Quote from: Erik BoielleWell no, but it is very easy to end up with players feeling so outclassed they just can't see a way to do anything.

I've wasted to much time in games hiding out from the plot because its to damn dangerous to get involved with, and even if I did I wouldn't have the skills or resources to make an impact.

I'd say this is a "my GM is a dork" problem, not to do specifically with the game's being low-powered or high-powered.

I mean, you could be 1st level schmucks in D&D, and have the GM throw heaps of bugbears and trolls at you, and you'd be toast. Or you could be 10th level heroes, and have the GM send Asmodeus, Jubilex, and Tiamat at you. If the GM wants to overpower the PCs, they can, doesn't matter how powerful or wussy the PCs are. And that's a dorky thing to do. It's boring. The GM may as well go back to the good old, "rocks fall - you die!" Wow, what fun.

It's also a matter of assumptions about the game world - what's the power level curve look like? Are there a shitload of 1st level schmucks running around, and then a few 15th level god-level types who rule? Can a young adventurer be clawed to death in one round by an angry pussycat, while an experienced adventurer can leap off a thousand-foot cliff, confident that they'll survive the fall? In that sort of system, yeah, power levels matter a lot. Being weak sucks.

But if you've a system where power levels are somewhat like the real world, people can't jump off cliffs confident of survival no matter how experienced they are, and the most powerful people are those who've got connections, well then being low-powered isn't so dreadful.

So when people are talking about being low-powered and the GM stomping on them, I think what they've got in their mind is this assumption of some D&D-type system, where low-leveled characters are hopeless, and high-level characters can only be killed by other high-level characters - there's a big power differential.

If you've a system where there's not that big power differential, it's a different thing.

Quote from: O'BorgI suppose if forces people to play a character rather than a set of cool abilities inhabiting a bodyshell.

I don't think anything can force someone to play a character except perhaps a gun to the head or a cleverly built death trap.

Some people game for the roleplaying others are more casual, and still others gaming for the omg kewl powers. I personally game for a combination of the twinkery and the roleplaying keeps sucking me in.

If someone suggested an invalid game that was more than a oneshot, I'd casually say I'm not interested but tell me how it goes. Same as I'd do for high fantasy super erotic games. It might be fun for a one shot comedy game, I've run a AFMBE Senior citizen game where many of the characters were practically invalids, it ran like Bubba Hotep on steroids. But I couldn't imagine a campaign of it.

I find it more fun to have underwhelming NPCs that the PCs can run roughshod over willy nilly.

Quote from: mrlostI find it more fun to have underwhelming NPCs that the PCs can run roughshod over willy nilly.

Heh, you're so bi-polar.  On the one hand you like to give us mooks to beat up, on the other hand horror is your favorite genre and you like to put us in FUSU situations.  

Quote from: RedFoxHeh, you're so bi-polar.  On the one hand you like to give us mooks to beat up, on the other hand horror is your favorite genre and you like to put us in FUSU situations.  

Yep I give you mooks to beat up and make you look awesome when I'm not running a suspense filled horror game. When I am, you get the opposite. Its taken me awhile but I've come to a solid position my tastes.