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General Tabletop Discussion
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I hope 5th edition makes room for "Adventurers" and "Heroes".
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6005076" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I think the amount of power definitely affects how the PCs are perceived by the players, as "adventurers" or as "heroes".</p><p></p><p>But there is another, possibly more important element of distinction IMHO, and that is <em>lethality</em>.</p><p></p><p>Adventurers die. An adventurer-type character is still perceived by the players as a fairly normal person. We're in a fantasy world, so some of the most talented people can learn magic, but even if what they do isn't normal, they still are fairly normal after all, in the sense that they will die if they are not careful, if they make a mistake, but often just because adventuring long enough simply brings you more chances to die. It's "natural", when you live in a world full of monsters... and you go out looking for them!</p><p></p><p>Heroes don't die. This is a semi-serious overstatement... of course they die, but my point is that they die only if their death can be turned into a memorable show, and sometimes they die even only if their players want it. This is why superheroes game feature so many tricks to prevent death from mistakes or bad luck: action points, second wind, plenty of healing capabilities... in those games death is not "natural", it is only a punishment for a player who's done something really really wrong, or the result of a DM creating an excessively difficult encounter (which usually causes a lot of players' resentment).</p><p></p><p>I think the two ideas belong to two fundamentally different gaming styles. An "adventurers' campaign" is more like what life could really be in a fantasy world. A "heroes' campaign" is more like an action movie.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6005076, member: 1465"] I think the amount of power definitely affects how the PCs are perceived by the players, as "adventurers" or as "heroes". But there is another, possibly more important element of distinction IMHO, and that is [I]lethality[/I]. Adventurers die. An adventurer-type character is still perceived by the players as a fairly normal person. We're in a fantasy world, so some of the most talented people can learn magic, but even if what they do isn't normal, they still are fairly normal after all, in the sense that they will die if they are not careful, if they make a mistake, but often just because adventuring long enough simply brings you more chances to die. It's "natural", when you live in a world full of monsters... and you go out looking for them! Heroes don't die. This is a semi-serious overstatement... of course they die, but my point is that they die only if their death can be turned into a memorable show, and sometimes they die even only if their players want it. This is why superheroes game feature so many tricks to prevent death from mistakes or bad luck: action points, second wind, plenty of healing capabilities... in those games death is not "natural", it is only a punishment for a player who's done something really really wrong, or the result of a DM creating an excessively difficult encounter (which usually causes a lot of players' resentment). I think the two ideas belong to two fundamentally different gaming styles. An "adventurers' campaign" is more like what life could really be in a fantasy world. A "heroes' campaign" is more like an action movie. [/QUOTE]
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I hope 5th edition makes room for "Adventurers" and "Heroes".
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