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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 3781823" data-attributes="member: 40961">As a general rule, comments like yours shock me in apparently the same way as Mr. Noonan's comments shock you.  I read them and instantly question whether the writer is competent to comment upon game design.  Look at your underlying logical structure: "I don't have problem X or Y because of countermeasures A, B, and C, therefore anyone who sees problem X or Y in the rule set is incompetent."  That alone makes me suspect that you should avoid designing games.  In my not so humble opinion, recognizing commonly occurring difficulties in a rule set, seeing what users do to avoid these difficulties, and analyzing whether different design might avoid these difficulties altogether is a fundamental part of good game design and good playtesting.The rest of your post contains a lengthy list of pre game preparation you engage in that you feel allows you to avoid the problems Mr. Noonan listed.  I am glad for you if this preparation does the trick.  However, I consider the need for that degree of preparation for a simple combat encounter to be a design flaw in a game where 4+ combat encounters are expected per session and where player freedom sometimes prevents complete advance preparation from occurring.</blockquote>