Power Creep

One of the greatest concerns for any game designer is the evolution of the game inside one edition from a more "balanced" set of abilities, to a series of combinations that create "unbalanced" characters.  It creates a gigantic disparity between a low-level character and a high-level character, and disparities between the normal character and the 'optimized' character.  This leads to creating a more powerful system with the next edition, and it has been occurring as Dungeons and Dragons has aged.  In this way, power creep is shares several characteristics with adaptation and evolution, happening both within editions and across editions.

When systems are released, there is a relative sense of balance across each of the presented character archetypes.  As more and more material is released for the system, the player is able to create a more and more specialized character, allowing the player to create 'optimized' characters.  This disrupts the "balance" of the system that was present during its conception (some exclusions may apply).  As time goes by, there are fewer and fewer ways to build a character that can contribute to the group as much as an 'optimized' character can.  This, of course, leads to creating more content that just ends up disrupting the original balance more, and thus the cycle continues, and the 'power' of the system creeps higher and higher.

Originally, Dungeons and Dragons was very gritty and realistic, as real as sword and sorcery can get, creating situations where a commoner with common materials would do heroic deeds, such as saving the princess, slaying the ogre, or defeating the crypt of the zombie lord.  As the game progressed through its various editions, the stories told have become more grandiose and epic.  It is not just about saving the damsel in distress, it is about saving the multiverse!  (While how this came to be is not the point of this blog, it may be one we discuss down the road.)  The current edition of Dungeons and Dragons (4th edition) is a continuation of this trend.  The largest problem with this style is that as characters become overwhelming powerful, the bad guys have to become overwhelming powerful, and so the scales begin to tip.  While this makes for wonderful stories, it takes its toll on the game system, causing it to appear very lopsided.  The relative power of the high level characters compared to the low level characters make the assault on a castle of one hundred level 4 soldiers by one level 20 warrior a foregone conclusion, the warrior will win with maybe a scratch or two.  This removes much of the realism that was present in the original concept of the genre.

When I began the construction of the game, I knew I would have to create a system that was versatile enough to be used for both 'realistic' games and for 'legendary' games, and then allow for modifications to be used for superheroic games (more on this after the fantasy system is released).  Power Creep was another of the issues I was trying to keep in mind when I was designing this system, and I have been extremely happy with the way it has been mitigated.  I hope you will all think so also, when I get this system posted up.

"Why am I doing this?"

A good question to start off the blog with.  I have played role-playing games (like Dungeons and Dragons®, Star Wars®, Mutants and Masterminds®) for over 20 years.  For the first ten years, I had a blast playing with what the rules allowed, but I began to grow frustrated with the games around the 10 year mark.  I wasn't sure what was beginning to "suck" the enjoyment out of the game, so both my group and I started moving around from game system to game system, trying to find a game that we liked playing.  Enjoying was the easy part, we had a great group of players who were really close and did more activities together than just gaming. 

During this period, I started to say to myself "I don't want to play another fighter", we were playing 2nd edition AD&D® at the time.  There was no real difference between Bob the Fighter and Frank the fighter.  So, I set to making my own classes, using the base classes as a guideline.  This was really my first attempt to create something for a game that I had only participated in previously.  Not only did I enjoy creating the classes, I was re-invigorated to play the games.  I continued to create more and more content for the games until I finally came to the realization in 2000, that I should create my own.  And so, the process began.

While working on this for the past 10 years, I have come to some realizations about what I didn't like about those other games (and it has caused many revisions).  Topics I will be diving into, in future blog topics to highlight what makes Viking Baby Games so special compared to all the other games out there.   Among them, are the idea of impossible probabilities, concept shoehorning, overpowering progression, and time-consuming complexity.  My hope is that you will look at the game, play the game, and notice how we successfully navigate these issues to continue giving your character's the feel of adventure, danger and ultimately heroic success.

I entreat you to join us on our voyage!