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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8828675" data-attributes="member: 42582">How is it like that? Where is the rule stated that players are not to build up skill over time, and play better as a result?And what does advantage mean here? What &quot;advantage&quot; is the player getting? Over whom?Gygax isn't God. Neither are you. Why should I take your pronouncements about D&amp;D's rules and principles more seriously than his?But suppose that someone decides to try and make decisions from their PC's point of view, who gets to decide what the PC does and doesn't know? As a player gains expertise, why can't they play their PCs as more and more expert and capable, should they wish to do so?I think this is a little contentious. It's not how I generally play D&amp;D. I generally allow players to author their own PC backstories, within common-sense limits. (And what I've suggested doesn't in my view exceed those limits.)I don't understand what you mean by &quot;players/PCs&quot;. Those are pretty different things - players are real people who are playing a game; PCs are imaginary people, elements in a shared fiction.But in any event, not all RPG play is about challenging the players, at least in the sense of testing their guts, their strategic acumen, etc. As you seem to acknowledge in one of the quotes above, play can be about pretending to be someone else. In which case the challenge to players is to faithfully portray that character. A player can meet that challenge by playing a PC who doesn't know about trolls, or by playing one who does. It doesn't seem to make much difference either way.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 8828675, member: 42582"] How is it like that? Where is the rule stated that players are not to build up skill over time, and play better as a result? And what does [i]advantage[/i] mean here? What "advantage" is the player getting? Over whom? Gygax isn't God. Neither are you. Why should I take your pronouncements about D&D's rules and principles more seriously than his? But suppose that someone decides to try and make decisions from their PC's point of view, who gets to decide what the PC does and doesn't know? As a player gains expertise, why can't they play their PCs as more and more expert and capable, should they wish to do so? I think this is a little contentious. It's not how I generally play D&D. I generally allow players to author their own PC backstories, within common-sense limits. (And what I've suggested doesn't in my view exceed those limits.) I don't understand what you mean by "players/PCs". Those are pretty different things - players are real people who are playing a game; PCs are imaginary people, elements in a shared fiction. But in any event, not all RPG play is about challenging the players, at least in the sense of testing their guts, their strategic acumen, etc. As you seem to acknowledge in one of the quotes above, play can be about pretending to be someone else. In which case the challenge to players is to faithfully portray that character. A player can meet that challenge by playing a PC who doesn't know about trolls, or by playing one who does. It doesn't seem to make much difference either way. [/QUOTE]

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