Author Topic: Keeping the game balanced  (Read 7207 times)

Offline Sanctaphrax

  • White Council
  • Seriously?
  • ****
  • Posts: 12405
    • View Profile
Re: Keeping the game balanced
« Reply #15 on: February 26, 2018, 08:27:21 AM »
With all due respect, potestas, attitudes like this one:

This game is about wizards not the add ons. If you have a player who wants to play a wolf make sure they understand there taking a secondary support role. Create situation where the secondary support roles shine.

are pretty much the exact problem.

This doesn't really have anything to do with video games. Doesn't even have all that much to do with mechanical balance, except as a proxy. It's simply not acceptable to write off some of the people at the table as secondary support players.

If wizards are mechanically overpowered, that's a manageable issue. If wizards are the True Protagonists, that's a catastrophic issue.

Offline whitelaughter

  • Conversationalist
  • **
  • Posts: 126
    • View Profile
Re: Keeping the game balanced
« Reply #16 on: February 26, 2018, 12:34:44 PM »
If wizards are mechanically overpowered, that's a manageable issue. If wizards are the True Protagonists, that's a catastrophic issue.
[nods]
And the thing is - they clearly are not.
The gimmick of the game is that is written by a werewolf, with input from a pair of vanilla mortals who moonlight as Knights, a talking skull and, yes, a wizard...who repeatedly goes on about not underestimating mortals/lesser talents and so forth.
The books are really the story of "who gets to slap Dresden around this week", or possibly "humans Mouse has owned".
A post of "I don't understand" will be ignored. The comment needs to say *what* bits you don't understand, and what bits you think you do, to be be worth responding to.

Offline CaptianRowin

  • Lurker
  • Posts: 5
    • View Profile
Re: Keeping the game balanced
« Reply #17 on: February 27, 2018, 07:50:47 PM »

To me its about the players sitting across the table, Are they having fun and engaged? If the werewolf player is looking at his phone because the wizard just stole the show..... again, then as a GM im going to correct the imbalance. But I am also lucky to have good communication with my party, we talk about this stuff and discuss ways to keep everyone happy. I was hoping this topic would be a good discussion about creative ways to help when other GMs see an imbalance growing within there games. For me I have slightly adjusted the way I run encounters by having a couple of back to back combats that quickly wears out our wizard before they face the big bad guy. It adds tension and a easy fix.

Offline Taran

  • Posty McPostington
  • ***
  • Posts: 9863
    • View Profile
    • Chip
Re: Keeping the game balanced
« Reply #18 on: February 27, 2018, 08:05:38 PM »
Good point here.  You clear your stress track at the end of a scene.   A single combat tends to be its own scene but it doesn’t have to be.  A series of combats could be a single ‘scene’ which puts more stress (no pun intended) on all the characters.   Wizards more so than those with recovery or toughness powers.