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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 4035115" data-attributes="member: 4937">This is a very good post, and I agree with all of it.In all things there is a tendency for the pendalum to swing back and forth, because people are very good at seeing the current problem and very bad at foreseeing the next problem.  People are really good at reacting, and very bad at being proactive.  You see it in everything.  Something is wrong, and 'darn it!' it just has to be fixed.  Is the fix actually going to work and make things better?  That's a less important question to most people.  Mostly, 'darn it', they just want change.  So things change, and they swing way the other way.  Then the people forget, and they swing the other way again.For all this talk about how great and wonderful it is for NPC's to officially work by different rules than PC's, it always seems to have as an example how the NPC's are worse off than the PC's.Well, I've been there.  Done that.  Wore the t-shirt out, and you know what - in the long run you are going to find out that sucks.  Not only does it suck for you to be the only 'special' person out there, and for the monsters to be just, well, monsters, but pretty soon you are going to realize that it cuts both ways.  If the NPC's aren't abiding by the PC rules, then inevitably you are going to find that the rules that they are abiding by cut in thier favor.I can tell you how it works because this is where RPG's started out.  NPC's important to the plot stop dying because they assume the status of 'special status NPC's' that can't be killed.  Pretty soon every NPC is going to have special status, because generally you don't have an NPC unless he's important to the plot.  You are going to start out with this notion, "NPC's don't have to be as tough and well rounded as PC's because we don't need that sort of detail.", and you are going to end up with, "NPC's have to be tougher and more well rounded than PC's, because otherwise everything is in the PC's favor."   The less detail you put into the NPC, the more you'll find that the blanks in the NPC's sheet don't mean he can't do anything that isn't explicitly described, but rather end up meaning that he can do anything that isn't explicitly described because NPC's 'ought' to be able to do it.And you'll jump that line without meaning to screw anyone over, because 'the story' needs it.  In fact, you'll jump that line precisely because it is a better game.Only it will ultimately suck, because pure DM fiat is no better than tedious minutea.</blockquote>

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