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[Very Long] Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War: a Key Difference in D&D Play Styles...
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5828476" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Well, fair enough. As I say, I haven't read the 3.x DMGs (and don't have them and thus probably won't read them at this point). I'll take your word for it. AD&D said zip-nada about any sort of encounter design that I can remember, at least in terms of balance. The basic 1e assumption was dungeon crawl and thus the conceit was "you go to the dungeon level that will challenge you" and then maybe the DM will use some dirty tricks like sloping passages or whatever to make you take on tougher things. Given that 1e (and slightly less so 2e) characters were pretty much glass the party was pretty close to ALWAYS in over its head anyway.</p><p></p><p>Oddly in my neck of the woods we were always pretty conscious of challenge level though even back then, at least for lower level PCs. Character death was common enough, but no more so than it is in my 4e campaigns nowadays. You could, and can, get in over your head, and being clever is always a good idea. OTOH I'll telegraph to some degree, so you're not going to just run smack into a killer encounter without knowing you're going for the high risk option. </p><p></p><p>Like I say, it seems like as long as you're understanding what way is up as a DM 4e runs for us a LOT like 2e did. The world is a dangerous place, but it rewards intelligent play with reasonably achievable opponents. Now and then things do go bad for the party of course. I can certainly remember our mid 70's days though when my sister's group first went in my dungeon and died hard on like the 2nd encounter!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 5828476, member: 82106"] Well, fair enough. As I say, I haven't read the 3.x DMGs (and don't have them and thus probably won't read them at this point). I'll take your word for it. AD&D said zip-nada about any sort of encounter design that I can remember, at least in terms of balance. The basic 1e assumption was dungeon crawl and thus the conceit was "you go to the dungeon level that will challenge you" and then maybe the DM will use some dirty tricks like sloping passages or whatever to make you take on tougher things. Given that 1e (and slightly less so 2e) characters were pretty much glass the party was pretty close to ALWAYS in over its head anyway. Oddly in my neck of the woods we were always pretty conscious of challenge level though even back then, at least for lower level PCs. Character death was common enough, but no more so than it is in my 4e campaigns nowadays. You could, and can, get in over your head, and being clever is always a good idea. OTOH I'll telegraph to some degree, so you're not going to just run smack into a killer encounter without knowing you're going for the high risk option. Like I say, it seems like as long as you're understanding what way is up as a DM 4e runs for us a LOT like 2e did. The world is a dangerous place, but it rewards intelligent play with reasonably achievable opponents. Now and then things do go bad for the party of course. I can certainly remember our mid 70's days though when my sister's group first went in my dungeon and died hard on like the 2nd encounter! [/QUOTE]
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[Very Long] Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War: a Key Difference in D&D Play Styles...
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