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<blockquote data-quote="Jer" data-source="post: 8698010" data-attributes="member: 19857">I had to go back to the very first post to see what he was talking about in context.And then I laughed for a full 5 minutes.Nearly 50 years of game play and revisions and new editions and that very first post with the complaint in it could have come from a Dragon Magazine letter written in 1983.&nbsp; Heck I probably can dredge up an issue that has a very similar Forum letter in it.&nbsp; Except it would have been written about AD&amp;D 1e.Anyway what is balance? Balance is the game runs at my table without me having to do a lot of work to make it run.&nbsp; What is an unbalanced game? An unbalanced game is one that gets away from me and my players in a way that makes it unfun for us because it turns into a job instead of a game.I will also take issue with his second Tweet that you quote above - 5e actually IS a game whose mechanics, EXCEPT FOR THE COMBAT ENGINE, are a <s>narrative focused</s> rules-lite game.&nbsp; The game basically boils down to &quot;roll a d20, add a number, try to beat a difficulty number&quot; outside of combat - it doesn't get much more rules lite than that.&nbsp; It's a <s>narrative focused</s> rules-lite game with a slightly more complex tactical combat engine bolted onto it.&nbsp; The mistake is in thinking that because it has a somewhat crunchy somewhat tactical combat engine that means that all three &quot;pillars&quot; of the game are equally crunchy - and it really isn't.And he's actually doing what I actually encourage folks who are thinking along these lines to do - start looking at other games!&nbsp; D&amp;D is not and should not be the be-all end-all engine when it comes to RPGs.&nbsp; It's a great intro to the idea of roleplaying, and for some folks it's exactly in the sweet zone for rules and they never need to look any farther.&nbsp; But if you're hitting the limits of what the system can do and it's causing you to lose enjoyment in the system then trying a different game is exactly the right thing to do!&nbsp; It's what we always did once AD&amp;D started to chafe.Edit - on thinking about it further - &quot;narrative focused' is wrong because there's actually no focus in the non-combat portions of the game at all.&nbsp; D&amp;D's non-combat rules are a freeform improv framework.&nbsp; The focus has to be brought by the DM and the players at the table rather than by explicit rules to reinforce a narrative.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jer, post: 8698010, member: 19857"] I had to go back to the very first post to see what he was talking about in context. And then I laughed for a full 5 minutes. Nearly 50 years of game play and revisions and new editions and that very first post with the complaint in it could have come from a Dragon Magazine letter written in 1983. Heck I probably can dredge up an issue that has a very similar Forum letter in it. Except it would have been written about AD&D 1e. Anyway what is balance? Balance is the game runs at my table without me having to do a lot of work to make it run. What is an unbalanced game? An unbalanced game is one that gets away from me and my players in a way that makes it unfun for us because it turns into a job instead of a game. I will also take issue with his second Tweet that you quote above - 5e actually IS a game whose mechanics, EXCEPT FOR THE COMBAT ENGINE, are a [S]narrative focused[/S] rules-lite game. The game basically boils down to "roll a d20, add a number, try to beat a difficulty number" outside of combat - it doesn't get much more rules lite than that. It's a [S]narrative focused[/S] rules-lite game with a slightly more complex tactical combat engine bolted onto it. The mistake is in thinking that because it has a somewhat crunchy somewhat tactical combat engine that means that all three "pillars" of the game are equally crunchy - and it really isn't. And he's actually doing what I actually encourage folks who are thinking along these lines to do - start looking at other games! D&D is not and should not be the be-all end-all engine when it comes to RPGs. It's a great intro to the idea of roleplaying, and for some folks it's exactly in the sweet zone for rules and they never need to look any farther. But if you're hitting the limits of what the system can do and it's causing you to lose enjoyment in the system then trying a different game is exactly the right thing to do! It's what we always did once AD&D started to chafe. Edit - on thinking about it further - "narrative focused' is wrong because there's actually no focus in the non-combat portions of the game at all. D&D's non-combat rules are a freeform improv framework. The focus has to be brought by the DM and the players at the table rather than by explicit rules to reinforce a narrative. [/QUOTE]

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