Would this question about combat be closed as too broad or subjective?

Question

There's no official sandbox for RPGSE, so I'm hoping it's cool to get my question refined here.

I run a homebrewed D&D 5e campaign for two players. We're fairly heavily into the roleplay side of the game and really enjoy all the storytelling aspects. This is my first time DMing so we've tried a couple different things along the way to see what we do/don't like. We tried a dungeon crawl and were not a fan at all (too grindy, limited chance for story, combat got too repetitive) and I've been haunted by the dungeon combat feel ever since.

I want to ask a question that basically boils down to how can I make combat more interesting for my players, but with the understanding that I'm looking for ways to make it interesting from a roleplay perspective.

Is this a good question? Is there some way I can refine it? As it stands I'm worried it'll get closed as too broad, subjective, or potentially a dupe if I don't explain myself well enough. There's plenty of questions about making combat more mechanically interesting, but I didn't find one about storytelling.

My ideal output is suggestions on both how to design a better encounter to give my players more options, and also possibly things I can be thinking about to keep my monster movements/choices more interesting.

Edited to add: Stepped away and came back, and I'm now wondering if the above is too broad, if I can instead try something like "How to show (not tell) my players that roleplay is always an option, even in combat". Ie, how to introduce roleplay elements naturally from my side to teach them that they too can choose to roleplay instead of just whacking it with a stick until it goes away.

Answer 1

I have an idea for an answer to this question, however, that, of itself, does not make the question not too broad or not too opinion based.

To avoid this you need to focus the question. You need to be very clear in:

• what the problem is that the home brew is trying to solve,

• what, within the rules or as home brew, you have tried (or thought of trying) and why this was inadequate,

• what a solution would look like in general terms.

These sorts of things help answerers narrow their focus (minimizing "too broad") and direct their attention (minimizing "opinion based").

For example, are you looking for ways to avoid combat altogether, for role-play to occur during combat (and, if so, will it have a mechanical effect), for combat to transition to and from combat etc.

I would also avoid non-specific phrasing like "more interesting" - I find solving differential equations interesting but for some reason this is not considered interesting by some people.

Essentially, you are trying to make a good subjective question.

Answer 2

You could make the question have a specific focus. For example, if you are looking to spice up combat then take a specific part of combat that doesn't work and ask a specific question on that aspect; an actual example were rules could help you out.

If you are looking for storytelling questions then yes, this would probably be closed as too "opinion based" - you might be better asking in a storytelling or worldbuilding forum. Afterall everyone has a different take on GMing and we couldn't look up rules or rulings to help you.

Based on the meta, I don't think this is the right place to ask.