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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6086687" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Issue 308: June 2003part 2/9Up on a soapbox: Rob Kuntz takes this column instead of Gary for a month. But the stories of the old days remain pretty similar. In fact, we return to the story of the monk with no name, and the fun he got up too. Bored of the dungeoneering, he turned to extorting an barony ruled by another PC,  thus giving Rob an easy ride as two high level characters duked it out with all the magical and temporal resources at their disposal. He got away with it too, thanks to having the forces of nature on his sides, while all the baron had was human armies. Still, as with the last time someone tried to make their fortune outside the dungeon, diminishing returns set in, and the next time they tried it, the target was better equipped. It's the nature of heists. The really hard thing isn't getting away with it once, it's not being hunted down afterwards, and not being dumb enough to try the same trick too soon or too near to the previous attempt. And when you do get the money, spend it slowly, don't blow it on shiny stuff that makes the neighbours suspicious. So this reminds us that political PvP stuff can work in D&D, and how variety is essential to keeping a game interesting. Both PC's and their enemies need to change and grow to keep the campaign from gradually winding down and ending because they're bored. This is why they invented all that high level domain stuff in the first place. Now, if only there'd been some other branching options as well. Then more people might have kept playing once they got there and didn't know what to do with one.  :/ House rules: When you're living in a rules as physics game, even a small change to stats can make a big difference to how a race or class interacts with the world. For example, what happens if you change dwarves from having a charisma penalty to a dexterity penalty instead. That ± 1 to a bunch of rolls seems small, but will really add up in terms of building stereotypes. Their primary identifier goes from grumpy to clumsy, (although thankfully that doesn't affect their crafting skills) and they're even more likely to be comic relief for the group. Very interesting. And also a reminder that it's the little details that let you really make a world your own, and can make or break overall game balance. Change the nuances, and see what happens. If it turns out poorly, change it back. No harm, no foul, and hopefully you got a story out of the experiment as well.</blockquote>

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