Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="TheSword" data-source="post: 8191962" data-attributes="member: 6879661"><p>Does 5e really teach people that everything can be killed/overcome? Or is that more of a case of adventure design?</p><p></p><p>Or perhaps even game design. Most people are familiar with computer games that have a level/area capped with a boss you need to proceed. They aren’t avoidable... they’re the end level boss.</p><p></p><p>If adventures are designed where all threats are CR +/-3 and have natural choke points that require defeating a powerful enemy, of course people are going to think they need to keep fighting that enemy and take increased risks to do so.</p><p></p><p>Games like Witcher or Skyrim with optional bosses and open exploration buck this trend, but usually make enemy power explicit with red skull symbols etc. However, DM telegraphing usually isn’t as obvious as a red skull symbol hovering over the creature’s name and I can understand how players get confused.</p><p></p><p>It seems to me, that 5e can have level appropriate challenges and particularly difficult challenges just like any other system. It’s adventure writers and DMs that decide difficulty level.</p><p></p><p>[Edit] I’ll also add that with the intention of making level appropriate threats scary and atmospheric we often use the same telegraphing that you would use for a more powerful threat. This has the effect of muddying the water and smokecreening the non-CR Appropriate challenge. Also PCs are used to doing things that other folks can’t do, that’s why they’re adventurers. Finally, all too often identifying challenges outside of your threat relies on meta game knowledge (Oh my god guys, it’s a beholder, run) rather than knowledge their character would have.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheSword, post: 8191962, member: 6879661"] Does 5e really teach people that everything can be killed/overcome? Or is that more of a case of adventure design? Or perhaps even game design. Most people are familiar with computer games that have a level/area capped with a boss you need to proceed. They aren’t avoidable... they’re the end level boss. If adventures are designed where all threats are CR +/-3 and have natural choke points that require defeating a powerful enemy, of course people are going to think they need to keep fighting that enemy and take increased risks to do so. Games like Witcher or Skyrim with optional bosses and open exploration buck this trend, but usually make enemy power explicit with red skull symbols etc. However, DM telegraphing usually isn’t as obvious as a red skull symbol hovering over the creature’s name and I can understand how players get confused. It seems to me, that 5e can have level appropriate challenges and particularly difficult challenges just like any other system. It’s adventure writers and DMs that decide difficulty level. [Edit] I’ll also add that with the intention of making level appropriate threats scary and atmospheric we often use the same telegraphing that you would use for a more powerful threat. This has the effect of muddying the water and smokecreening the non-CR Appropriate challenge. Also PCs are used to doing things that other folks can’t do, that’s why they’re adventurers. Finally, all too often identifying challenges outside of your threat relies on meta game knowledge (Oh my god guys, it’s a beholder, run) rather than knowledge their character would have. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Jon Peterson: Does System Matter?
Top