TOPIC: Ebay Ring of Regeneration

I think it would be way easier to make the monsters and puzzles harder.  I really dislike the idea of penalties.<br />

Having variable room difficulties puts a burden on DMs to remember different room configurations and puts the burden on them to findout (quickly) if the party is Normal or Hardcore.  It also tends to limits the number of levels of difficulties you can have and it limits the types of changes that you can implement (Monster AC, monster bonus to hit, damage, and DCs.)  Beyond that you have no control over difficulty.

I just don't get the clamoring to have additional levels of difficulty. Why have the DMs and/or other volunteers go through the process of adding them when by definition, they only provide diminishing returns for attendees? The more demarcations you make, the less people there are specificly interested in that new level. That's just the way it goes. It seems like an odd place to put resources of any sort beyond the normal/hardcore split as it is. If we're goign to have DMs deal with more numbers and minutae, I'd personally like to see some way of monitering saving throw bonuses and things like that first.<br /><br />Besides, one easy way to increase the difficulty is to just put restrictions on yourself and your party.

I don't think the burden is that great - in fact if everything is done on a cheat sheet - the only burden is making sure the DM flips to the right sheet.  All save throws, damage from trap details etc. is written out so the DM just refers to the card.<br /><br />Taking away spells from the CHARs makes them less fun to play in my opinion...and besides, with an arsenal of tokens, this does not really matter anyway.  Same could be said for HP...<br /><br />Making monsters more able to hit (while still wearing PURPS) is what I think most people are looking for - and given that there are only going to be more and more PURPS in circulation and especially in the hands of the repeat customers...well I think we are headed towards a super-tweek of Hardcore.<br /><br />About the only other option I can see is (similar to what Henwy said) a sanctioned Commando run option that TD gets behind and gives some reward for completing. 

<br />I just don't get the clamoring to have additional levels of difficulty. Why have the DMs and/or other volunteers go through the process of adding them when by definition, they only provide diminishing returns for attendees? The more demarcations you make, the less people there are specificly interested in that new level. That's just the way it goes. It seems like an odd place to put resources of any sort beyond the normal/hardcore split as it is. If we're goign to have DMs deal with more numbers and minutae, I'd personally like to see some way of monitering saving throw bonuses and things like that first.<br /><br />Besides, one easy way to increase the difficulty is to just put restrictions on yourself and your party.<br />

<br /><br />There are two issues really.  Number of levels and method of implementation.<br /><br />For the number of levels of difficulty, there are limits to what you can do with Hardcore.  And Hardcore is really designed for the Red Monsters (i.e. players that are pegged in terms of Rare tokens; +1 Bastard Sword, Large shield, Plate, etc).  When Purple Monsters go through Hardcore, it isn't challenging.  Team Token, for example, didn't take a point of damage on Hardcore.  So yes, a 3rd level would be for the Purple Monsters out there.  And if it could be implemented painlessly, then why not?<br /><br />So the other issue of implementation is about more about efficiency.  Gary is right in that it isn't that great of a burden on DMs but if we can collapse the work that 7 DMs do (however minor) onto one Player Coach with greater flexibility to the types and numbers of penalties, I think this is something that should be considered.<br /><br />

I dunno. Overall, I just smell ulterior motives in this debate. That's not to say ulterior as in dastardly, just simply not what's being stated. If the point is to increase the challenge, that's easy enough to do on your own. I'm just not sure why TD would have to acknowledge and ecspecailly reward commando runs for them to be viable. If there was a new nightmare setting but there was no bonus xp or bonux tokens beyond those provided for hardcore, would people still be clamoring for nightmare? If TD is going to spend the resources to make an additional token, I'd rather it got thrown into another combo item which could could benefit all attendees more or less rather than just for purple monsters.

I agree, Henwy.  If we did it, I would want to play the third difficulty level for the challenge of it, not only because of some prize at the end.  <br />If my friends and I go on a sealed bag run, I don't expect anyone to give us something other than a "Woo hoo!  You guys are teh awesome!"  =]

<br />I agree, Henwy.  If we did it, I would want to play the third difficulty level for the challenge of it, not only because of some prize at the end.   <br />If my friends and I go on a sealed bag run, I don't expect anyone to give us something other than a "Woo hoo!  You guys are teh awesome!"  =]<br />

<br /><br />Agreed!<br />