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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 5041778" data-attributes="member: 15538">Only if you accept a modern definition of game balance that describes nothing in the real world. Fact: Every game has suboptimal choices. Fact: Any "balanced" character can be felled by bad rolling. This statement is only true if you take balance to mean:- Scene by scene balance- Balance as consisting partly of consistency- Balance as according all PCs some piece of the action in virtually all scenarios- Fear is not an optionIn fact, I think these are all impossible and undesirable goals.- Scene by scene balance is boring because it is predictable, on one gets much of a moment in the spotlight, and it limits the character concepts that can be permitted. It also restricts all PCs to having similar resource use, when we know that in other games, different resource use is often a fun play element and in fiction, characters often have different resource use.- Consistency is poo. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if I have an 18/00 strength and get wacked by a stray arrow or a 9 Strength and roll maximum damage against a 3rd level NPC magic-user. Wild fortune is part of the fun of playing a game. Some consistency is useful, but ultimately, what people want is predictability. Characters in Call of Cthulhu are largely doomed, but it's not a big deal to veterans of the game because you know that going in. It's hard to argue that two players in AD&D, one with a fighter, one with a M-U, are saddled with a choice they felt was unfavorable to their goals.- Balance by keeping everyone busy all the time sucks. Not everyone likes combat equally, or negoations. Just about everyone wants to use their special super power in their Spotlight Episode, or better, everyone gets a chance to in the Teamwork Episode. Sometimes it's time to get a Mountain Dew. Sometimes one player is less skilled than others and feels frustrated by being asked to be a full contributor to battle tactics. Some characters are deliberately designed around incompetence, whether it's Grunt Thog the fighter or Tuperculosus the Sorcerer or Lil Weasel the thief.- Fear is important. Frankly, I think getting too attached to a PC is the symptom of an immature mentality. In some genres, PC death is common, in others rare. Either way, you knew the risks when you picked up the dice. 1st level M-Us wembling about whether to use up their spell, or whether to draw their dagger and join a fray once they are out of them, is actually a potentially interesting and therefore fun choice. One of the underestimated strenghs of AD&D is that 1st level and 10th level are not so far apart; anyone could be petrified, anyone could fall into a spiked pit, anyone could have his weapon turned to rust. You can put 2nd level and 6th level characters in the same adventure, and indeed, part of the fun becomes shephreding the lowbies up to the next level. If this stuff weren't fun, clickie-tactical-CRPGs would not exist... Freedom Force would have bombed. This is why critical hits were one of the most frequent house rules in AD&D, because they increased terror and nail-biting.</blockquote>

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