NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4829601" data-attributes="member: 80487">I imagine that's so to a degree. If it's very different from one's expectations, then an old-style campaign on one hand -- or an "adventure path" on the other -- might be very hard to appreciate. Logistical factors have shaped different approaches to D&D, quite apart from any pre-existing strong preferences. As Mallus observed, by the second half of the '80s, one might never encounter anything but the kind of setup in which wide disparities among character levels are a drag even if one would not otherwise mind rolling up Remathilis IV.The continuity of characters from campaign to campaign seems another custom that has declined, introducing in the long run more occasions for generating new ones (at whatever level the host campaign rules stipulate). More rapid level advancement might contribute to that. It used to be par for the course (from what I saw) for folks with 2 years plus of experience to have at least one character in the 10th to 14th level range, regardless of the spread in a whole "stable". (Rarely, one might have nothing closer than 8th or 9th, or a multi-class equivalent, but that was  usually workable; I don't remember anyone with only 7th or less and 15th+.)Nowadays, I often hear of people "rebooting" campaigns after two years or less.Although I agree with the conventional wisdom that starting at first level is an invaluable experience for a player new to D&D, I don't see a lot of point in repeating that many times unless one happens to prefer play at that level (which some people do). One cannot really lose one's virginity more than once, and the tendency to recycle now-familiar elements and situations can lead to the game's becoming very stereotyped. To my mind, the elements of mystery, discovery and unpredictability are key aspects of play thus easily lost. Even without introducing new monsters and magic, the range of "old standards" usable increases along with character level and thereby provides a wider variety of permutations to explore.</blockquote>

Verification