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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mark" data-source="post: 288991" data-attributes="member: 5">Well, no, he doesn't address my point, but that's due to it not being understood, for whatever reasons.  In fact, I advocate the opposite of what you are suggesting he is saying about levels not being considered (and I am not completely sure that is what he meant).  To my mind, "level" is the first of things that should be considered when designing a scenario.  The point being that a DM shouldn't approach building a scenario with the characters in mind, from the standpoint of their strengths and weaknesses, beyond level and relative party strength compared to that flat level.  It's the only way to avoid META thinking from a design perspective.  It doesn't matter whether an individual player's character is geared toward one style or another.  The players make those choices and the scenarios should not reflect those choices in design to the character's benefit or detriment.  An exception to this is when the DM uses an NPC who would actually have access to knowledge regarding the characters.I find this to be the main distinction between published modules that spring from a designer's home campaign and published modules that attempt to create a location, simply as it is.  It's often easy to see that someone has geared a scenario for a given group.  True in a home game, if one player doesn't show and the DM has to make adjustments because an item they possess is the only way past a particular encounter.  True in a published scenario when a broad rule-based change needs to be layered over the scenario as an afterthought, I.E. "the entire valley is magically inclined to disallow teleportation of any kind."  Often this type of situation points to a scenario written specifically for one group, or type of group, that needs to be fixed at a later time.  There are other examples, but these two come to mind.The best scenarios (while they can be thematic) are fashioned to a given level (with a few options for scaling kept at the ready) and retain their verisimilitude by balancing what is in the module with itself.  Even if the players never opt to go there, the placement and make up of that location makes sense, in and of itself.  Similar encounter levels help explain how disparate creatures can occupy the same region.  It goes toward there being an unresolved standoff or understanding of (perhaps, begrudging) respect.  To go where I was leading before the breakdown in communication, it behooves a scenario designer (home or published) to include a variety (of attack forms, defenses, resistance types, etc., et al) sprinkled through the encounters of a scenario.  This keeps it from being a walk-through or a series of insurmountable obstacles.BTW Col_H – Take a look at this thread- <a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=19486" target="_blank">http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?threadid=19486</a></blockquote>

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