Recently we have discussed the topic of the inevitable "level creep" and how more and more characters are advancing in level and skill and thus raising the APL of weekends at various chapters.
Typically the challenge rating of a module, wave battle, weekend crunchies is determined by the APL of the weekend. I know that there are exceptions to this but typically this is what I have found.
Sometimes marshals will allow you to increase the challenge rating of a module for the glory of a harder module and greater rewards. This is fantastic for players who really like a skill/combat challenge.
But what about the players who don't like increasing combat challenges? Okay I know this is going to sound bad so please keep an open mind. I believe that every chapter has a handful of role-play based characters. These characters hang in the tavern, mix it up with the populace, and enjoy figuring things out IG. Some of these characters may have fancy costumes that they don't like walking around outside in. Some of them may have problems seeing at night and prefer not to be involved in night battles. Some of these individuals may just not have the body that physically can handle walking all over a site (especially those with hills). For those of you that run games, I am sure you can think of a few people that fall into this description.
Combat is so important to our game so even though these characters may be primarily RP characters; they still want to feel cool and effective in a fight. Or if they go on a module, they want to be able to make an impact. When you have increasingly high APL events and the combats get more and more difficult--these individuals often times feel out of place and ineffective.
Now you could label them all sorts of things IG or OOG. But they are a segment of our player base and I think that the concern they raise is valid. And though I know that we cannot please everyone, perhaps there are small things that plot committees can do to make the game more fun for these players.
For example:
- RP only modules where combat is not required
- Ability to lower the challenge rating for a module instead of just increase it (i.e. lvl 20 artisan comes with the group but instead of spiking the mod group, the challenge rating is based on resources vs. level)
- Challenge rating wave battles (or more commonly known as the split wave battle by lvl)
I know this is a never ending pain in the rear end for chapters to deal with, especially with monster desk and plot committees. And I HATE to hear that the solution is to perm characters or have them half build so the game goes back down in APL. I think that is a very unrealistic view of things and in an ideal world maybe people would do that--but we are not living in that world.
So I am curious to know how different chapters handle this and/or what players who prefer the lower combat challenges would suggest?
Though combat is important, our game is also a role-play game and I love when I see RP stuff come out. I love to see RP heavy encounters/modules too. Are there examples or stories that we can share at how these type of RP heavy encounters were pulled off successfully?
Thank you for those who join in on the conversation... please no bashing of the style that players choose to play; let's just creatively brainstorm ways to make the game better without changing the rules; just maybe modifying how we implement plot and combat.
Typically the challenge rating of a module, wave battle, weekend crunchies is determined by the APL of the weekend. I know that there are exceptions to this but typically this is what I have found.
Sometimes marshals will allow you to increase the challenge rating of a module for the glory of a harder module and greater rewards. This is fantastic for players who really like a skill/combat challenge.
But what about the players who don't like increasing combat challenges? Okay I know this is going to sound bad so please keep an open mind. I believe that every chapter has a handful of role-play based characters. These characters hang in the tavern, mix it up with the populace, and enjoy figuring things out IG. Some of these characters may have fancy costumes that they don't like walking around outside in. Some of them may have problems seeing at night and prefer not to be involved in night battles. Some of these individuals may just not have the body that physically can handle walking all over a site (especially those with hills). For those of you that run games, I am sure you can think of a few people that fall into this description.
Combat is so important to our game so even though these characters may be primarily RP characters; they still want to feel cool and effective in a fight. Or if they go on a module, they want to be able to make an impact. When you have increasingly high APL events and the combats get more and more difficult--these individuals often times feel out of place and ineffective.
Now you could label them all sorts of things IG or OOG. But they are a segment of our player base and I think that the concern they raise is valid. And though I know that we cannot please everyone, perhaps there are small things that plot committees can do to make the game more fun for these players.
For example:
- RP only modules where combat is not required
- Ability to lower the challenge rating for a module instead of just increase it (i.e. lvl 20 artisan comes with the group but instead of spiking the mod group, the challenge rating is based on resources vs. level)
- Challenge rating wave battles (or more commonly known as the split wave battle by lvl)
I know this is a never ending pain in the rear end for chapters to deal with, especially with monster desk and plot committees. And I HATE to hear that the solution is to perm characters or have them half build so the game goes back down in APL. I think that is a very unrealistic view of things and in an ideal world maybe people would do that--but we are not living in that world.
So I am curious to know how different chapters handle this and/or what players who prefer the lower combat challenges would suggest?
Though combat is important, our game is also a role-play game and I love when I see RP stuff come out. I love to see RP heavy encounters/modules too. Are there examples or stories that we can share at how these type of RP heavy encounters were pulled off successfully?
Thank you for those who join in on the conversation... please no bashing of the style that players choose to play; let's just creatively brainstorm ways to make the game better without changing the rules; just maybe modifying how we implement plot and combat.