which leads me to question: why the hell do you want to play Dungeons & Dragons?

D&D is not a story telling game. It is a game of adventure, in which players brave unknown perils for the promise of fortune and glory. You don't seem to know or comprehend this basic fact, nor do you seem able to understand why players would find this an enjoyable pastime. Your job as a Dungeon Master has NOTHING to do with "story telling" or "leading" players to any sort of "script." If you want to write stories or scripts, your time would be better spent doing THAT...and not playing D&D.

That being said, if you decide you'd like to pull your head out of your ass and play some D&D, the first thing you might consider doing is using that $60 book full of "world building content" to build a world that your players will live in and explore though those avatars we call characters. Because the people who come to the table to play D&D are there for the experience of adventuring in such a world...they are NOT there to "read a fantasy story." If they wanted to fill their mind with a story, they'd simply read a book or watch a film. Sorry, to tell you, but they ARE, in fact, on board with doing "maths" (at least insomuch as these are part of the game) because they're hear to play.   YOU, DDI, are the idiot that's not giving them anything else to do besides rolling dice and killing people.

Players want agency. You seem bent on denying them that (making them follow the script of your fantasy story, instead). As such, they will take what agency is allowed to hem (for example: combat)...especially when the exercise of that minimal agency gives them in-game rewards (experience points).

Stop dicking around, DDI. Either go write your book OR learn how to run D&D in the proper fashion. For a newb like yourself, I'd recommend starting with Moldvay's Basic rules...just till you get the hang of it. Master that one first (it's short and clear) and then migrate your game into a more robust ruleset (like 1st edition AD&D). Once you've figured out how to design adventures and worlds, you'll find your players are fully ready to immerse themselves in the game, behaving with prudence in an imaginary environment where their actions are consequential. But until you do that, you're going to find that the only thing that engages your players is the opportunity to roll dice...and there's a lot of dice rolling in combat. 

Sincerely,

JB