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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Symmetric Balance vs Asymmetric Balance.
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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 9157099" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p>I am largely in favor of asymmetrical balance because I am one of them.</p><p></p><p>But really I don't think we're few. And certainly, anyone can be a good DM.</p><p></p><p>However, once symmetrical balance seems to become the wanted target, I think people will always look at discrepancies, the more the balance is apparently increased, the smaller discrepancies will be looked at. I have the feeling that there is hardly ever a level of symmetric balance which makes people satisfied, any leftover asymmetry will be scrutinized, and the game still perceived as not yet balanced enough. All of which IMHO shifts the attention away from actually playing. Increasing symmetrical balance also generally comes at the expense of diversity, making the experience of play more similar across different characters and campaigns. It's not like the end of the world, chess is perfectly balanced and always the same game every time you play, and yet I am pretty such that chess lovers feel like each game is different and worth playing... but it's not the kind of feeling I want from an RPG, I already have tons of tabletops for that.</p><p></p><p>I like asymmetrical balance and even pretty to the extreme (in fact I don't mind RPGs where the Fighter <em>only fights</em> and kicks ass in combat three times any other character) also because it <em>requires</em> that the DM plays the game as well, and not just works as an accountant of it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 9157099, member: 1465"] I am largely in favor of asymmetrical balance because I am one of them. But really I don't think we're few. And certainly, anyone can be a good DM. However, once symmetrical balance seems to become the wanted target, I think people will always look at discrepancies, the more the balance is apparently increased, the smaller discrepancies will be looked at. I have the feeling that there is hardly ever a level of symmetric balance which makes people satisfied, any leftover asymmetry will be scrutinized, and the game still perceived as not yet balanced enough. All of which IMHO shifts the attention away from actually playing. Increasing symmetrical balance also generally comes at the expense of diversity, making the experience of play more similar across different characters and campaigns. It's not like the end of the world, chess is perfectly balanced and always the same game every time you play, and yet I am pretty such that chess lovers feel like each game is different and worth playing... but it's not the kind of feeling I want from an RPG, I already have tons of tabletops for that. I like asymmetrical balance and even pretty to the extreme (in fact I don't mind RPGs where the Fighter [I]only fights[/I] and kicks ass in combat three times any other character) also because it [I]requires[/I] that the DM plays the game as well, and not just works as an accountant of it. [/QUOTE]
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