Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

[Plane Sailing]

Also, if we're not talking in-game rolls, there were times when you wanted to roll high on percentiles: rolling for psionics and exceptional strength. Didn't psionic combat use percentile dice and higher was better?

I never saw Basic D&D, and lots of wonky stuff got introduced in modules, so I still think that the essential use of the d20 in the initial AD&D rules was still the same basic 'roll high on a d20 to do well'. People writing modules later just didn't get the memo Of course, that later got enshrined in the wacky NWP...

I guess my point is that 1e didn't start out being inconsistent in rolling dice, even though it may have ended up that way.

I take the point on rolling for exceptional strength and psionics being a 'roll high' situation with percentages - although you were not trying to beat a value, but set a value, which I feel is just on the side of OK

Cheers

 

[Bedrockgames]

My answer to the OP is yes and no. I think the system itself was not designed with game balance in mind, the way a lot of modern games are. But I also feel game balance was a huge part of the game. My memories of 1E and 2E involve being more aware of game balance issues as a DM. Balance wasn't built into the game itself, because that was part of the job of the DM, to maintain balance during play.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Bullgrit,

Those posts abou 1e not worrying about balance refer to balance as defined by WotC. Eggs and grizzlies.

Also, I assume, the source of all those "No"s.


RC

 

[Scribble]

Bullgrit,

Those posts abou 1e not worrying about balance refer to balance as defined by WotC. Eggs and grizzlies.


RC

Well... I'd say yes and no to this one.

True, the two versions of the game have different ways of trying to achieve it, but the end goal is the same- a balanced game.

It seems the later versions of the game feel that balance is better achieved in different ways then the earlier editions attempted it. You might agree or disagree with the thought, but the end is the same- both games are/were attempting to find the same end.

Balance is balance, so not really "eggs and grizzlies."

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

I never saw Basic D&D, and lots of wonky stuff got introduced in modules, so I still think that the essential use of the d20 in the initial AD&D rules was still the same basic 'roll high on a d20 to do well'. People writing modules later just didn't get the memo Of course, that later got enshrined in the wacky NWP...

I think the idea of the "ability check" in 1E modules came from the usage in the spell Dig. That was the very first Dex check formalized in the core rule books.

 

[Raven Crowking]

What is t be balanced, what the game is about, how the game is to be played, the role of the DM, how character creation should proceed all affect what "balance" means within this context.

Eggs and grizzlies. At best.

 

[Scribble]

What is t be balanced, what the game is about, how the game is to be played, the role of the DM, how character creation should proceed all affect what "balance" means within this context.

Eggs and grizzlies. At best.

Still disagree.

All those things are put in place in order to achieve a balanced game; they don't redefine balance. The end point remains the same- the path we take is the difference.

 

[Gentlegamer]

What is t be balanced, what the game is about, how the game is to be played, the role of the DM, how character creation should proceed all affect what "balance" means within this context.

Eggs and grizzlies. At best.

Go ahead and sign my name on that one.

Any game of a complex nature that takes 5 seconds of design consideration will attempt "balance" as a goal. If "balance" is not attempted as a design goal, the game risks being able to be "solved," which is certainly not something desirable in a RPG.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Still disagree.

Your perogative, of course.

We can agree to disagree.

 

[diaglo]

Is there a precise mathematical definition of "balance" in the context of (A)D&D?

kinda.

there were numerous traps which involved trying to maintain it so your PC could avoid falling into pits, onto spikes, or sliding down a shaft into the unknown.

as well as during combat when climbing over obstacles or up a rope or swinging on a chandelier.

S2 White Plume Mountain has some good uses of it.