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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Piratecat" data-source="post: 1425883" data-attributes="member: 2">I think it's a definite risk. I've tried to counter this in a few ways:- People and NPCs continue to change, but not necessarily get more powerful.  Kings die. People get jealous of the PCs, or beholden to them.  Old friendly NPCs who once nurtured the party take on new low-level apprentices. Organizations that the PCs once crushed stay at the same strength or weaker, and take aim at smaller targets instead. Nevertheless, these people haven't necessarily levelled just because the PCs have.  This goes hand in hand with the concept that people and organizations are still effective in the world, but not necessarily because they have a bajillion levels.  Political challenges definitely fall under this category, as does societal pressure, the negative effects of fame, and the utter power of organized religion. - No powerful NPC in society exists without making ripples. If you've good enough to get that powerful, you're often either famous or notorious. More importantly, you have lots of powerful friends and enemies. When the PCs deal with such a person, they're dealing with all that history as well.- Ultra-powerful monsters don't just leap out of nowhere. This is especially true for the intelligent ones. If you put LeShay (those uber-elves from the Epic Handbook) into your game, you darn well ought to have a reason why the world isn't under their yoke of oppression. In the same sense, dragons can easily control trade by settling in a mountain pass; killing one should usually set off numerous ripples, just like the death of Smaug did in the Hobbit.- Sometimes the bad guys fight one another.  Don't make the PCs and their allies feel like they're the ones that everyone is always gunning for. Have evil forces besiege a neighboring and hostile kingdom, and watch the ethical debate as to whether the group should help their enemies or not.- Shake up the status quo. When I get bored with unused parts of my world, I have a bad habit of doing horrible things to them. Barbarian invasions, plagues, natural disasters -- whatever it takes to shake up the political scene and introduce a new element of doubt/mystery into the PCs' knowledge of the area.- Too many templates are silly. That's a personal opinion, but it's one near and dear to my heart. How's that for a start? I know I'm missing things.</blockquote>

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