When Adventure Designers Cheat

[lukelightning]

Sometimes. Let's not confuse the worst DMs/designers who do this for ALL DMs and designers who do this.

Myself, I prefer to throw a hard situation at my players and know they'll figure something out.

That's fine. Let the players figure out a solution. I'm talking about situations in which the designer or DM has thought of one single solution and has mandated that this is the one and only solution; e.g. the "unbreakable door of unbreakableness and you can't break the wall nearby either and can't teleport beyond and magic doesn't work on it and it's stronger than adamantine and you can't pick the lock you must find the key which is hidden in 3 parts and then solve the riddle of the Dirty Limmrick..."

If I wanted to do that I'd play a computer game.

I play D&D so that when I'm faced with an incredibly secure/impassible door I can say "well, since it is protected from magic (*dm gave the door spell resistance like a golem*), let me see if I can conjure a powerful elemental to bash it down... darn, it's got a hardness of 20, that will take a long time... oh, I know, how about gaseous form..." etc. until we've figured somethiing out.

 

[Mallus]

You continually strip them of their abilities because you are unable to challenge them otherwise, the wizard becomes a commoner.

The key word here is 'continually'. What if it was 'occasionally'?

And isn't it equally a problem if spellcasting characters become the only ones who can meaningfully contribute solutions? Then the fighter, ranger, monk, etc. become as useful as commoners.

Do you feel the game is ultimately one of magical resource management? I think a strong case can be make for it.

 

[Crothian]

I find them designer fiat and “cheating”.

And what's wrong with that? Why should everything in a magical world always operate exactly the same? What is wrong with a few unique places that magic and things work differently?

 

[lukelightning]

The key word here is 'continually'. What if it was 'occasionally'?

There are so many adventures featuring stripping casters of their spells to make them more challenging it's virtually a cliche.

 

[Stalker0]

I have no problem with a designer coming up with a "cheat" if its cool and well thought out.

For example, the uber cold its so cold room is lame. Now if it had said, the room is so cold your taking 10d6 damage a round, the mass resist cold will definately help but your taking damage...then that's fine.

If a room is so dark daylight won't work that's fine, I could believe a high level darkness spell was used. But if I spend a wish to create an uber daylight spell it should work!!

I think the frictionless room is a neat idea. Basically there's a special magical material out there that has no friction. Bam, cool idea.

Also, planes are a good way to cheat. If the players go to some exotic plane then the rules can get broken all the designer wants, that's one of the benefits of the planes and whey they are good for high level adventurers.

But yeah saying teleportation, fly, true seeing doesn't work just because is a cop out. Its one of the burdens of designing high level adventurers, some times you have to grim and bear the fact that classic challenges just do not apply.

 

[Psion]

Let's put this another way...

Do you think there's any room in the game for challenges/obstacles that cannot be overcome by the use of the proper spell (or character ability)?

Depends upon the scope of what you speak. Does it make sense? Is it just handwaving? Is it a guessing game?

 

[Crothian]

There are so many adventures featuring stripping casters of their spells to make them more challenging it's virtually a cliche.

Or it is just a trend in adventure writing. If it was really done so often, then I would think it must have been pretty well accepted.

 

[Psion]

The key word here is 'continually'. What if it was 'occasionally'?

In that case, my answer is just the opposite. Absolutely. In fact, you should EXPECT IT in my games.

Why? Because second-verse-same-as-the-first gameplay is boring. So letting one gimmick be the solution to all problems is a bad thing.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Hulk Smash! If I'm bound by the rules, then someone who's getting paid to write this stuff ded well better be too! Of course, once the gods are involved, all bets are off.

 

[Psion]

There are so many adventures featuring stripping casters of their spells to make them more challenging it's virtually a cliche.

I noticed that in "years best d20", two of the creature picks are specifically aimed at messing with arcane casters. One I really like, but I frustratingly have been unable to use it, because there seems to be a dearth of arcane casters to use it on.