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Reliable Talent. What the what?
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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7298279" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>I don’t think these two positions actually oppose each other.</p><p></p><p>As characters become more powerful, they do become less and less challenged by most tasks. As well, tasks that had previously been beyond their capabilities become as challenging for them as more common tasks used to be. A Rogue reaches the point where easy, normal, and even hard tasks are trivial for them. But very hard and nearly impossible tasks become plausible for them to succeed at; they eventually pose about the same amount of challenge as moderate and hard tasks did in their early adventuring days.</p><p></p><p>Now, the smart thing to do at that point might be to retire. And in fact, that’s what plenty of PCs do. Most campaigns end by somewhere around 11th level. But for those who want to continue playing with those characters, it becomes necessary to change the scale of the challenges they face. Games need challenge and stories need conflict, and you won’t get those things from locks you literally can’t fail to pick. So you change the scale of the conflict. These characters aren’t just delving into old ruins looking for treasure or protecting caravans from orc raiders any more. Now they’re traveling the planes and confronting Demi-Gods. I don’t really expect a lot of iron padlocks in Sigil.</p><p></p><p>Granted, this does mean that from a pure numbers perspective, the players are on a treadmill. But it does not mean that in the world the characters inhabit, increased competence attracts increased challenge. It just means th player-characters are the rare sort who constantly seek greater challenge. Where others would rest, satisfied in having attained such skill that nothing in the world challenges them, these heroes refuse to settle for being the best in the world. They seek out new worlds to best, with greater challenges. They have the makings of new Gods.</p><p></p><p>Sorry, that got a bit overly prose-y by the end there. Point is, as long as the scaling difficulty makes sense in-universe, the treadmill becomes easier to stomach. And for those who can’t stand a treadmill even when it’s necessary in order to maintain conflict within the story, there’s no need to keep playing into the highest tiers. I stopped following the Dragon Ball franchise after the Buu saga of Z because the escalation became too much for me to take seriously. Lots of folks quit on it long before that. Lots of folks still love it and stick with the series to this day. We all have different thresholds for story escalation, but escalation is a necessary evil <em>if</em> you want to continue a story past the point where it’s characters have surpassed everything that used to challenge them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7298279, member: 6779196"] I don’t think these two positions actually oppose each other. As characters become more powerful, they do become less and less challenged by most tasks. As well, tasks that had previously been beyond their capabilities become as challenging for them as more common tasks used to be. A Rogue reaches the point where easy, normal, and even hard tasks are trivial for them. But very hard and nearly impossible tasks become plausible for them to succeed at; they eventually pose about the same amount of challenge as moderate and hard tasks did in their early adventuring days. Now, the smart thing to do at that point might be to retire. And in fact, that’s what plenty of PCs do. Most campaigns end by somewhere around 11th level. But for those who want to continue playing with those characters, it becomes necessary to change the scale of the challenges they face. Games need challenge and stories need conflict, and you won’t get those things from locks you literally can’t fail to pick. So you change the scale of the conflict. These characters aren’t just delving into old ruins looking for treasure or protecting caravans from orc raiders any more. Now they’re traveling the planes and confronting Demi-Gods. I don’t really expect a lot of iron padlocks in Sigil. Granted, this does mean that from a pure numbers perspective, the players are on a treadmill. But it does not mean that in the world the characters inhabit, increased competence attracts increased challenge. It just means th player-characters are the rare sort who constantly seek greater challenge. Where others would rest, satisfied in having attained such skill that nothing in the world challenges them, these heroes refuse to settle for being the best in the world. They seek out new worlds to best, with greater challenges. They have the makings of new Gods. Sorry, that got a bit overly prose-y by the end there. Point is, as long as the scaling difficulty makes sense in-universe, the treadmill becomes easier to stomach. And for those who can’t stand a treadmill even when it’s necessary in order to maintain conflict within the story, there’s no need to keep playing into the highest tiers. I stopped following the Dragon Ball franchise after the Buu saga of Z because the escalation became too much for me to take seriously. Lots of folks quit on it long before that. Lots of folks still love it and stick with the series to this day. We all have different thresholds for story escalation, but escalation is a necessary evil [i]if[/i] you want to continue a story past the point where it’s characters have surpassed everything that used to challenge them. [/QUOTE]
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