D&D General Should D&D Be "Hard"

[Reynard]

Boredom and annoyance come from being forced to be afraid while I'm trying to play a cool hero who does things.

Everyone liked different things and plays for different reasons. I hope you have a game you enjoy.

 

[Composer99]

Personally I don't see the problem with a "wall"-like monster encounter - by which I mean a monster the PCs might encounter, for which the viable course of action is "turn back" - as long as there isn't something the PCs immediately need behind the "wall". E.g. it would be an error for some mission-critical information, item, or NPC to be on the wrong side of the "wall" in a linear adventure path.

A "wall" encounter can, to my mind, easily gate:

1. Something one or more PCs want but can do without;
2. Something that amounts to a bonus that the PCs would benefit from finding;

without any problems (from an adventure/campaign design perspective) until such time as the PCs have reached a power level where typical courses of action - negotiate, sneak, fight (etc.?) are also viable - although I'd be inclined to suggest such "walls" be left to sandbox-style play more often than not.

 

[pointofyou]

Personally I don't see the problem with a "wall"-like monster encounter - by which I mean a monster the PCs might encounter, for which the viable course of action is "turn back" - as long as there isn't something the PCs immediately need behind the "wall". E.g. it would be an error for some mission-critical information, item, or NPC to be on the wrong side of the "wall" in a linear adventure path.

A "wall" encounter can, to my mind, easily gate:

1. Something one or more PCs want but can do without;
2. Something that amounts to a bonus that the PCs would benefit from finding;

without any problems (from an adventure/campaign design perspective) until such time as the PCs have reached a power level where typical courses of action - negotiate, sneak, fight (etc.?) are also viable - although I'd be inclined to suggest such "walls" be left to sandbox-style play more often than not.

While this wouldn't be my preference on either side of the screen I can agree it isn't inevitably crap scenario design. There's also the possibility that the mistake/s that led to such an impossible-for-the-PCs encounter happened on the players' side.

 

[Lanefan]

Boredom and annoyance come from being forced to be afraid while I'm trying to play a cool hero who does things.

For me boredom and annoyance come from trying to play a cool hero.