The amount of work really does seem to be what turns people off to high-level games, from what I've read. Too many numbers to track. And having run a game for six years now, all the way from 1st level to its current stratospheric 32nd- I can sympathize. 
This game has actually been Epic since 2004, so character advancement has slowed in recent years; part of the reason for that is that with so many options and so much to do the players take longer to figure out what to do in a given situation, and argue longer about which plot threads to pursue and how to go about doing it. Combats with opponents that actually challenge the party take longer to run; one battle that we spent about two and a half years of real time building up to (the battle with the Uvuudaum Sorcerer that I've mentioned in other threads) took two and a half full game sessions (six hour sessions for this game on average) to resolve- and it represented only about three minutes of game time.
That said, I do strongly prefer the types of challenges and stories that can be told at these ultra-high levels, to anything at lower levels or even the standard "sweet spot-" my own sweet spot starts around level 14 and goes up from there. Low-level games are just boring to me- they don't feel nearly epic or legendary enough. I like to feel like the events happening in the game are important, will be felt for generations to come, will leave an impression on the world (or the cosmos) forever afterward. Saving a hamlet from a goblin assault just doesn't have that feel, even if it required incredible teamwork and tactical thinking to pull off for the 1st-level characters assigned to do it.
Now, discovering that the mad wizard who took over that dwarven kingdom a hundred years ago and turned it into his own personal Dungeon of Doom, did so because he fought a Being From Beyond Reality and managed after an epic fight to contain the Thing below this mountain- not kill it- and that the artifact he used to contain the being is powered by souls of sentient creatures sacrificed to it, thus requiring the wizard to find a way to kill people regularly for years or decades to come... and after discovering that, figuring out how to resolve the situation and deal with the Thing Once And For All- that is a story I like to hear. It's full of legendary dramatic impact, and has a battle at the end that all involved can remember fondly for the rest of their lives as The Day We Saved The World (or Lost The World To The Madness From Beyond if the PCs lose). That is adventure.
My talks with other gamers in my area have led me to the conclusion that many, if not most, people actually feel the same way in terms of storytelling and dramatic impact in their roleplaying- but the incredible work necessary to pull off a plot like that is a huge hurdle to get over. Most people just aren't comfortable even with the early stages of trying to do so. I think the success of White Wolf's Exalted, which features such epic plots while not requiring nearly the amount of work to pull it off that D&D does, shows just how many such gamers are out there.
This game has actually been Epic since 2004, so character advancement has slowed in recent years; part of the reason for that is that with so many options and so much to do the players take longer to figure out what to do in a given situation, and argue longer about which plot threads to pursue and how to go about doing it. Combats with opponents that actually challenge the party take longer to run; one battle that we spent about two and a half years of real time building up to (the battle with the Uvuudaum Sorcerer that I've mentioned in other threads) took two and a half full game sessions (six hour sessions for this game on average) to resolve- and it represented only about three minutes of game time.That said, I do strongly prefer the types of challenges and stories that can be told at these ultra-high levels, to anything at lower levels or even the standard "sweet spot-" my own sweet spot starts around level 14 and goes up from there. Low-level games are just boring to me- they don't feel nearly epic or legendary enough. I like to feel like the events happening in the game are important, will be felt for generations to come, will leave an impression on the world (or the cosmos) forever afterward. Saving a hamlet from a goblin assault just doesn't have that feel, even if it required incredible teamwork and tactical thinking to pull off for the 1st-level characters assigned to do it.
Now, discovering that the mad wizard who took over that dwarven kingdom a hundred years ago and turned it into his own personal Dungeon of Doom, did so because he fought a Being From Beyond Reality and managed after an epic fight to contain the Thing below this mountain- not kill it- and that the artifact he used to contain the being is powered by souls of sentient creatures sacrificed to it, thus requiring the wizard to find a way to kill people regularly for years or decades to come... and after discovering that, figuring out how to resolve the situation and deal with the Thing Once And For All- that is a story I like to hear. It's full of legendary dramatic impact, and has a battle at the end that all involved can remember fondly for the rest of their lives as The Day We Saved The World (or Lost The World To The Madness From Beyond if the PCs lose). That is adventure.
My talks with other gamers in my area have led me to the conclusion that many, if not most, people actually feel the same way in terms of storytelling and dramatic impact in their roleplaying- but the incredible work necessary to pull off a plot like that is a huge hurdle to get over. Most people just aren't comfortable even with the early stages of trying to do so. I think the success of White Wolf's Exalted, which features such epic plots while not requiring nearly the amount of work to pull it off that D&D does, shows just how many such gamers are out there.
