Magister wrote:
> A frequent request in starting up the new campaign was that it be
> "challenging but not too difficult".
Note that this could mean challenging puzzles and clue trails,
challenging combat opponents, nitpicky conditional requirements, challenging
a character's morality ....
"Too difficult" can be puzzles you can't solve, clues you don't
recognise, necessary combats you can't win, spells or equipment you didn't
expect to need, or repugnant decisions to make.
"Not challenging" can be puzzles that you can iterate or dice through
without cost, endless clues all pointing the same way, fights without
consequence, no need to prepare anything at all, and not a single character
developing scene in the whole game.
> It would seem to me that almost nobody aims at a game that is
> unchallenging or too difficult, although I suppose some hopeless
> situations (probably horror or post-apocalyptic genres) might be
> appropriately set up as too difficult.
Games for younger kids basically have to be unchallenging. There's a few
games that have /no/ possible challenge and the idea is simply to explore
/how/ the party succeeds.
Where most games still carry a threat of failure or refusal by the PCs.
> I took this as at most an expectation that I would adjust the game
> if it proved to be too easy or too hard.
Subjective difficulty then. If they get stuck, help them out. If they're
cruising, provide an obstacle. You've got to do this at least some times to
move the game along, because IME some players will get stuck on a problem
and refuse to give up. Also, people can lose interest if there's no need to
pay attention, drift off.
> But how does one measure difficulty? Some kind of indication that
> adventure #1 is beyond the player characters but that adventure #2 is
> within their abilities is needed for players to make meaningful
> choices.
Objective difficulty? That depends on what dice you're throwing, some
games have crazy-complex probability curves. For something like d20 you can
just eyeball the DCs and make sure players can make them, check maximum
damage and other nasty effects for monsters (think if players can handle
that happening to the PCs).
> If the player characters have no certain information, they tend to not
> decide--act defensively until the GM drags them into a situation (where
> they can complain if it's beyond their abilities).
Oh! Right. Telling the players about it in character. I sort areas of
the map into tiers and make it clear what size army is required to venture
into which parts. Sewers? Don't go don't there on your own. Docks at night?
The patrols won't go there. Old forest road? Even the biggest caravans won't
travel it now. Bleak mountain? Not even the biggest army.
> I don't want to be the one deciding if something is too tough or not,
> but I'm not sure what information I can consistently provide that will
> leave the real decision in the players' hands.
If all else fails, super-dangerous things are not subtle. Poisonous
spiders and frogs have bright markings, tigers and lions growl, dragons
glide far overhead, and great demons and elder undead twist and distort the
local environment so the trees bleed, the sun flickers, animals are long
gone, and the stench of sulfur and death is everywhere.
--
tussock