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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 5103062" data-attributes="member: 463">&quot;The &quot;difficulty system&quot; for a game needn't be rigid, and it needn't be detailed. But it must exist, if you want new DMs/GMs/WhateverMs to feel comfortable putting together encounters&quot; can be disproved pretty easily by pointing at Call of Cthulu.&nbsp; But there are plenty of other games where you don't need one - Traveller comes to mind; also Cyberpunk 2020.There is a subset of games where encounter design metrics are very useful.&nbsp; If the game is combat based - the PCs are expected to fight and kill things to advance (D&amp;D, all editions).&nbsp; If the game is linear - the PCs must kill things to progress the adventure (the default 3e-4e design, not so much 0e-1e's approach, where avoidance was often the best tactic).&nbsp; If the game is non-simulationist, more Gamist games where packs of starving wolves decide to attack heavily armed adventurers need a metric more than games where combat only occurs as a natural result of the simulated world-matrix.So, yes, Dragon Age looks like the kind of game where an encounter design matrix would be useful.&nbsp; Another game I've played a lot of that would have benefitted from this was Star Wars d6 - Star Wars characters are expected to get into, and survive, a lot of combats, as well as knowing when to run away.&nbsp; Other games that fit this mold include Savage Worlds, Dragon Warriors (which has a Rank system), and I think Boot Hill and other Western games where PCs are expected to act like cowboy gunslingers with an honor code derived from Celtic warrior traditions - a code that may require walking out to face a threat the player would rather avoid.Conversely, games I've run/played where I don't think such is at all necessary include Traveller: The New Era and Call of Cthulu.&nbsp;&nbsp; Other strong candidates include Classic Traveller and Cyberpunk: 2020.&nbsp; In these games either combat is A Bad Idea (CoC), or the players/PCs are expected to use real-world threat assessment techniques and gain every possible advntage before entering into combat (Traveller, Cyberpunk).&nbsp; In both sorts of games the GM should not be hitting the PCs with implausible Random Encounters.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 5103062, member: 463"] "[I]The "difficulty system" for a game needn't be rigid, and it needn't be detailed. But it must exist, if you want new DMs/GMs/WhateverMs to feel comfortable putting together encounters[/I]" can be disproved pretty easily by pointing at Call of Cthulu. But there are plenty of other games where you don't need one - Traveller comes to mind; also Cyberpunk 2020. There is a subset of games where encounter design metrics are very useful. If the game is combat based - the PCs are expected to fight and kill things to advance (D&D, all editions). If the game is linear - the PCs must kill things to progress the adventure (the default 3e-4e design, not so much 0e-1e's approach, where avoidance was often the best tactic). If the game is non-simulationist, more Gamist games where packs of starving wolves decide to attack heavily armed adventurers need a metric more than games where combat only occurs as a natural result of the simulated world-matrix. So, yes, Dragon Age looks like the kind of game where an encounter design matrix would be useful. Another game I've played a lot of that would have benefitted from this was Star Wars d6 - Star Wars characters are expected to get into, and survive, a lot of combats, as well as knowing when to run away. Other games that fit this mold include Savage Worlds, Dragon Warriors (which has a Rank system), and I think Boot Hill and other Western games where PCs are expected to act like cowboy gunslingers with an honor code derived from Celtic warrior traditions - a code that may require walking out to face a threat the player would rather avoid. Conversely, games I've run/played where I don't think such is at all necessary include Traveller: The New Era and Call of Cthulu. Other strong candidates include Classic Traveller and Cyberpunk: 2020. In these games either combat is A Bad Idea (CoC), or the players/PCs are expected to use real-world threat assessment techniques and gain every possible advntage before entering into combat (Traveller, Cyberpunk). In both sorts of games the GM should not be hitting the PCs with implausible Random Encounters. [/QUOTE]

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