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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Deadguy" data-source="post: 1591265" data-attributes="member: 2480">I've been thinking about this point recently myself. I tend to see the classic D&D model of PCs is that they are essentially unique within the world. The PCs deal with the situations that crop up because no-one else can! Note that this doesn't necessarily mean that the PCs are inherently more powerful than the NPCs - with higher ability scores, for example. Nor are tehy always the best-equipped. But they are generally in the right place at the right time (though echoing Xenoflare, many PCs end up seeing it as always being in the wrong place at the wrong time!). And they do become the ones that the NPCs turn to for help.Now this model makes a lot of sense, since ultimately the game is about the PCs. I don't think that there's much call for games where the DM spends his time telling his players about how good his NPCs are and what they are busily doing! (Okay, there are some DMs like that, but they don't last long.) But this needn't be the only model.When I returned to the D&D fold with the advent of 3e, I designed a new campaign setting, having long ago lost earlier D&D campaigns I'd run. One of the decisions I made was to get away from the 'unique PCs' feel. I treated PCs as bounty hunters-cum-troubleshooters-cum treasure hunters, and introuduced the idea that this was a profession that some people took up. So there are considerable numbers of adventuring parties - enough that getting a name and a symbol for the PCs is worthwhile. PCs might even have to compete to be recruited for plum jobs!One thing that flows from this is that I designed a couple of long adventures where I knew the PCs were outmatched by their opponents. It was up to them to uncover their enemy and do what they could. But it was also up to them to understand when they were out of their depths, and either tell their employer, or bring in their own help. In both cases the players have backed off eventually, and let higher level parties take on the final steps of the 'mission'. And surprisingly they have been quite happy about this; to quote "it makes the world seem more real".But even I would do this sort of adventure sparingly. It might be 'real' but it can feel frustrating for the players to always be butting heads against opponents who are beyond them. And this approach has, on one occasion, left me an adventure that was insoluble from the PCs' perspective, and which forced them to flee for their lives. Whilst that was realistic, it was unsatisfying for all concerned, if only because storylines that were playing out had suddenly to be dropped. So, yes, PCs don't have to be unique or even really special. But they do need a fairly regular chance to succeed, IME.</blockquote>

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