Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 4701364" data-attributes="member: 467">I think you're misreading me, at least insofar as "video game references" go. I haven't made any that I'm aware of.Also, it seems disingenuous to suggest that not having a "level inappropriate" thing at all and having a "level inappropriate" thing but not making it mandatory are the same exact thing.  They aren't, not in the least.  if it doesn't exist, it does not factor into player freedom (the most important aspect of the rpg, the one that separates it from other kinds of games) at all, simply because it isn't there.  IF it exists, even if it is rare or unusual or out of the way, it does impact player freedom, simply by virtue of its inclusion. Part of the disconnect here may be deeper than talking about mere setting issues and move into the territory of adventure design and how that relates to "level appropriateness". I do my best *not* to design adventures. Rather, i try and create locations and situations and set the PCs loose.  I do my best to not engage in the "this is what you guys are doing this week" mentality, which I feel is an inhibitor to play, and work toward a "Here's the situation? What do you do?" That is, I do that kind of thing until a campaign theme or adventure emerges from play and then I spend more time and effort creating something truly appropriate for the PCs.One of the reasons that I disdain the "adventure path" mentality is that I can't imagine knowing where the campaign's going to be three sessions down the line, let alone 20 or 30. Players do funny things. They engage the setting and its elements in unexpected ways. Planning adventures is far more a "waste" of time to me than doing setting development, because at least setting development allows me to be consistent while responding on the fly to what the PCs are doing. (It also has the advantage of allowing the campaign and setting to survive the occasional TPK; particular subplots may be lost but the setting and its situations remain even if the party disappears forever in the Tomb of Absolute Deathness.)As it relates to level appropriateness I'll put it this way: you know what's awesome? Watching a 10th level party go back to the 5th level bad guy who sent them running with their tails between their legs when they were 3rd level and not just killing him but razing his fortress and slaughtering his minions to the man/monster. If the world remains apart from the PCs from the level perspective, yet exists no matter what level they are, the PCs have the opportunity to interact with the same elements in different ways at different times.  If the BBEG is always 3 levels higher than the PCs so it will be a "hard" encounter, the losers will always be the PCs -- not matter what they do, no matter how hard they strive, they will never reach a point where they can deal with that villain on their own terms.  This goes for any setting element.</blockquote>

Verification