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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dragonblade" data-source="post: 2858862" data-attributes="member: 2804">The Epic rules aren't perfect but they work fine enough for me. Anyone who says the game is unplayable at epic levels should play in SHARK's campaign world. Sadly he doesn't post very often but his world is fundamentally designed with the epic level rules in mind.The epic level rules require the fundamental nature of most campaigns to be completely rethought. In all fairness to a lot of DMs, this is a lot of work. Many find it deviates too far from their personal notions of what the game should look like.I'll explore what I consider the three major issues that arise with using the epic level rules, and why they can be an issue for many DMs:1) Epic characters cannot simply appear in a world designed for low-level DnD.Successful epic level play basically requires a DM to have considered it in the design of his campaign world from the very beginning. Before the players even make level 1 characters, you as DM have to be able to foresee a campaign continuing on into epic levels and you should have those assumptions already built into your campaign world from the getgo. Some of the complaints around epic level play stem from the notion that it is unrealistic to run a campaign world where all the NPCs are level 1 commoners, and no epic threats existed while PCs were low level, but now suddenly these threats appear after the PCs level up?And those DMs are right, it is unrealistic, which is why, IMO, a world geared for epic level play will have already considered this and resolved this issue. Some possible resolutions to this problem are the DM might devise a storyline where the players release ancient magic in the world as the campaign progresses, that magic in turn allows for the release or appearance of ever increasing epic level threats. Running this successfully requires the DM to have thought out this storyline well in advance. Something not easy to do.Another option, is to already have epic level NPCs running around. Instead of being 1st level, the average NPC is 10th level. Most monsters should have class levels and so on. Therefore, even when the PCs achieve epic level they stand out, but are not so unique as to upset the balance of the setting. This is a little easier than trying to preplan a massive campaign arc. The drawback of this notion is that it often requires worlds to have a high level of magic that many DMs are not comfortable with.2) Epic by its very nature requires high magicIn the minds of many, fantasy stories are gritty affairs in line with George RR Martin's series or Lord of the Rings. Many DMs, either consciously or subconsciously emulate this atmosphere. However, to run an epic level campaign requires epic level magic, villains, and a campaign setting to contain it all that doesn't break down. Epic level gaming has much more in common with superhero comics than gritty fantasy novels. If you are willing to embrace that, you can get epic level gaming to work for you. If not, then you won't.3) Epic level adventure writing requires much more outside the box thinking. Thinking is hard. Many people, myself included don't like to do it. Running epic level games requires a lot more thought and planning. When characters can teleport or turn incorporeal, your standard dungeon crawl just doesn't work anymore. When characters have the power to resurrect the dead, then even a dead witness can be questioned. Also writing stat blocks for high level NPCs and monsters can be extremely time consuming. No way around it, epic level gaming is a lot of work for a DM.</blockquote>

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