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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9267180" data-attributes="member: 20323">Totally get that.In this context, where I'm not beholding to a customer, I can say what's really on my mind. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> One of the principles of RPG design is that what a player/user says they want, may not in actuality be what they enjoy at the table. Examples include Conjure Animals (great for one player, frequently a time suck for others), Natural Explorer (great on paper, sucks fun out of certain exploration to reduce ranger's spotlight in play at moment's when player wants that spotlight), and anything overly complex that provokes rules discussion mid-game. Another example would be a player saying &quot;I want all fights to be balanced&quot; being confronted by hill giants at 1st level that are in an antagonistic role, and having a great time figuring out how to trick, manipulate, and evade the giants... which are clearly not balanced for their level.The responsibility of a RPG designer is not to solve/create in isolation for one player/user, but to expand their design thinking to the group's gaming experience holistically and across multiple game sessions / circumstanaces. To put this succinctly: Great RPG design sneakily encourages the better angels of players./Rant</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 9267180, member: 20323"] Totally get that. In this context, where I'm not beholding to a customer, I can say what's [I]really [/I]on my mind. ;) One of the principles of RPG design is that what a player/user says they want, may not in actuality be what they enjoy at the table. Examples include Conjure Animals (great for one player, frequently a time suck for others), Natural Explorer (great on paper, sucks fun out of certain exploration to reduce ranger's spotlight in play at moment's when player wants that spotlight), and anything overly complex that provokes rules discussion mid-game. Another example would be a player saying "I want all fights to be balanced" being confronted by hill giants at 1st level that are in an antagonistic role, and having a great time figuring out how to trick, manipulate, and evade the giants... which are clearly not balanced for their level. The responsibility of a RPG designer is not to solve/create in isolation for one player/user, but to expand their design thinking to the group's gaming experience holistically and across multiple game sessions / circumstanaces. To put this succinctly: Great RPG design sneakily encourages the better angels of players. /Rant [/QUOTE]

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