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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatula" data-source="post: 5771380" data-attributes="member: 2198">This is true in any edition.IME, it's also true that the DM doesn't send a big dragon to attack the 1st level characters' village, unless the party is specifically told, "you can't fight this." (Skyrim!) And that players of 1st level characters know not to go hunting adult dragons until they're more powerful.The point is that (IME anyway), actual play tends to result in the players facing threats that they are capable of beating, or that they know they can't beat. This is especially true in this era of adventure paths, which have become quite popular. In a home game, you can dress it up with world-building and whatnot but the end result is mostly the same. Because the alternative is generally not fun, IMO, unless everyone knows they're signing up for random deaths and TPKs. There are no beholders in your average DM's "dungeon level 1 random encounter table."Perhaps the issue is that 4e and Oblivion are too self-aware. They know they are games and aim for what they think will be enjoyable game experiences, possibly destroying some folks' verisimilitude in the process. Previous editions of D&D (and previous Elder Scroll CRPGs, for that matter) weren't quite sure if they were primarily games or fantasy simulators.</blockquote>