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What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6660199" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>To expand on the rebuttals above (and to reinforce Balesir): <strong>Every single actual use of Rule 0 undermines the immersion of the players at the table.</strong></p><p></p><p>The players are supposedly playing characters who live in the world they are playing in - and normally have lived there for at least 16 years. Often hundreds of years. They have this experience - and are able to rely on the way the world works to do things.</p><p></p><p>When the DM actually invokes Rule 0 in play then it is quite literally changing the laws of physics on them. It is saying "You know you thought you understood something about the way the world works. You don't. The world is actively inconsistent and any idea you had that you were playing a veteran character is simply wrong." This can work for certain campaigns - but for at least 95% of campaigns, any active invocation of rule 0 leads to the DM harming the immersion of the PCs. (There are things that harm immersion worse than invoking Rule 0. Like bad rules that lead to bad consequences. But those are problems with the rules and the game design).</p><p></p><p>And when you talk about social problems, some games lead to social problems. I will not play Monopoly with my family or any other <a href="https://eudaimonaiaclaughter.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/and-i-said-now-pretend-youve-got-no-money/" target="_blank">because it leads to high tempers and frequently fights</a>. Unbalanced games are games that encourage social problems that well designed games don't. </p><p></p><p>As Luke Crane points out, <a href="http://www.genesisoflegend.com/2013/08/episode-21-game-design-is-mind-control/" target="_blank">Game Design is Mind Control</a> and "The art of game design is to induce your players to behave in bizarre, irrational ways that they otherwise would not." If the rules are encouraging anti-social behaviour at the table then either this is because the designers intended it or because the designers screwed up. Unbalanced rules encourage three types of anti-social behaviour. First they encourage the DM to disempower the players by invoking Rule 0 and taking direct control of the gameworld. Second they encourage players to power-game because such power differentials are a challenge - and a challenge to the survival of the party. Third they encourage people to fall into traps and accidentally create characters that are not fit for purpose - which undermines their fun and frequently the fun of everyone else at the table.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 6660199, member: 87792"] To expand on the rebuttals above (and to reinforce Balesir): [B]Every single actual use of Rule 0 undermines the immersion of the players at the table.[/B] The players are supposedly playing characters who live in the world they are playing in - and normally have lived there for at least 16 years. Often hundreds of years. They have this experience - and are able to rely on the way the world works to do things. When the DM actually invokes Rule 0 in play then it is quite literally changing the laws of physics on them. It is saying "You know you thought you understood something about the way the world works. You don't. The world is actively inconsistent and any idea you had that you were playing a veteran character is simply wrong." This can work for certain campaigns - but for at least 95% of campaigns, any active invocation of rule 0 leads to the DM harming the immersion of the PCs. (There are things that harm immersion worse than invoking Rule 0. Like bad rules that lead to bad consequences. But those are problems with the rules and the game design). And when you talk about social problems, some games lead to social problems. I will not play Monopoly with my family or any other [URL="https://eudaimonaiaclaughter.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/and-i-said-now-pretend-youve-got-no-money/"]because it leads to high tempers and frequently fights[/URL]. Unbalanced games are games that encourage social problems that well designed games don't. As Luke Crane points out, [URL="http://www.genesisoflegend.com/2013/08/episode-21-game-design-is-mind-control/"]Game Design is Mind Control[/URL] and "The art of game design is to induce your players to behave in bizarre, irrational ways that they otherwise would not." If the rules are encouraging anti-social behaviour at the table then either this is because the designers intended it or because the designers screwed up. Unbalanced rules encourage three types of anti-social behaviour. First they encourage the DM to disempower the players by invoking Rule 0 and taking direct control of the gameworld. Second they encourage players to power-game because such power differentials are a challenge - and a challenge to the survival of the party. Third they encourage people to fall into traps and accidentally create characters that are not fit for purpose - which undermines their fun and frequently the fun of everyone else at the table. [/QUOTE]
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What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
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