Life is Broken!

[mythusmage]

Yes, life is broken. Life is seriously broken. Nothing is balanced, there is nothing fair about life.

It is possible for a person to encounter things like elephants, mack trucks, and scientologists regardless of their level of experience. And nothing comes with a challenge rating. How do you asses the threat presented by toy poodles or timber wolves without challenge ratings?

And party balance. There is no party balance. In any group there is always one person who dominates, maybe one or two others who make a substantial contribution, and the rest just follow along. There is no provision for ensuring equality of participation.

Then you have character ability. No attempt is made at all to balance abilities in life. None. People vary in ability. Often widely. That aint right.

It is obvious to me that who ever designed life gave no consideration to the things that make for a good game. Encounters can be grossly unbalanced, as can parties. Life presents participants with challenges they can't handle, and does so with distressing frequency. And life doesn't fudge when a player mishandles a situation.

But the worst thing about life? You have no real choice in the matter.

(Then again, it is eminately gameable. )

 

[FireLance]

Agreed, life is quite badly designed. That's why I play 3.5e D&D.

 

[Dougal DeKree]

Oh yeah, in D&D you can say "let me do the diplomacy, I have the highest CHA!" while in real life those doing the diplomacy for many others are usually outstanding in that they have single digit INT and WIS - if they had stats that is

 

[Turanil]

<...> there is nothing fair about life.

Until I win lottery, I say that your statement is true.

 

[Bront]

Life is a lemon and I want my money back.

'nuff said.

 

[JoeGKushner]

But the worst thing about life? You have no real choice in the matter.

Uh... how do you have no real choice in the matter? Most people, myself included to a limited degree, refuse to make real choices because it's easier to do the daily grind. The choice is there though, it would just require, you know, effort.

 

[fusangite]

My gaming associate of longest standing (1986-2004) really got back into RPGs with the publication of 3.0 because of this very thing. While most people get fulfillment from combat, exploration or role playing, he has come to love playing D&D because the universe is knowable, balanced and fair. Of course, my friend is, in many respects, like an incredibly polite version of Larry David.

 

[mythusmage]

Uh... how do you have no real choice in the matter? Most people, myself included to a limited degree, refuse to make real choices because it's easier to do the daily grind. The choice is there though, it would just require, you know, effort.

You either live or you're dead. This is a choice?

 

[der_kluge]

Yes, that's true, but the good news is is that, pretty much everything is CR 1, because most things will die with a good sword blow to the abdomen. Elephants excluded.

 

[Nareau]

Yeah, the Governor and Senator prestige classes are totally overpowered. Things like armor are way too expensive, but you can totally buy deadly poisons and alchemist's fire (bleach, gasoline) way too cheap.

Oh, and the combat system in general sucks. I mean, a 15th level fighter can be killed by a single knife wound! How lame is that?!

The only good thing about it is how thorough the rules are. There are even detailed rules for cooking and going to the bathroom! How many other systems cover that?

Spider