Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Legends & Lore 09/03 - RPG design philosophy
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6010664" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>Not exactly sure if what I'm offering up is what Steely-Dan meant or not... but whether or not something is balanced or unbalanced... the results will be 9 times out of 10 (pulling numbers out of my butt) in a very small window that does not usually change. And it doesn't matter how balanced anything is... that same sized window will be there, just at a different point on the line.</p><p></p><p>So for example... two evenly matched people playing a very balanced game will win-lose say about 50% of the time. And the results of those wins and losses will usually fall within a fairly predictable range. So two good basketball teams will beat each other at 50%, and most final scores will fall to within like 1 to 10 points of each other, usually up around 85 to 105 points. Most games will fall like that. 100-98, 95-90, 107-104. And the few times where one team will win 135 to 80 will be exceedingly rare.</p><p></p><p>Now put that in an unbalanced game... say a basketball game of professionals versus a high school team... the percentage of wins will obviously lean heavily to one side's favor... but the result of those wins will still fall within a small, predictable window. Pro team beats high school team 85% of the time, winning by a margin of 35 to 50 points (again, pulling numbers out of nowhere.)</p><p></p><p>So depending on how you look at it... a balanced game AND an unbalanced game can have fairly predictable results. And depending on who you are... it will indicate which type of results you prefer and which type you find "boring".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 6010664, member: 7006"] Not exactly sure if what I'm offering up is what Steely-Dan meant or not... but whether or not something is balanced or unbalanced... the results will be 9 times out of 10 (pulling numbers out of my butt) in a very small window that does not usually change. And it doesn't matter how balanced anything is... that same sized window will be there, just at a different point on the line. So for example... two evenly matched people playing a very balanced game will win-lose say about 50% of the time. And the results of those wins and losses will usually fall within a fairly predictable range. So two good basketball teams will beat each other at 50%, and most final scores will fall to within like 1 to 10 points of each other, usually up around 85 to 105 points. Most games will fall like that. 100-98, 95-90, 107-104. And the few times where one team will win 135 to 80 will be exceedingly rare. Now put that in an unbalanced game... say a basketball game of professionals versus a high school team... the percentage of wins will obviously lean heavily to one side's favor... but the result of those wins will still fall within a small, predictable window. Pro team beats high school team 85% of the time, winning by a margin of 35 to 50 points (again, pulling numbers out of nowhere.) So depending on how you look at it... a balanced game AND an unbalanced game can have fairly predictable results. And depending on who you are... it will indicate which type of results you prefer and which type you find "boring". [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Legends & Lore 09/03 - RPG design philosophy
Top