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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 5081393" data-attributes="member: 80487">That has long been my experience as well, except when the scenario stands outside the campaign context -- or an &quot;adventure path&quot; is the campaign context.&quot;Expected PC actions,&quot; though, is a basic problem with 'plotted' scenarios in which the designer has gotten too attached to his 'story'. It's a bad sign when boxed 'read-aloud' text refers to assumed PC actions. It is rather to the point of playing a game that one cannot predict the moves, and in a face-to-face game I expect a lot more freedom than in a &quot;pick your path&quot; book!I think that stats are a bigger deal in a scenario when they're a bigger deal in the game. WotC has gone in not only for pretty complicated rules sets, but for packing a lot of complexity into &quot;stat blocks&quot;. Hero System is another of many examples.One can get around that with easy access to standard or stereotyped stats, especially if it's easy to interpolate values and so adjust 'on the fly' for a departure from a template &quot;tinker, tailor, soldier, spy&quot; or what have you.Old D&amp;D, with the Monster Manual, and Lords of Creation, with the Book of Foes, are a couple of examples of game designs with that facility. If you're working in a genre with pretty common assumptions -- and &quot;D&amp;D fantasy&quot; is a big one! -- then a lot of stuff is likely to be &quot;plug and play&quot;. Play calls for a goblin, a knight, a dragon? Plug in whatever you've got in your rules set.If the designers have not provided such a &quot;casting department for stock characters&quot;, then it is still something one can make for oneself. When you have occasion to write up a band of bugbears -- or whatever -- don't discard the stats afterward. You can save them for reuse, perhaps with a bit of adjustment, in another scenario.I like games in which it's easy for me to 'eyeball' and improvise stuff of all sorts rather than digging for details in rulebooks. &quot;Is that an African or a European swallow?&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 5081393, member: 80487"] That has long been my experience as well, except when the scenario stands outside the campaign context -- or an "adventure path" [i]is[/i] the campaign context. "Expected PC actions," though, is a basic problem with 'plotted' scenarios in which the designer has gotten too attached to his 'story'. It's a bad sign when boxed 'read-aloud' text refers to assumed PC actions. It is rather to the point of playing a game that one cannot predict the moves, and in a face-to-face game I expect a lot more freedom than in a "pick your path" book! I think that stats are a bigger deal in a scenario when they're a bigger deal in the game. WotC has gone in not only for pretty complicated rules sets, but for packing a lot of complexity into "stat blocks". Hero System is another of many examples. One can get around that with easy access to standard or stereotyped stats, especially if it's easy to interpolate values and so adjust 'on the fly' for a departure from a template "tinker, tailor, soldier, spy" or what have you. Old D&D, with the [i]Monster Manual[/i], and Lords of Creation, with the [i]Book of Foes[/i], are a couple of examples of game designs with that facility. If you're working in a genre with pretty common assumptions -- and "D&D fantasy" is a big one! -- then a lot of stuff is likely to be "plug and play". Play calls for a goblin, a knight, a dragon? Plug in whatever you've got in your rules set. If the designers have not provided such a "casting department for stock characters", then it is still something one can make for oneself. When you have occasion to write up a band of bugbears -- or whatever -- don't discard the stats afterward. You can save them for reuse, perhaps with a bit of adjustment, in another scenario. I like games in which it's easy for me to 'eyeball' and improvise stuff of all sorts rather than digging for details in rulebooks. "Is that an African or a European swallow?" [/QUOTE]

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