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<blockquote data-quote="Ariosto" data-source="post: 4726625" data-attributes="member: 80487">I have not found it such an issue in superhero games using Marvel Super Heroes loosely, either. I think one reason is the genre. Things that might feel out of place in D&amp;D not only fit, but seem almost necessary. What really matters most is that the player gets to play the character he or she has imagined. I don't use any kind of system to regulate character design, just doing it free-form. It helps to have players who get into the comic-book spirit!Rules-heaviness, I think, has a lot to do with some concepts of balance. Granting that the &quot;character build&quot; aspect of WotC's D&amp;D differs only by degree from mechanical manipulations in old D&amp;D, I think it's a pretty significant degree. New-style players devote way more time and energy to the number-crunching part of the game than anyone I've ever met in an old-style context; it's more like Champions or something!In AD&amp;D, I've found a spread of three levels usually hardly notable, and that characters of at least fourth level can as a rule of thumb often find it worthwhile to join expeditions with characters of up to twice their level. With more risk comes more reward! It pays, of course, to have some idea of what one is getting into; but that lesson should be well learned by then.In D&amp;D, I think it's not very helpful to leave magic items out of the equation. At least pre-3E, that brings in factors such as rarity of items and the dependence of low-level MUs on other classes for a good chance of survival. In my experience, mentioning, &quot;I can do that with a spell!&quot; tends to get treated as an argument for someone else who can use it getting Magic Item X.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ariosto, post: 4726625, member: 80487"] I have not found it such an issue in superhero games using [i]Marvel Super Heroes[/i] loosely, either. I think one reason is the genre. Things that might feel out of place in D&D not only fit, but seem almost necessary. What really matters most is that the player gets to play the character he or she has imagined. I don't use any kind of system to regulate character design, just doing it free-form. It helps to have players who get into the comic-book spirit! Rules-heaviness, I think, has a lot to do with some concepts of balance. Granting that the "character build" aspect of WotC's D&D differs only by degree from mechanical manipulations in old D&D, I think it's a pretty significant degree. New-style players devote [i]way[/i] more time and energy to the number-crunching part of the game than anyone I've ever met in an old-style context; it's more like [i]Champions[/i] or something! In AD&D, I've found a spread of three levels usually hardly notable, and that characters of at least fourth level can as a rule of thumb often find it worthwhile to join expeditions with characters of up to twice their level. With more risk comes more reward! It pays, of course, to have some idea of what one is getting into; but that lesson should be well learned by then. In D&D, I think it's not very helpful to leave magic items out of the equation. At least pre-3E, that brings in factors such as rarity of items and the dependence of low-level MUs on other classes for a good chance of survival. In my experience, mentioning, "I can do that with a spell!" tends to get treated as an argument for someone else who can use it getting Magic Item X. [/QUOTE]

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