D&D General A History of Violence: Killing in D&D

[Lanefan]

Why is it not fair? How are you defining fair? What's it to another player if the new player starts at the same level as the party? Does that invalidate the fun that was had at previous games?

I'm defining fair as meaning that a character played for 6 sessions should level up where a character only played for 3 of those same sessions as a replacement for another character who died 3 session in should not, as it's unfair to the character who was there for all six.

Levelling is not a reward for players sitting at the table, it's a reward for characters in the fiction.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Time-based, be it in-game time or real-world time, in fact does allow the PCs to sit on their hands and still advance in level; which IMO is ludicrous.

Only if you assume that's what they're going to do. Which I think is even more ludicrous.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Wouldn't "time based" imply : Time spent being productive?
My employment is time based.....in so far as while the time is passing i'm doing things conducive to getting things done.

You could have a system where its based entirely on time passed in game, and said time could theoretically be spent just hanging out in the tavern. Such systems do, however, assume people are actually there to play the game.

 

[Thomas Shey]

What if some of the PCs haven't been around the entire time while others have? If they all advance at the same time at your whim, that's not fair to the (relative) veterans.

Level 1 in particular is known for sometimes having lots of character turnover.

You do realize you're again doing that thing where you're projecting a campaign management style that hasn't been common in 40 years now, right?

 

[KYRON45]

You could have a system where its based entirely on time passed in game, and said time could theoretically be spent just hanging out in the tavern. Such systems do, however, assume people are actually there to play the game.

Now i feel i have to ask.....can someone point me in the direction of games with this time based leveling mechanic?

 

[Cergorach]

The ancient Romans made the Colosseum to keep the rabble amused and pacified. Isn't this the same with the current entertainment? Be it Boxing, MMA, violent movies, violent computer games, and 50 year old pnp RPGs...

My perspective: As long as no actual humans are hurt by us fighting pixels or make belief monsters, what harm is there to it? If it was dangerous, just from GTA5 alone we would have 200 million dormant murderhobos in society...

And what about all those (Super) Mario fans? Killing everyone by jumping on them...

 

[Thomas Shey]

Now i feel i have to ask.....can someone point me in the direction of games with this time based leveling mechanic?

Depends, are you talking game-time passage or session passage? I can name at least one, maybe two of the latter.

 

[KYRON45]

The ancient Romans made the Colosseum to keep the rabble amused and pacified. Isn't this the same with the current entertainment? Be it Boxing, MMA, violent movies, violent computer games, and 50 year old pnp RPGs...

My perspective: As long as no actual humans are hurt by us fighting pixels or make belief monsters, what harm is there to it? If it was dangerous, just from GTA5 alone we would have 200 million dormant murderhobos in society...

And what about all those (Super) Mario fans? Killing everyone by jumping on them...

Those mushrooms deserved it and you know it!!!!

 

[KYRON45]

Depends, are you talking game-time passage or session passage? I can name at least one, maybe two of the latter.

I'll take either. I'm always open to learning new things.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've seen you do this a bunch of times and people explain it to you many times. Most players we know have zero interest in sitting around town doing nothing. They want to play the game and go on adventures.

Assuming that players want to play the game and actively do heroic stuff (whether given XP or milestone leveling) is a near-universal expectation to the extent that your assumptions on this particular area of player motivation are clearly more the exception than the rule.

I personally like XP, but I didn't change my behavior in a friend's Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign just because he was running milestone leveling, and as far as I could observe, neither did anyone else. To some extent milestone leveling could be argued to better support verisimilitude, because the group focused on our objectives and character interests, and weren't motived by trying to take on extraneous encounters or clear out rooms just because they'd be worth more xp.

Downtime is part of the game, no matter what you insist the "vast majority" of gamers want. And even if you're right about popularity, who the heck cares?