Game balance: Encyclopedia II - Game balance - Role-playing games

Game balance - Role-playing games

In role-playing games (RPGs) in which a game master (GM) creates or operates the adventure, one of the GM's duties is to create game balance. For example, creating monsters or other adversaries whose abilities are far beyond those of the players is acceptable only if the players have a way to avoid them or do not themselves need to defeat them. According to books such as the Dungeon Master's Guide for Dungeons & Dragons, players involved in such an imbalanced game are likely to complain of unfairness, and because most of the players' characters might also fail or die before their time, the players often feel that they have little power to influence the game with their choices. Conversely, a game whose imbalance favors the players will most often lack challenge and suspense, and typically the players will eventually feel that there is no point to playing. Players are more likely to feel satisfied by playing when the principles of game balance are applied skillfully.

Creating a balanced adventure is one of the challenges of acting as a GM. Most role-playing books that address the issue of being a GM give substantial attention to this issue.

Another aspect of game balance within RPGs is that of balance between the choices made upon character creation, such as race and class. This extends to RPGs that do not use a GM, such as computer and video RPGs. Character creation options that lead to ineffective or less powerful characters will largely go to waste if players feel they are not worth choosing. Players who choose them anyway will be prone to frustration if they feel they are stuck with a character that is inherently disadvantaged, especially after they have invested time and effort in it. Because this aspect of game balance depends most heavily on the rules of an RPG rather than the work of the GM, it is usually the responsibility of the game designer.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Role-playing games", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki