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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6242047" data-attributes="member: 42582">Agreed - both that it's a good module and that it needs some of its filler cut out.I have to confess I never paid Kobold Hall much attention.P2, the Drow one, isn't hopeless. I also had some fun with H2, but it needs serious revision/adaptation.*******************Here is the introduction to D&D classes from two PHBs:AD&D PHB pp 7, 18 [O]ne player must serve as the Dungeon Master . . . The other participants become adventurers by creating characters to explore the fantastic world and face all of its challenges . . . [E]ach charcter begins at the bottom of his or her chosen class (or profession). By successfully meeting the challenges posed, they gain experience and move upwards in power . . . Character class refers to the profession of the player character. The approach you wish to take to the game, how you believe you can most successfully meet the challenges it poses, and which role you desire to play are dictated [sic] by character class (or multi-class). . . It is up to you to select what class you desire your character to be. AD&D 2nd ed PHB pp 25-26 After choosing your character's race, you select his character class. A character class is like a profession or career. . . Your character is assumed to have some previous training and guidance before beginning his adventuring career Now, armed with a little knowledge, your character is ready to make his name and fortune. . . Each character class . . . has different special powers and abilities that are available only to that class. . . Experience points measure what a character has learned and how he has improved his skill during the course of his adventures. Characters earn experience points by completing adventures and by doing things specifically related to their class. . . When they accumulate enough, they rise to the next level of experience, gaining aditional abilities and powers. Level is a measure of the character's power. . . Diffrent character classes improve at different rates. Each increase in level improves the character's survivability and skills.I don't think it's unreasonable to read the first of these and expect comparable mechanical effectiveness across different classes - the choice of class is presented as one of role and approach, not power and effectiveness.The second extract is similar in its emphasis on class differentiation, but is more ambivalent about class power because of its reference to different classes improving at different rates - although the precise import of this is unclear. (As a new player I would definitely be inclined to ask: which class improves quickest, because I want that one! I might then be disappointed to be stuck with a thief, which I think is a hard class for a new D&D player to play effectively.)*******************I missed this yesterday, but it's an interesting point."DM fiat" is not, itself, pejorative - it's description of a technique. But I think you are right to ask whether those who dislike it are thereby rejecting drama resolution. I think the answer is "not entirely". "Say yes or roll the dice" creates room for drama as a resolution technique: it's just that it is under tight parameters. The GM has ultimate say over genre/credibility issues, but provided a player's described action for his/her PC satisfies this threshold the GM must say "yes" or else move things away from drama to something else (fortune, if we take "roll the dice" literally) as a resolution mode.With this in mind, I therefore think that hostility to GM fiat is not hostility to drama resolution per se, but to certain modes of drama resolution that are at odds with player protagonism.</blockquote>

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