Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Flying Toaster" data-source="post: 9806495" data-attributes="member: 7052563">Once again we see the essential conflict over what D&D is and should be.  In this thread we have posters saying that D&D is a high fantasy game, so the problems come from trying to make that game appealing to fans of low fantasy, while others say that the problem comes from trying to make a dungeon crawl game into a superhero game.  Both sides can support their preference with evidence going all the way back to the days of little brown books and white boxes, because D&D has always supported different play styles at different levels.  The “zero to hero” dynamic may be intrinsic to levelling game designs, as opposed to skill-based systems where your character learns lots of new stuff but stays squishy and combat-averse.I think the best way to split the difference and keep more people happy is to emphasize differences between tiers of play, not smooth them out so everything feels the same.  I like the low levels where your gear is second-hand ring mail and a homemade morning star, and you definitely need to worry about what is behind that locked dungeon door.  But I also like the high levels when your party soars across the sky on their pegasus steeds, ready to battle dragons, as the soundtrack blasts “Ride of the Valkyries”.  Early editions acknowledged that low and high level play were different by urging PCs into semi-retirement at name level, although domain play has always been a tough sell and not really supported much by official materials.D&D is of course the overwhelmingly dominant force in the TTRPG market, and a corporate IP owned by a toy conglomerate.  There is strong pressure on the designers to make the game be all things to everyone, and as always that approach risks making something that is not much to anyone - “everybody’s second favorite RPG”.  It is a tough nut to crack.  I think the best solution would be to let the different tiers be different, so people who only like the gritty lower levels can just stop at level 10 or 12, but have more high power options available for those who want to start at level 3.</blockquote>

Verification