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<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5877301" data-attributes="member: 54877">The tradition of the game works against them on this.&nbsp; If you were starting to design a game to handle this problem, with no regards to the tradition of D&amp;D, the answer is easy:&nbsp; Characters start out in a rough ballpark of power, which gives them plenty to do.&nbsp; When they &quot;level&quot;, they don't get much new.&nbsp; Or, they level infrequently and get a few neat things.&nbsp; In either case, &quot;leveling&quot; doesn't radically change the power of the characters, but is simply a way to show some progress.&nbsp;This is, in fact, the way some other systems play.&nbsp; The &quot;character mastery&quot; is mainly upfront, rapidly accumulated in play, and then levels off.&nbsp; Next, all you need to do is handle new players.&nbsp; Again, obvious answer--a few early &quot;levels&quot; where you start from nothing, gain ground rapidly, and then level off after awhile.&nbsp; That's practically 1E or BECMI ... if you go against tradition, practically coddle new players below 5th level or so, and run through those first few layers as fast as the players can handle the new abilities.&nbsp; &nbsp;There have been other variants of D&amp;D that could approximate this, if you knew what you were doing.&nbsp; For example, start 3.5 characters using very liberalized gestalt rules (to expand skills even more), begin around 5th level, and level very slowly.&nbsp; The E6 variants are another obvious one, at a different power level.&nbsp; But it's tough to build something like that into a system while still supporting &quot;Farmboy to Demigod&quot; at the same time.&nbsp; You'd almost need a &quot;power rachet&quot; and a &quot;power breadth&quot; option, to radically change what characters of a given level could do.&nbsp; Much easier to simply limit the level of the campaign.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5877301, member: 54877"] The tradition of the game works against them on this. If you were starting to design a game to handle this problem, with no regards to the tradition of D&D, the answer is easy: Characters start out in a rough ballpark of power, which gives them plenty to do. When they "level", they don't get much new. Or, they level infrequently and get a few neat things. In either case, "leveling" doesn't radically change the power of the characters, but is simply a way to show some progress. This is, in fact, the way some other systems play. The "character mastery" is mainly upfront, rapidly accumulated in play, and then levels off. Next, all you need to do is handle new players. Again, obvious answer--a few early "levels" where you start from nothing, gain ground rapidly, and then level off after awhile. That's practically 1E or BECMI ... if you go against tradition, practically coddle new players below 5th level or so, and run through those first few layers as fast as the players can handle the new abilities. There have been other variants of D&D that could approximate this, if you knew what you were doing. For example, start 3.5 characters using very liberalized gestalt rules (to expand skills even more), begin around 5th level, and level very slowly. The E6 variants are another obvious one, at a different power level. But it's tough to build something like that into a system while still supporting "Farmboy to Demigod" at the same time. You'd almost need a "power rachet" and a "power breadth" option, to radically change what characters of a given level could do. Much easier to simply limit the level of the campaign. [/QUOTE]

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