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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alphastream" data-source="post: 5692211" data-attributes="member: 11365">If the players are amazing and their characters insane, then they should win. The alternative is that the most perfect party would still have the luck of the dice, meaning the non-perfect would be doomed to fail. That isn't the kind of Lair Assault I want to see because it means tons of players would be disillusioned - they would know that most of them could never win and that even the ones that could have a random chance.Simple things like Armor of Recovery combined with Moment of Glory plus some stance should make this encounter much easier. The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design had a free excerpt (I also own it, great read!) where a designer points out that we often play games to feel smart. Character generation can be an exercise in this, where each option we choose provides us with self-gratification that we have done well. Lair Assault can thus either crush that feeling or reinforce it. The DM's job is to be impartial while being sympathetic. You don't have a side, so you can destroy a PC while sympathizing or have your monster eliminated while you congratulate the player. If the table is so good they will always win, then they have earned that distinction. It is ok to say "Guys, I have nothing more for you. I'm confident you will beat it again." Like a Kung Fu master, it is okay to admit that today the teacher has nothing for the student. However, this is the first Lair Assault. Would it surprise us if it is deliberately a bit easier? It might be. And, what works in one might not work in another.I hate to hear about a good person like Nullzone having his build shut down... and that O-Assassin... ouch! I do think that is valid design space in Lair Assault (though I don't like it in other organized play). Yes, it will be detested by a few. And yes, it should be done carefully. But, I don't think designers should proof their adventures against having excessively hurt any type of PC. That's something that can just happen. As DMs, however, this is were we should really be sympathetic. Nullzone seems to have done a pretty awesome job, because even with this aspect of his PC shut down, he continued to draw the focus/ire of the DM. It was unfortunate that this was adversarial; had the DM been congratulatory and encouraging the experience might have been different. Nullzone clearly kept being effective and both sides should have been able to celebrate that. This is the early stage of the program. Both players and DMs have much to learn over the next few months. Some of that learning is around improvement and hopefully most DMs (and players) will make the adjustments so the program is more fun each time.</blockquote>

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