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The Door, Player Expectations, and why 5e can't unify the fanbase.
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<blockquote data-quote="Aenghus" data-source="post: 5960447" data-attributes="member: 2656"><p>I think this is as much a playstyle issue as an edition issue. There are so many variable factors involved,(players, referee, houserules, styles of play etc) that focussing on any one in isolation is difficult at best, and can be misleading at worst.</p><p></p><p>The optimum solution to typical problems would vary over levels in different ways in different versions of D&D, sometimes in emergent and perhaps counterintuitive ways.</p><p></p><p>In older editions I hated the tendency of high level modules to try and arbitrarily take away all the problematic high level abilities, and force the players to play like low level adventurers with inflated stats. </p><p></p><p>Designing good high level adventures is difficult, given the massive power variability of adventuring parties, especially in earlier editions. </p><p>One reason this happened is that high level abilities tended to easily break typical problems, and removing them made it easier on designers.</p><p></p><p> In the worst case it allowed a lazy designer to just level up a low level adventure with tougher monsters. I found such lazy design unsatisfactory.</p><p></p><p>I prefer high level abilities to be less broken, so such draconian tactics are just not needed, and the PCs are expected to draw on all their abilities to solve problems.</p><p></p><p>I find high level adventures always need to be tweaked and customised to take into account the power level, strengths and weaknesses of the party concerned. While I find this easier in 4e, which has less high level craziness(ie magic items and spells that negate entire subsets of problems), a flatter power curve and a smaller gap between unoptimised and optimised PCs, I find I always need to do this.</p><p></p><p>I thinked 4e's reduced need for player system mastery makes a simple approach to high level adventures more viable than in earlier editions, where system mastery could be leveraged to bypass entire sections of an adventure e.g. scry and fry tactics.</p><p></p><p>Partially it comes down to motivations - if a major point of playing is to enjoy the adventure in it's totality, ie exploration, skipping parts of the adventure is missing the point. If a major point of playing is to successfully achieve a list of goals, skipping entire chapters of the adventure can make sense if it more quickly achieves the goals, or reduces the risks of doing so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Aenghus, post: 5960447, member: 2656"] I think this is as much a playstyle issue as an edition issue. There are so many variable factors involved,(players, referee, houserules, styles of play etc) that focussing on any one in isolation is difficult at best, and can be misleading at worst. The optimum solution to typical problems would vary over levels in different ways in different versions of D&D, sometimes in emergent and perhaps counterintuitive ways. In older editions I hated the tendency of high level modules to try and arbitrarily take away all the problematic high level abilities, and force the players to play like low level adventurers with inflated stats. Designing good high level adventures is difficult, given the massive power variability of adventuring parties, especially in earlier editions. One reason this happened is that high level abilities tended to easily break typical problems, and removing them made it easier on designers. In the worst case it allowed a lazy designer to just level up a low level adventure with tougher monsters. I found such lazy design unsatisfactory. I prefer high level abilities to be less broken, so such draconian tactics are just not needed, and the PCs are expected to draw on all their abilities to solve problems. I find high level adventures always need to be tweaked and customised to take into account the power level, strengths and weaknesses of the party concerned. While I find this easier in 4e, which has less high level craziness(ie magic items and spells that negate entire subsets of problems), a flatter power curve and a smaller gap between unoptimised and optimised PCs, I find I always need to do this. I thinked 4e's reduced need for player system mastery makes a simple approach to high level adventures more viable than in earlier editions, where system mastery could be leveraged to bypass entire sections of an adventure e.g. scry and fry tactics. Partially it comes down to motivations - if a major point of playing is to enjoy the adventure in it's totality, ie exploration, skipping parts of the adventure is missing the point. If a major point of playing is to successfully achieve a list of goals, skipping entire chapters of the adventure can make sense if it more quickly achieves the goals, or reduces the risks of doing so. [/QUOTE]
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