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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Should D&D Be "Hard"
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<blockquote data-quote="deganawida" data-source="post: 9087204" data-attributes="member: 67836"><p>Hmm, difficult question to answer. Even ignoring table taste , you have to really define what “hard” means, and what one means by asking it.</p><p></p><p>Not trying to be pedantic (too late!), but I would actually rephrase the question more like, “How competent are the PCs, and how does that competency compare to the level of challenges expected to be experienced?”</p><p></p><p>The Soulslike games are hard, but one can “gitgud”, and, assuming time investment and patience, beat them easily. High competence, high challenge is the proper way to describe them, I think.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, you have a game like Dragon’s Dogma (will never stop plugging this game), which begins low competence and high challenge, but, as you progress, the scales tip in the other direction, before both meeting in the middle.</p><p></p><p>Zero-to-hero always starts at low competence, but, if the challenge level is set to high for low competence, it may be stuck there until the player or PC gets higher competence, at which point the challenge level decrease. This fulfills power fantasies, of course, and gives satisfaction for time and effort put in.</p><p></p><p>Other games always require high competence, and always have high challenge, as a single misstep can end everything. When everything comes together? It’s amazing. But that requires a high degree of performance reliability on the part of the player and, if a tabletop game, cooperation from the referee. It’s all too easy to err on the side of ultra challenge, rather than allowing the player some leeway, as players are not machines.</p><p></p><p>Hopefully, this makes sense. It’s a great question, but I’ve also had a couple of Blue Moons tonight (my biweekly Saturday treat), and may not be articulating my thoughts well. For that, I apologize.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="deganawida, post: 9087204, member: 67836"] Hmm, difficult question to answer. Even ignoring table taste , you have to really define what “hard” means, and what one means by asking it. Not trying to be pedantic (too late!), but I would actually rephrase the question more like, “How competent are the PCs, and how does that competency compare to the level of challenges expected to be experienced?” The Soulslike games are hard, but one can “gitgud”, and, assuming time investment and patience, beat them easily. High competence, high challenge is the proper way to describe them, I think. Meanwhile, you have a game like Dragon’s Dogma (will never stop plugging this game), which begins low competence and high challenge, but, as you progress, the scales tip in the other direction, before both meeting in the middle. Zero-to-hero always starts at low competence, but, if the challenge level is set to high for low competence, it may be stuck there until the player or PC gets higher competence, at which point the challenge level decrease. This fulfills power fantasies, of course, and gives satisfaction for time and effort put in. Other games always require high competence, and always have high challenge, as a single misstep can end everything. When everything comes together? It’s amazing. But that requires a high degree of performance reliability on the part of the player and, if a tabletop game, cooperation from the referee. It’s all too easy to err on the side of ultra challenge, rather than allowing the player some leeway, as players are not machines. Hopefully, this makes sense. It’s a great question, but I’ve also had a couple of Blue Moons tonight (my biweekly Saturday treat), and may not be articulating my thoughts well. For that, I apologize. [/QUOTE]
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