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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 5511738" data-attributes="member: 3820">I agree that D&D has very engaging tools for interesting boss fights, particularly in 4e. My point isn't that they're not fun to play, but rather that it's not always enough of a draw to say "You can beat up Orcus." It's one of those goals that can feel like someone else's idea of what you'd find interesting, sort of like how giant piles of treasure is a great motivator for many players but kind of off-message for the person who loves playing a humble paladin.I've noted that one of the things that's kept me interested in D&D over the years is the fact that although it doesn't do not-D&D very well (and why should it?), it's actually quite useful for D&D mashups. There's maybe a reason that my recent games could be (in a very simplistic fashion) described as "D&D + Castlevania", "D&D + Assassin's Creed 2" or "D&D + Gormenghast." It's that desire to have a game wherein dashing swashbucklers may find themselves negotiating with riddling leucrotta in the rustic woods, but maybe aren't stabbing aboleths over a big pile of gold. Thematic D&D works pretty well in my experience, but it's something you get from limiting some palettes and expanding others: reducing the types of monsters you may run into, for instance, while expanding the possibilities and frequency of human and "demi-human" antagonists.Apologies for being unclear. Really, I was posting from the point of view that a character's motivations are generally going to be designed so that the player can do what he or she enjoys. If a character is an affable rogue with a skeptical disinterest in the divine, the player is probably interested in reinforcing that archetype. Now, in some cases you see characters who are designed with the explicit intention of evolving past an initial personality flaw. For instance, a character who starts out with a hardened heart, but the player is hoping for the character to eventually open up and have a strong romance. But at a total guess, this is probably not the majority.Oh, totally agreed. I'm only speaking up for the possibility that the reasons they might have can also include a disinterest in some of the core assumptions of epic play -- for instance, that every player would be interested in fighting demon lords or saving the world regardless of what character they're playing.</blockquote>

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