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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Shaman" data-source="post: 5144911" data-attributes="member: 26473">I've never heard of anything like "D&D Encounters." It sounds more like Warhammer or Axis and Allies miniatures than any tabletop roleplaying game in which I've ever participated.Players and characters may come and go over time, but I've never played 'pick-up' games of any roleplaying game in the way that's described here.That said, I don't think the "player-character" relationship you describe is all that uncommon, but I think it's a function of the rewards system of many tabletop roleplaying games, not the nature of the setting. A player may have the same relationship to his character in a sandboxy-type setting if the rewards system of the game places a high emphasis on improving the character in terms of rules mechanics: "After each encounter I get x experience and y treasure, which translate into my character improving his scores by z amount."Not all games are like this, however. Traveller, for example, includes an experience system which resulted in incremental changes to a character over a long period of time, so 'character advancement' took on a very different meaning in the course of play; it's about as far from the experience of playing Dungeons and Dragons as one can get and still have characters improving their skills, attributes, and so on. The rewards system in Traveller isn't experience points: the rewards are tied to the setting, like credits in your pocket, improving one's Social Standing or even gaining an Imperial title, upgrading your starship or buying a new one, and so on.Other games offer very explicit opportunities to advance in ways that are integral to the setting. Characters in Flashing Blades may be focused on nothing more than becoming bad-arsed swordfighters, but the system provides for characters to become marshals and admirals of France, bishops and cardinals of the Church, grand masters of knightly orders, or royal ministers to the king. The rewards system for Flashing Blades enmeshes the characters in the setting - and while it's possible to play a character who is nothing but a duelist, I've never seen that happen in actual play: the players who enjoy the game tend to gravitate toward those careers which gain their characters' influence and power in the setting, not just notches on their rapiers.So I don't agree that this is a function of setting so much as it is a function of the rewards system of the game. In my personal experience, D&D doesn't need to be all about character power, and it doesn't take a sandbox setting to make it so: it requires in-game rewards other than experience points. Prestige classes, as they were originally presented in 3e, were one means of achieving both: new skills and abilities for your character plus a connection to the setting through the non-rules mechanics, setting-and-roleplaying-oriented requirements to gain the class, such as joining an order or guild. It was a great idea, and one of my favorite features of the game.</blockquote>

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