Re: Difficulty Balance

"Mary K. Kuhner" <mkkuhner@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
news:eo6mcm$26r$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
's go through these one by one

> One is:  do the characters have time?

I don't see this as a time issue because it's character focused, 
role-playing it is role-playing it. You may not think the result fun, and 
you may therefore withdraw from the game, but it is what it is and it is 
most certainly not something I thought of as time nor is it now.

I'd use the term pressure myself.


> The other is:  does the player have time?

This is the "speed chess" option I mention, but again- time isn't the 
primary cause.

Instead the group has chosen a game system who's complexity and/or
overhead 
(which is not related to adventure difficulty) is too great for their time

restraints. Many systems play much faster and with less mechanical effort.

Either switch to a system suitable to the time constraint, or extend the 
time limit.

Again, I don't see this as time issue. The player may wish to express it 
that way, but what they are really saying is "I don't have time to play
this 
using D&D".


> Or the player may simply be overloaded.  In _Zenith Trajectory_ I
> could not think about what my PCs were thinking and feeling; I was going
> crazy just trying to track spell durations and the like.

Same as the above, use a system the player can handle.


> I do roleplay better when the scenario is easier.  I'm sorry you find
that
> offensive, but damn it, it's true.

Frankly I don't care if it's true for you. If you want to claim that you
can 
only role-play when dipped in low fat butter, I have no choice but to
assume 
it's true.

What I care about is blanket statements that imply its true for everyone, 
including myself. Which is exactly the battle with fighting with Simon
Smith 
right now. I also dislike expression a problem in the wrong time (time in 
this case) because I have to translate terms when I next see them used.