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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7701455" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya.But then, how did everyone manage to play D&amp;D back in 1980 (+/-)? There were no &quot;encounter guidelines&quot; back then. I was 10 then, and started DM'ing at the end of that year. We would trade off DM'ing every module or two (initially, for the first two years or so; then it was either me or one other guy). Back in those days, you either &quot;had the DM'ing skill, or you didn't&quot;. I did, as well as another friend named Chris. It wasn't until late 80's that I found another friend who could also DM. Since those days I've played with many folk. Out of nigh-on-40 years of this RPG'ing stuff, I think the number of DM's I've come across is...let me count...6. What's my point? My point is that anyone who can't figure out, learn, or otherwise &quot;get it&quot; (DM'ing) to write fun, exciting, and challenging adventures without the aid of mathematical formulas or a computer...er...well, maybe DM'ing isn't for them. Writing &quot;balanced encounters&quot; isn't about numbers, CR's and DPR...it's about experience and knowing your players. Charts, tables and mathematical formula are not going to cut it. Well done charts, tables and math can be used as tools to help a DM, but really &quot;knowing&quot; if something is going to be easy, average, tough, or deadly is something that, IMHO, just needs to be learned over time.(sorry for the &quot;smugness&quot; of this, but it's hard to not come off that way when talking from experience)^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pming, post: 7701455, member: 45197"] Hiya. But then, how did everyone manage to play D&D back in 1980 (+/-)? There were no "encounter guidelines" back then. I was 10 then, and started DM'ing at the end of that year. We would trade off DM'ing every module or two (initially, for the first two years or so; then it was either me or one other guy). Back in those days, you either "had the DM'ing skill, or you didn't". I did, as well as another friend named Chris. It wasn't until late 80's that I found another friend who could also DM. Since those days I've played with many folk. Out of nigh-on-40 years of this RPG'ing stuff, I think the number of DM's I've come across is...let me count...6. What's my point? My point is that anyone who can't figure out, learn, or otherwise "get it" (DM'ing) to write fun, exciting, and challenging adventures without the aid of mathematical formulas or a computer...er...well, maybe DM'ing isn't for them. Writing "balanced encounters" isn't about numbers, CR's and DPR...it's about experience and knowing your players. Charts, tables and mathematical formula are [I]not[/I] going to cut it. Well done charts, tables and math can be used as [I]tools[/I] to help a DM, but really "knowing" if something is going to be easy, average, tough, or deadly is something that, IMHO, just needs to be learned over time. (sorry for the "smugness" of this, but it's hard to not come off that way when talking from experience) ^_^ Paul L. Ming [/QUOTE]

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