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<blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 3412154" data-attributes="member: 18280">Except, isn't that actually in keeping with the CR/EL and encounter design parameters in the DMG?&nbsp; X% of encounters are APL, X% of encounters are APL -X.&nbsp; Etc.?&nbsp; I don't have either book (WLD or DMG) in front of me, and the guidelines might have changed with the jump to 3.5.Fair enough, but it still drives home exactly the point I am making:(1)&nbsp; WLD is an ambitious project, which utilized the talents of DMs who, presumably, are above-average designers.(2)&nbsp; The editors are above average designers who, even under a time crunch, surely would have noticed the problems in ten minutes were they obvious enough.Therefore(3)&nbsp; It is difficult for even above-average designers to design effective encounters for 15-18th level PCs, given that (a)&nbsp; They cannot take the specific players into account, and
(b)&nbsp; They cannot take the specific characters into account.and (4) It is difficult for even above-average designers to realize that there is a problem with design ahead of time unless they have large amounts of time to go over the material.Which gets back to your point about the DM doing his homework.&nbsp; How much worlk does the average DM wish to do?&nbsp; How much work is the average DM capable of doing?I suggest that this might be one (of several) real reason why you see less high-level than low-to-mid-level play.Even Dragon Magazine ran an article on this.&nbsp; You don't target the BBEG, you target his stooge.&nbsp; Then you wait for said stooge to enter the BBEG's presence.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Raven Crowking, post: 3412154, member: 18280"] Except, isn't that actually in keeping with the CR/EL and encounter design parameters in the DMG? X% of encounters are APL, X% of encounters are APL -X. Etc.? I don't have either book (WLD or DMG) in front of me, and the guidelines might have changed with the jump to 3.5. Fair enough, but it still drives home exactly the point I am making: (1) WLD is an ambitious project, which utilized the talents of DMs who, presumably, are above-average designers. (2) The editors are above average designers who, even under a time crunch, surely would have noticed the problems in ten minutes were they obvious enough. Therefore (3) It is difficult for even above-average designers to design effective encounters for 15-18th level PCs, given that [INDENT](a) They cannot take the specific players into account, and (b) They cannot take the specific characters into account.[/INDENT] and (4) It is difficult for even above-average designers to realize that there is a problem with design ahead of time unless they have large amounts of time to go over the material. Which gets back to your point about the DM doing his homework. How much worlk does the average DM wish to do? How much work is the average DM [i]capable[/i] of doing? I suggest that this might be one (of several) real reason why you see less high-level than low-to-mid-level play. Even Dragon Magazine ran an article on this. You don't target the BBEG, you target his stooge. Then you wait for said stooge to enter the BBEG's presence. [/QUOTE]

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