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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5562846" data-attributes="member: 3820">Certainly people are allowed to ask the question. But potential answers may require a few grains of salt. Sometimes people's opinions of what is "good for the hobby as a whole" can be intertwined with "this encourages gamers to do things I would not want them to do in my game," and they're not the same thing. Entitlement as an issue tends to arise from that conflation: the idea that "if I don't like this, it's bad for everyone," which seems to have more of its roots in "it's bad for me, because I might have to play with someone else who plays this way someday."Heck, I'm not sure that there's any sort of consensus on what "good for the hobby" actually is. For example, I'd consider it good for the hobby that there are a lot of options out there, that people can play everything from fantasy to steampunk, highly romantic to viciously gritty. But it can be argued that fewer options are good for the hobby, because when everyone plays the same few games recruiting new players is easier, and therefore there's quicker cross-pollination between groups. Personally, I think the best things for the hobby aren't specific playstyles or genres or rules sets, but more of a general emphasis on open-mindedness and communication. Like you say, it's an obvious ramification, but I think it's more than that. With these two ideals, you get the benefit of tons of options for play, and unfamiliarity or lack of a "common tongue" are easily overcome. The question of entitlement would also tend to evaporate, as a plus.In the case of an enemy House, almost certainly "take prisoners," because that's damnably entertaining. You have potential escape scenes, or even (depending on player whim) I could have the rest of the group try to rescue them next week, with the captured character(s)' player(s) playing a one-shot stand-in. Plus, if the PCs are captured you can have some good dialogue with an enemy, establishing more personality at a point other than the battlefield. I would be unlikely to nerf the enemy group, but to be honest I can see areas where it could make sense within context. For instance, if some of the ambush party has reason to believe that all four PCs should be here, the logical reaction might be "Oh crap, where are the other two? You men take these two out, we're going after the rest of them to make sure they aren't trying to encircle us or notify the watch." That said, I should note as a caveat that I've gotten used to PC groups that are built on shifting sand, as it's not infrequent that a player can't make a game but we play anyway. So I use a lot of tricks to keep the challenge constant without punishing the group because Real Life got in the way; I really don't believe in turning a tough fight into a TPK because somebody's out for medical reasons or something similarly unavoidable. So among other things, published adventures rarely meet my needs.</blockquote>

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