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Boredom in "Zero to Hero" Campaigns
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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 8058730" data-attributes="member: 53980"><p>Level based games have a kind of arc built into them (zero to hero, for example).</p><p></p><p>It would be somewhat unsatisfying if you started at level 1 killing rats with your sword in a basement, and at level 20 you were still slaying rats with your sword (with more HP) in a basement. Similarly, if you're slaying gargantuan dragons with your bow in the sky at level 1, and you're still killing gargantuan dragons (just with more HP) with your bow in the sky at level 20, that would likely get kind of boring. It's an obvious, repetitive treadmill.</p><p></p><p>That's not to say that the game isn't meant to be a treadmill. Unless you're going hardcore sandbox where things are preplaced in the world with no consideration of the PCs or the level they might encounter them, the game is more or less a treadmill. As you level up, you face more challenging encounters, at least generally speaking. However, it isn't meant to be an obvious and repetitive treadmill. You might fight kobolds at level 1. If you encounter those same kobolds at 5th level, there might be more of them or some ogres might be with them. This creates variety and obfuscates the treadmill.</p><p></p><p>It isn't that characters can't be involved in world shaking plots at level 1. However, given their relative power to the world around them (compared to level 20) their role in that plot is likely to be very different. It makes a kind of sense for the default scope of adventures to start local and gradually widen to a larger scale with level. It gives a sense of progression and makes it feel less like a treadmill.</p><p></p><p>Starting big can have issues as well. It's like a show that tries to be too grand in its first season. The world ending plot gets resolved, but then season 2 needs to top it. Unless the writers are very deft, this can easily dissolve into a hamfisted descent into absurdity that leaves you wondering how this season can be so bad when the first was so good. I used to run campaigns that started very grand in scope, but I always struggled to finish them (and usually didn't). Once I started limiting the scope of my adventures and slowly built towards the grand "plot", it became much easier because I was leaving my campaign room to expand naturally.</p><p></p><p>All that said, my group usually starts at 3rd level unless we have newbies at the table. We prefer that as a starting point over level 1. The adventures can be a bit more significant, and the characters have more interesting options to play with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 8058730, member: 53980"] Level based games have a kind of arc built into them (zero to hero, for example). It would be somewhat unsatisfying if you started at level 1 killing rats with your sword in a basement, and at level 20 you were still slaying rats with your sword (with more HP) in a basement. Similarly, if you're slaying gargantuan dragons with your bow in the sky at level 1, and you're still killing gargantuan dragons (just with more HP) with your bow in the sky at level 20, that would likely get kind of boring. It's an obvious, repetitive treadmill. That's not to say that the game isn't meant to be a treadmill. Unless you're going hardcore sandbox where things are preplaced in the world with no consideration of the PCs or the level they might encounter them, the game is more or less a treadmill. As you level up, you face more challenging encounters, at least generally speaking. However, it isn't meant to be an obvious and repetitive treadmill. You might fight kobolds at level 1. If you encounter those same kobolds at 5th level, there might be more of them or some ogres might be with them. This creates variety and obfuscates the treadmill. It isn't that characters can't be involved in world shaking plots at level 1. However, given their relative power to the world around them (compared to level 20) their role in that plot is likely to be very different. It makes a kind of sense for the default scope of adventures to start local and gradually widen to a larger scale with level. It gives a sense of progression and makes it feel less like a treadmill. Starting big can have issues as well. It's like a show that tries to be too grand in its first season. The world ending plot gets resolved, but then season 2 needs to top it. Unless the writers are very deft, this can easily dissolve into a hamfisted descent into absurdity that leaves you wondering how this season can be so bad when the first was so good. I used to run campaigns that started very grand in scope, but I always struggled to finish them (and usually didn't). Once I started limiting the scope of my adventures and slowly built towards the grand "plot", it became much easier because I was leaving my campaign room to expand naturally. All that said, my group usually starts at 3rd level unless we have newbies at the table. We prefer that as a starting point over level 1. The adventures can be a bit more significant, and the characters have more interesting options to play with. [/QUOTE]
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