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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 177545" data-attributes="member: 1645">Well put.&nbsp; Of course, this &quot;Red Queen&quot; situation is a staple of D&amp;D DMing.&nbsp; First you fight Goblins, then Orcs, then Gnolls, then Bugbears, then Ogres, and so on.&nbsp; Oddly, you don't seem to run into Goblins much once you're a famous warrior (but when you do, they're suddenly much smarter than the Goblins you used to fight, and they ambush, set traps, use poison, etc.).In any attack on D&amp;D, the defenders loudly proclaim its simplicity.&nbsp; Certain elements are simple.&nbsp; Some are simple and good, some simple and bad.&nbsp; Other elements are downright complicated though.&nbsp; Just try handing a 10th-level Wizard to your niece to play as her first character.Many, many alternative games saw D&amp;D as simple and unrealistic -- and they saw &quot;unrealistic&quot; as meaning both implausible and not gritty.&nbsp; So they aimed for high complexity (lots of rules, lots of charts), high plausability, and grittiness (low power, high lethality).Whenever anyone attacks an implausible D&amp;D mechanic then, the cry goes out, &quot;If I wanted to crunch numbers and keep detailed track of numbers, I'd be an accountant!&quot; (as ThenHeCame put it).But plausible mechanics don't have to be more complex or less heroic.&nbsp; Just because armor-as-AC and ever-increasing Hit Points are simple doesn't mean any alternatives have to be complex (or gritty).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 177545, member: 1645"] Well put. Of course, this "Red Queen" situation is a staple of D&D DMing. First you fight Goblins, then Orcs, then Gnolls, then Bugbears, then Ogres, and so on. Oddly, you don't seem to run into Goblins much once you're a famous warrior (but when you do, they're suddenly much smarter than the Goblins you used to fight, and they ambush, set traps, use poison, etc.). In any attack on D&D, the defenders loudly proclaim its simplicity. Certain elements are simple. Some are simple and good, some simple and bad. Other elements are downright complicated though. Just try handing a 10th-level Wizard to your niece to play as her first character. Many, many alternative games saw D&D as simple and unrealistic -- and they saw "unrealistic" as meaning both implausible and [i]not[/i] gritty. So they aimed for high complexity (lots of rules, lots of charts), high plausability, and grittiness (low power, high lethality). Whenever anyone attacks an implausible D&D mechanic then, the cry goes out, "If I wanted to crunch numbers and keep detailed track of numbers, I'd be an accountant!" (as ThenHeCame put it). But plausible mechanics don't have to be more complex or less heroic. Just because armor-as-AC and ever-increasing Hit Points are simple doesn't mean any alternatives have to be complex (or gritty). [/QUOTE]

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