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Tension in combat
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5416534" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Well, a question might really be does it require less art or more art? Obviously some other games have wrestled with this and come up with mechanical solutions (like Torg etc). Most common RPGs I've played don't address it at all, but many of them don't really have a set concept of resources controlled by the PCs either or otherwise don't really support the concept of an alpha strike. </p><p></p><p>Sooo, going back to thinking about AD&D for instance. Drop 4 orcs in a room and you had a working encounter, if not one that was terribly inspiring it did have a certain tension. The level 1 party dealing with this would be in danger of death, yet fully able to unleash and deal with it. The tension is simply inherent in the mechanics of the system. Things are immediately deadly.</p><p></p><p>Now, this may seem like a low quality of tension to those of us that are playing for years and personally I don't miss it, but for a DM with minimal experience, say some kids starting out their first games, that was most of the fun, the sort of coin toss of survival. A 14 yr old DMing for the first time, or probably for quite a while, isn't going to be working at a high level of theory in encounter design. MAYBE a few of them might read a DMG and really get it. Most are going to benefit from the family sedan kind of performance of good old Basic D&D where most encounters worked at some level. Hand them 4e and it is hit and miss.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 5416534, member: 82106"] Well, a question might really be does it require less art or more art? Obviously some other games have wrestled with this and come up with mechanical solutions (like Torg etc). Most common RPGs I've played don't address it at all, but many of them don't really have a set concept of resources controlled by the PCs either or otherwise don't really support the concept of an alpha strike. Sooo, going back to thinking about AD&D for instance. Drop 4 orcs in a room and you had a working encounter, if not one that was terribly inspiring it did have a certain tension. The level 1 party dealing with this would be in danger of death, yet fully able to unleash and deal with it. The tension is simply inherent in the mechanics of the system. Things are immediately deadly. Now, this may seem like a low quality of tension to those of us that are playing for years and personally I don't miss it, but for a DM with minimal experience, say some kids starting out their first games, that was most of the fun, the sort of coin toss of survival. A 14 yr old DMing for the first time, or probably for quite a while, isn't going to be working at a high level of theory in encounter design. MAYBE a few of them might read a DMG and really get it. Most are going to benefit from the family sedan kind of performance of good old Basic D&D where most encounters worked at some level. Hand them 4e and it is hit and miss. [/QUOTE]
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