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What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
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<blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6665517" data-attributes="member: 85870"><p>To answer the OP: </p><p></p><p>I think the pressure to provide balanced combat effectiveness is actually a response to two intertwined GM agendas.</p><p></p><p>For a combat-heavy game, balanced combat effectiveness is the easiest way to ensure even spotlight time <em>without the GM having to make special exceptions.</em> If combat effectiveness is unbalanced, the GM becomes responsible for providing spotlight time in other theaters of resolution (exploration and roleplaying) that satisfy participants. </p><p></p><p>It seems to me this can aggrieve GMs in a couple of ways. First, it's more work. Period. The GM has to specifically plan and insert spotlight scene frames into the game. Second, even if the GM is okay doing the work, forced spotlight scene framing is antithetical to the simulationist agenda. You don't just insert a scene somewhere because Bob or Judy needs his or her spotlight time for their combat-deficient rogue. This simply isn't done in simulationism, which by nature demands that spotlight time arises organically.</p><p></p><p>All this is on top of the fact that players in a combat-unbalanced game need to be dutifully aware of the imbalance, its overall implications in play, and ultimately be okay with it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="innerdude, post: 6665517, member: 85870"] To answer the OP: I think the pressure to provide balanced combat effectiveness is actually a response to two intertwined GM agendas. For a combat-heavy game, balanced combat effectiveness is the easiest way to ensure even spotlight time [I]without the GM having to make special exceptions.[/I] If combat effectiveness is unbalanced, the GM becomes responsible for providing spotlight time in other theaters of resolution (exploration and roleplaying) that satisfy participants. It seems to me this can aggrieve GMs in a couple of ways. First, it's more work. Period. The GM has to specifically plan and insert spotlight scene frames into the game. Second, even if the GM is okay doing the work, forced spotlight scene framing is antithetical to the simulationist agenda. You don't just insert a scene somewhere because Bob or Judy needs his or her spotlight time for their combat-deficient rogue. This simply isn't done in simulationism, which by nature demands that spotlight time arises organically. All this is on top of the fact that players in a combat-unbalanced game need to be dutifully aware of the imbalance, its overall implications in play, and ultimately be okay with it. [/QUOTE]
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What makes us care about combat balance in D&D?
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