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<blockquote data-quote="rounser" data-source="post: 4779290" data-attributes="member: 1106">I disagree, there's no way to &quot;warn&quot; the PCs in time, every time, and for them to always get the hint without extensive metagaming from both the DM and players.&nbsp; There's also no way to make sure they escape every time without plot protection (even a faster movement rate can equal TPK every time).And even if you do signal STOP! THESE FIRE GIANTS WILL KILL YOU by some corny means, you run into the problem of then trying to communicate a way of greenlighting them a few levels down the line when they're an appropriate challenge.&nbsp; No NPC short of a diety or some omniscient sage or oracle knows what is level appropriate for the PCs at this time, so you're stuck.The red flag is therefore IMO a poor solution to the problems posed by sandbox play.&nbsp; Superior is the mechanism employed by CRPGs, that of scaling up the walkovers and scaling down the certain TPKs so that they're just within the range of playability (i.e. an easy fight but not a complete cakewalk, and a dangerous fight but not a certain TPK).&nbsp; A computer program is probably needed to semi-automate this restatting required by scaling.If you have verisimilitude problems with this (e.g. kobolds being tougher just because the PCs are high level), then consider that they will be dwarfed by those of a stop light campaign which is continually and unsubtlely flashing red and green lights at PCs whenever they encounter anything new.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="rounser, post: 4779290, member: 1106"] I disagree, there's no way to "warn" the PCs in time, every time, and for them to always get the hint without extensive metagaming from both the DM and players. There's also no way to make sure they escape every time without plot protection (even a faster movement rate can equal TPK every time). And even if you do signal STOP! THESE FIRE GIANTS WILL KILL YOU by some corny means, you run into the problem of then trying to communicate a way of greenlighting them a few levels down the line when they're an appropriate challenge. No NPC short of a diety or some omniscient sage or oracle knows what is level appropriate for the PCs at this time, so you're stuck. The red flag is therefore IMO a poor solution to the problems posed by sandbox play. Superior is the mechanism employed by CRPGs, that of scaling up the walkovers and scaling down the certain TPKs so that they're just within the range of playability (i.e. an easy fight but not a complete cakewalk, and a dangerous fight but not a certain TPK). A computer program is probably needed to semi-automate this restatting required by scaling. If you have verisimilitude problems with this (e.g. kobolds being tougher just because the PCs are high level), then consider that they will be dwarfed by those of a stop light campaign which is continually and unsubtlely flashing red and green lights at PCs whenever they encounter anything new. [/QUOTE]

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