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If I'm playing, say Horizon Forbidden West, when you start you're fighting monsters like burrowers. As you level up, for a while the throw more of them to make it a challenge but eventually they just start throwing upgraded versions. But go back to your old stomping grounds? You still fight...

But it kind of is using the same monster, just with 1 HP and higher AC, attack bonus and damage. I understand what they were trying to do and emulate, I just thought it was an inelegant solution.

That may be your preferred abstraction, it's not mine.

Which is my point, it's a gamist perspective when other editions all took a more sim approach that I prefer. I understand the gamist approach, I don't care for it and the adjustments made (AC, attack bonus, damage) don't make sense from a sim perspective.

But the issue is that those CR 20 ogre minions (or whatever CR they are) still have sky high AC, attack bonus and damage. Far, far more than a standard ogre. The entire concept of the creature changes but it's still an "ogre" for gamist reasons.

Except it is one singular creature in the fiction. Why would it not have the same stat block? I don't care if you don't want to use a demonic ogre in a straight up fight against level 1 characters, that doesn't have anything to do with what the monster is. The party should be avoiding a...

One if the reasons I didn't care for 4e in the long run (even though I played it) were there gamist issues like minions. At low levels it was okay. You were fighting conscripts, barely trained commoners who didn't know how to defend themselves. But at higher levels? It just felt wrong. No...

We discuss how fast to level up in session 0, but I still tell them when they level up. Its mostly just so I can plan breaks in the action a little more since I try to have downtime between levels.

Make progress? That's not really the point is it? I feel like I have a better understanding of some narrative game techniques but at the same time there are things that as far as I can tell nobody agrees on. I did a quick search on "fail forward" and the first four blog posts basically had...

I don't run canned modules for my home game, but for public games? I adjust encounters for the group. Depending on if it's people I've run for or even after an encounter I have options for adjusting, not just numbers but also tactics. In general I'm better at tactics than most so it's a matter...

Don't like it but also don't really care. I'd be okay with crystal wings but unless this thing flies backwards, nope. Good thing I have no plans on using them and that ever changes I can use a different picture.

I disagree.

If I change it's simply to ensure a potentially difficult but winnable fight. Same as when I originally planned it. But sometimes I'll realize it's not it's not going to be the level of risk I had in mind when planning. It's not directly related to player prep or planning. If the players were...

I'm always creating and changing the world before the fiction is established, even if it was established for a different group. I assume at some time before a combat encounter starts you plan out at least a little bit of what's going to be encountered. What difference does it make when that...

If the players win that epic fight easily, good on them.

I assume you balance combat encounters based on the party? Don't throw a Balor at the low level party unless there's a way to easily escape. Don't throw a lone Kobold at a high level party? That's all I'm doing, I just acknowledge that sometimes I do it during the session but before the...

I interpret "spawning" as it is used in video games, enemies just appear out of nowhere. I view adding or removing a monster from a planned possible combat encounter a adjusting based on the current situation before the encounter starts. I'm not adding them randomly or during the middle of a...

Before the characters ever perceive of the potential encounter on rare occasions I change the number of enemies. The new enemies don't appear out of thin air, teleporting in like the do in some video games. Of course as DM I'm always balancing encounters before the encounter starts, its just...

I run a sandbox, the players determine direction. While I create the setting (i work player on their backgrounds), the players set the direction and drive the action of the game. Players pick the route, they're in the driver's seat, I'm just providing the road once the session starts. If they...

I don't add things to the fiction based on what I consider unrelated actions taken by the characters unless there's a logical chain of events. I don't add things simply to add drama or excitement during the session. That doesn't mean I don't regularly have to improvise when things go an...