Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="zoroaster100" data-source="post: 4042200" data-attributes="member: 8538">I use tailored encounters.&nbsp; I'm o.k. with having some static encounters in the player's environment so long as going head on against those encounters is something that they players would have to choose conciously and knowingly.&nbsp; For example, I'm o.k. with the authorities in a town or city being too powerful for players to take on if the adventure doesn't require the players to fight them.&nbsp; I'm o.k. with there being a far too powerful monster in the area that the players can seek out if they want to die, so long as it is widely known how to avoid such a legendary danger by avoiding its lair.&nbsp; I don't believe in randomly throwing overpowerful challenges at the players that can result in meanigless unavoidable death.My first and only experience with simulationist or &quot;static encounter&quot; DMing was very negative.&nbsp; I had been DMing for a while, but that was the first time I got to play as a player.&nbsp; I made a wizard (or was it called a magic user then?).&nbsp; The other player created a paladin.&nbsp; The DM told us there was a dungeon near the village.&nbsp; We went.&nbsp; The first door in the first corridor we opened there was a pack of harpies.&nbsp; They sang.&nbsp; I missed the difficult multiples saves.&nbsp; My character got eaten before he could cast a single spell or roll a single attack.&nbsp; Game over.&nbsp; That sucked.I rolled up a second character with the same DM.&nbsp; This time we had a big party of eight players, all playing brand new first level characters.&nbsp; We left the village and within a short time had our first encouter:&nbsp; an entire tribe of bugbears led by yuan-ti spell casters who could cast at least fourth level spells such as polymorph other.&nbsp; Most of the party was killed.&nbsp; A few escaped.&nbsp; One character was turned into a small garden snake by polymorph other spell.&nbsp; We kept playing in this DM's campaign for a few months and eventually most made it to second and third level, though most went through several dead characters during that time. Then the DM had one of his NPC's mention a haunted tree.&nbsp; We thought he wanted to lead us to check it out as a plot hook.&nbsp; We went there and it was filled with specters who level drained us and killed several characters.&nbsp; My character was back to first level and just barely escaped.&nbsp; The entire group of players never again wanted to play with that DM.&nbsp; I never again got to play as a player and have DM'ed since.&nbsp; I will never again play in a campaign of a simulationist DM.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="zoroaster100, post: 4042200, member: 8538"] I use tailored encounters. I'm o.k. with having some static encounters in the player's environment so long as going head on against those encounters is something that they players would have to choose conciously and knowingly. For example, I'm o.k. with the authorities in a town or city being too powerful for players to take on if the adventure doesn't require the players to fight them. I'm o.k. with there being a far too powerful monster in the area that the players can seek out if they want to die, so long as it is widely known how to avoid such a legendary danger by avoiding its lair. I don't believe in randomly throwing overpowerful challenges at the players that can result in meanigless unavoidable death. My first and only experience with simulationist or "static encounter" DMing was very negative. I had been DMing for a while, but that was the first time I got to play as a player. I made a wizard (or was it called a magic user then?). The other player created a paladin. The DM told us there was a dungeon near the village. We went. The first door in the first corridor we opened there was a pack of harpies. They sang. I missed the difficult multiples saves. My character got eaten before he could cast a single spell or roll a single attack. Game over. That sucked. I rolled up a second character with the same DM. This time we had a big party of eight players, all playing brand new first level characters. We left the village and within a short time had our first encouter: an entire tribe of bugbears led by yuan-ti spell casters who could cast at least fourth level spells such as polymorph other. Most of the party was killed. A few escaped. One character was turned into a small garden snake by polymorph other spell. We kept playing in this DM's campaign for a few months and eventually most made it to second and third level, though most went through several dead characters during that time. Then the DM had one of his NPC's mention a haunted tree. We thought he wanted to lead us to check it out as a plot hook. We went there and it was filled with specters who level drained us and killed several characters. My character was back to first level and just barely escaped. The entire group of players never again wanted to play with that DM. I never again got to play as a player and have DM'ed since. I will never again play in a campaign of a simulationist DM. [/QUOTE]

Verification