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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6939884" data-attributes="member: 42582">There are RPGs that don't give rise to balance issues in the same way that D&amp;D does, because of (i) differences in mechanics, and/or (ii) differences in expected goals of play.Here are three: HeroQuest revised, Marvel Heroic RP, and Burning Wheel.The first two of these do not share D&amp;D's granular, list-based approach to PC construction, nor its corresponding granular approach to action resolution. They have basically no tactical play (though MHRP does have dice pool optimisation, every character builds pools in the same way). Hence issues like whether greatswords are balanced against battle axes, whether ranged or melee is a superior strategy, etc, just don't come up.BW is closer to D&amp;D in build and resolution mechanics, but it has different goal of play - roughly speaking, confronting challenges rather than overcoming challenges) - and also far more of those challenges are generated on the back of player-introduced rather than GM-introduced content than typical approaches to D&amp;D. Hence, again, these recurring issues of mechanical balance for D&amp;D tend not to arise.That's not to say that these games can't have players who dominate the table to a greater degree than others. But that tends to be a function of their ability to influence what fiction it is that is the focus of play, than the sorts of mechanical balance issues that [MENTION=54380]shoak1[/MENTION] is concerned with.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6939884, member: 42582"] There are RPGs that don't give rise to balance issues in the same way that D&D does, because of (i) differences in mechanics, and/or (ii) differences in expected goals of play. Here are three: HeroQuest revised, Marvel Heroic RP, and Burning Wheel. The first two of these do not share D&D's granular, list-based approach to PC construction, nor its corresponding granular approach to action resolution. They have basically no tactical play (though MHRP does have dice pool optimisation, every character builds pools in the same way). Hence issues like whether greatswords are balanced against battle axes, whether ranged or melee is a superior strategy, etc, just don't come up. BW is closer to D&D in build and resolution mechanics, but it has different goal of play - roughly speaking, [I]confronting[/I] challenges rather than [I]overcoming[/I] challenges) - and also far more of those challenges are generated on the back of player-introduced rather than GM-introduced content than typical approaches to D&D. Hence, again, these recurring issues of mechanical balance for D&D tend not to arise. That's not to say that these games can't have players who dominate the table to a greater degree than others. But that tends to be a function of their ability to influence what fiction it is that is the focus of play, than the sorts of mechanical balance issues that [MENTION=54380]shoak1[/MENTION] is concerned with. [/QUOTE]

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