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D&D Next Design Goals (Article)
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5877755" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I posted on this upthread (<a href="http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=5876356&postcount=103" target="_blank">#103</a>). </p><p></p><p>Now the stat adjustment rules actually tend to make Moldvay Basic one of the better balanced versions of class D&D in my view - they tend to reduce the likelihood that a cleric with 13 STR will outshine a fighter with 12 STR, for example.</p><p></p><p>But in 1st level play, good die rollls let you play an Elf rather than a MU, which is a strict power-up. And Dwarves are close to a srict power up from fighters, too. (The effective +2 to save seems a more-than-fair trade off for not being able to use a two-handed sword.)</p><p></p><p>And thieves' skill chances are so low for everything except climbing (and, maybe, listening) that those abilities make a doubtful practical contribution - particularly in a game where the generic penalty for failure is PC death. (I think Moldvay D&D could be improved by replacing the current rules for thief failure with some sort of "complication" rule - so thieves' schtick would be to both introduce and deal with complications, rather than just die Black Dougal-style.)</p><p></p><p>This isn't intended as a criticsm of Moldvay Basic, by the way. I think it can be fun despite being unbalanced (and have had fun with it). But as I said in my earlier post, I can also see why the Tunnels & Trolls designers decided to be more upfront about the lottery aspects of the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5877755, member: 42582"] I posted on this upthread ([url=http://www.enworld.org/showpost.php?p=5876356&postcount=103]#103[/url]). Now the stat adjustment rules actually tend to make Moldvay Basic one of the better balanced versions of class D&D in my view - they tend to reduce the likelihood that a cleric with 13 STR will outshine a fighter with 12 STR, for example. But in 1st level play, good die rollls let you play an Elf rather than a MU, which is a strict power-up. And Dwarves are close to a srict power up from fighters, too. (The effective +2 to save seems a more-than-fair trade off for not being able to use a two-handed sword.) And thieves' skill chances are so low for everything except climbing (and, maybe, listening) that those abilities make a doubtful practical contribution - particularly in a game where the generic penalty for failure is PC death. (I think Moldvay D&D could be improved by replacing the current rules for thief failure with some sort of "complication" rule - so thieves' schtick would be to both introduce and deal with complications, rather than just die Black Dougal-style.) This isn't intended as a criticsm of Moldvay Basic, by the way. I think it can be fun despite being unbalanced (and have had fun with it). But as I said in my earlier post, I can also see why the Tunnels & Trolls designers decided to be more upfront about the lottery aspects of the game. [/QUOTE]
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