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<blockquote data-quote="Balesir" data-source="post: 5518250" data-attributes="member: 27160">I agree, it would be quite possible to design a &quot;skill&quot; based system with serious increases in character power through &quot;character development&quot;, and this would suffer from mch the same issues.&nbsp; The inclusion of 'levels' is, however, a pretty strong indicator of intent that characters will get seriously more powerful through the course of play.The things I find such sharp power ramps do are twofold:1) As I said above, they generate (usually without specific consciousness or intent - see below) dysfunctional setting &quot;societies&quot; because of the previously noted effect, and2) The very existence of a 'power ramp' IME drags the players' focus inexorably to the goal of &quot;developing&quot; their character (i.e. ramping their character up the power curve).Neither of these are really conducive to a game that sets out (by intention or default) to explore characters and setting in a non-theme-specific manner.&nbsp; It makes a fairly good 'motor' for gamist games (although it can be a little flawed, leading to &quot;beat the rules&quot; rather than &quot;beat the challebges&quot; play) and can apparently provide a motor for 'dramatic' (theme driven) play, too - though maybe this is restricted to &quot;power&quot; themes, I don't know.As a result, I think the system I have had the best &quot;exploration&quot; based games with (in &quot;mixed company&quot;) is Traveller.&nbsp; The lack of any character power ramp here ensures that players will not get sucked into pursuing it (except some still try to seek it our in the gear arena, trying to acquire uber-weapons for their &quot;heroes&quot;...).&nbsp; The main problem I have come accross is that some players, bereft of their &quot;comfort blanket&quot; of character power pursuit, don't know what to do with the game.&nbsp; This is merely a matter of discussion, coaching and trial-and-error (after which they may find it's not to their taste, which, since I much prefer informed opinion to uninformed, is a win!).I think that SuperHero games, along with SuperHero comics, generally avoid this issue by making the whole question of what &quot;Super Powered&quot; individuals does to society the theme or &quot;point&quot; of the setting.&nbsp; Generally the &quot;Supers&quot; have recently started appearing, and the effect they have on society and the worldwide balance of power (in all sorts of senses) is a major &quot;question&quot; underlying the plot(s).More specifically, if the game is intended to focus on exploring the societies and characters of the game world, then any system with a sharp power ramp is not really an optimal choice.&nbsp; D&amp;D most certainly qualifies as having a &quot;sharp power ramp&quot;, here.True - as does C&amp;S (which is why I grouped the two earlier) - but if &quot;I&quot; start the game at 'Level 1' and there are Levels 2, 3, 4 and so on, it seems like a built-in assumption that I should be aiming to attain those levels!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Balesir, post: 5518250, member: 27160"] I agree, it would be quite possible to design a "skill" based system with serious increases in character power through "character development", and this would suffer from mch the same issues. The inclusion of 'levels' is, however, a pretty strong indicator of intent that characters will get seriously more powerful through the course of play. The things I find such sharp power ramps do are twofold: 1) As I said above, they generate (usually without specific consciousness or intent - see below) dysfunctional setting "societies" because of the previously noted effect, and 2) The very existence of a 'power ramp' IME drags the players' focus inexorably to the goal of "developing" their character (i.e. ramping their character up the power curve). Neither of these are really conducive to a game that sets out (by intention or default) to explore characters and setting in a non-theme-specific manner. It makes a fairly good 'motor' for gamist games (although it can be a little flawed, leading to "beat the rules" rather than "beat the challebges" play) and can apparently provide a motor for 'dramatic' (theme driven) play, too - though maybe this is restricted to "power" themes, I don't know. As a result, I think the system I have had the best "exploration" based games with (in "mixed company") is Traveller. The lack of any character power ramp here ensures that players will not get sucked into pursuing it (except some still try to seek it our in the gear arena, trying to acquire uber-weapons for their "heroes"...). The main problem I have come accross is that some players, bereft of their "comfort blanket" of character power pursuit, don't know what to do with the game. This is merely a matter of discussion, coaching and trial-and-error (after which they may find it's not to their taste, which, since I much prefer informed opinion to uninformed, is a win!). I think that SuperHero games, along with SuperHero comics, generally avoid this issue by making the whole question of what "Super Powered" individuals does to society the theme or "point" of the setting. Generally the "Supers" have recently started appearing, and the effect they have on society and the worldwide balance of power (in all sorts of senses) is a major "question" underlying the plot(s). More specifically, if the game is intended to focus on exploring the societies and characters of the game world, then any system with a sharp power ramp is not really an optimal choice. D&D most certainly qualifies as having a "sharp power ramp", here. True - as does C&S (which is why I grouped the two earlier) - but if "I" start the game at 'Level 1' and there are Levels 2, 3, 4 and so on, it seems like a built-in assumption that I should be aiming to attain those levels! [/QUOTE]

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