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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8623159" data-attributes="member: 19857">Yes - it was basically a D&amp;D thing. As far back as I remember there were guidelines in the D&amp;D books about how to build encounters (first using Hit Dice, then using Challenge Rating, then Monster Levels, and now XP budget and CR combined), but in other games not so much.&nbsp; A lot of games we played back in the day took the approach that NPCs were built like PCs and so you would throw PCs up against NPCs who were equally matched, or weaker for a lighter challenge, or stronger for a tougher challenge .&nbsp; Since NPCs were built like PCs you could eyeball their stats and figure out a roughly equal challenge - not that this always worked, but that was the attitude of the design and since the power curve was pretty flat you'd figure out pretty quickly if you needed to ratchet the NPC stats up or down to get an appropriate challenge.I'm now actually trying to remember the games other than D&amp;D we played back in the day where monsters/NPCs weren't built like PCs and ... I'm coming up blank. That was such the overwhelmingly most common game design for not-D&amp;D games that while I'm sure we played some I can't for the life of me think of them now.&nbsp; I'll look at any sample adventure that comes with the game to see what kind of opposition they're putting in.&nbsp; If it's a game where monsters/NPCs are built like PCs I'll eyeball it when making my own.&nbsp; Regardless for the first few sessions or the first arc if encounters are deadly and a mistake could result in a TPK I'll intentionally keep the challenge lower than I think it's supposed to be and slowly increase it as we play more towards where I think the designers mean it to be as I get a better feel for the game.&nbsp; If it's a game where the encounters aren't supposed to be deadly (i.e. most superhero games that we play) then I just go all out with it from the start and dial it back if I need to later.&nbsp; If everyone gets knocked unconscious then it just means that the next scene is going to be a more dramatic one (and usually the kinds of supers games we play come with some kind of hero point currency that you get as a consolation for getting your butt kicked, so it ends up evening out).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8623159, member: 19857"] Yes - it was basically a D&D thing. As far back as I remember there were guidelines in the D&D books about how to build encounters (first using Hit Dice, then using Challenge Rating, then Monster Levels, and now XP budget and CR combined), but in other games not so much. A lot of games we played back in the day took the approach that NPCs were built like PCs and so you would throw PCs up against NPCs who were equally matched, or weaker for a lighter challenge, or stronger for a tougher challenge . Since NPCs were built like PCs you could eyeball their stats and figure out a roughly equal challenge - not that this always worked, but that was the attitude of the design and since the power curve was pretty flat you'd figure out pretty quickly if you needed to ratchet the NPC stats up or down to get an appropriate challenge. I'm now actually trying to remember the games other than D&D we played back in the day where monsters/NPCs weren't built like PCs and ... I'm coming up blank. That was such the overwhelmingly most common game design for not-D&D games that while I'm sure we played some I can't for the life of me think of them now. I'll look at any sample adventure that comes with the game to see what kind of opposition they're putting in. If it's a game where monsters/NPCs are built like PCs I'll eyeball it when making my own. Regardless for the first few sessions or the first arc if encounters are deadly and a mistake could result in a TPK I'll intentionally keep the challenge lower than I think it's supposed to be and slowly increase it as we play more towards where I think the designers mean it to be as I get a better feel for the game. If it's a game where the encounters aren't supposed to be deadly (i.e. most superhero games that we play) then I just go all out with it from the start and dial it back if I need to later. If everyone gets knocked unconscious then it just means that the next scene is going to be a more dramatic one (and usually the kinds of supers games we play come with some kind of hero point currency that you get as a consolation for getting your butt kicked, so it ends up evening out). [/QUOTE]

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