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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 9171912" data-attributes="member: 996">80s D&D was, until the advent of 5e, the most popular version of D&D ever, in terms of units moved. Insomuch as we have any information at all on that sort of thing. (Briefly)  "more popular than monopoly" was a TSR claim, back in the day, for instance.  In the midst of some broader point, Mearls or someone at WotC let drop that the '83 Basic set was the single best-selling individual D&D product of all time (at the time, 5e, with no two-prong approach and a larger demographic of potential customers, has surely dunked that record).The treadmill idea is another one of those dogwhistles for balance.Yes, if you have class balance, encounter design becomes easier as party capability is more of a known quantity.The easier encounter design becomes, the more readily a DM can design a challenge (combat in most eds, or skill challenge or out of combat task or whatever) that will be exactly as challenging to a high level character as a different, lower level challenge, was to the same character in the past.Thing is, it also becomes easier to design a more or less challenging encounter than that.  The treadmill assertion is that the DM must churn out exactly the same degree of challenge, every level, because balance makes it possible.  But balance makes it possible to consistently design challenges close to the DMs intent more easily and consistently, regardless of whether that intent is high, low, reasonable, or, most likely, varies with the progress of the campaign.It's been an historical fighting style in widely separated periods and cultures.   <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🤷‍♂️" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2642.png" title="Man shrugging    :man_shrugging:" data-shortname=":man_shrugging:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> Typically a dueling or street-fighting style rather than a battlefield one, from the very little I can recall on the subject.</blockquote>

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