Why do we play these games?

[Rex]

No question that Inferno runs a great game. One of the DMs where they post a looking for players and you know you are going top reply even before reading any of the details.

[atpollard]

Thanks for the kind words, hedge. Those were good characters and good deaths.

Do level 3 Adventurers have a chance of encountering an Ancient Red Dragon? Why or why not?

Sure: viewtopic.php?p=520513#p520513

This was an experimental one-shot game set in an alternative reality Middle Earth, so the 3rd level PCs could be the primary heroes. I think I had Smaug as Very Old, not Ancient.

That was enlightening.

I admire your CRAFT at PbP.
I abhor your "Russian Roulette" campaign style ... [imho] it almost demands rules-lawyering to min/max the character (game the rules) IF "survival" is one of the player's goals.
Clearly, there are MANY that love it.
It is important to know what one enjoys and what one does not enjoy.

I have TWO absolute rules in my games:

1. Do not break the 2d6 curve. [manifests as limits on stacking modifiers to maintain "swingy" dice rather than lots of "auto-success/auto-fail" situations].
2. This is a GAME, so we are here to have FUN.

Your style seems to be the antithesis of BOTH of my personal (absolute) rules ... (by rewarding hyperspecialized warriors and creating scenarios where choices matter less than random rolls - more "Blackjack" and less "ROLE-playing").

In more TRADITIONAL D&D games, there is a concept of matching CHARACTER LEVELS to the MODULE LEVEL. This is, de facto, the very sort of "safety net" that y'all are so vocally decrying as "NOT REALLY A GAME"!!! While there are some silly aspects to the whole "level" concept and "balance" has always been more of an illusion than a reality, it IS A MECHANIC to create 'manageable risk' for players' characters. A Level 2 Fighter will not encounter a wandering Vampire and be instantly slain because of "bad luck". The third level party will not begin in the Queen of the Deamonweb Pits Module. However, in a true magical world with truly "anything can happen" random events, a starting party could encounter an Orc Patrol, or be ambushed by a hunting Dragon. The RULES AS WRITTEN placed a thumb on the scale to limit the risk of death. They gave HEROES generally greater HP than their foes and allowed them -10 before death. All of these are RULES MECHANICS that codify the "Hero Journey" to create a RISK of death while maintaining the PROBABILITY of survival.

I cannot speak to what MOST people enjoy, but entering a game knowing that the PROBABILITY is that half the group will live and half will die is definitely a "player expectation" that should be clear from the beginning, because that is NOT how the rules were created. Enjoy it all you wish, but as I stated, it smacks of "Russian Roulette" to me and ... that is not my definition of a GAME or FUN.

That is DEFINITELY not why I play.
Caio.

[Leitz]

atpollard knows I routinely do rude things to the 2d6 curve but I like HAVE FUN as a rule. He ran a game on a different board and the parameters were difficult for me: the character types I liked were either taken or not needed, characters started out at "low level", and my character was basically the trigger monkey security guard for the main players.

Four years and half a million words later we wrapped up the game. I've written eight books set in that "universe" and have material for several more. Writing those books has given me a chance to encourage friends, give an up and coming artist some business, heal a little bit, and achieve a life long dream.

I'm not trying to convince everyone to only play the sort of game I like, but to speak for those who might be interested.

[Inferno]

Thanks for the kind words, Rex!

Thanks for the feedback, atpollard.