Tired of fighting goblins? Why not try something more high-level?

A while back, I had the opportunity to play Queen of the Spiders for the first time. It took us about one and a half years using OSE. The catch was, that it started at level 8 and that made some of us thinking. Whenever we started a new campaign, we started at level 1 or 2. It was so refreshing to start at a higher level this time around. Why do we not do this more often?

On one hand it makes sense to start low. Especially if you have new players or if you do not know the system. The consequence is of course, that you often will not get to experience the system to its fullest potential. Players will fight the same goblins, rats and bandits over and over again. It gets boring and repetitive. Newer players might not find that interesting and quit the hobby before it even starts.

Why not have a One-Shot that shows this high-level play?

What does High-Level even mean?

Different systems, different levels. Shadowdark for example has levels 1-10, whereas D&D has 1-20. Or take Cairn, where you have no levels at all. So what's high-level? You can use tiers instead, to get a more relative definition.

In short:

• Tier 1 - Local Problems: Some bandits are bothering a small village, rats in the cellar, just small people problems.
• Tier 2 - Regional Problems: Some BBEG is now affecting a larger region (kingdom) and there's a common enemy and thread behind it all.
• Tier 3 - Interregional Problems: Multiple kingdoms are affected by problems. Wars are fought and allies gathered.
• Tier 4 - World Problems: The heroes have to save the world. Ultimate Evil will otherwise win.

You can also think of the kind of enemies you are fighting. Take for example the Capra Demon from Dark Souls. At first this is a boss monster. You will need several tries (maybe) to defeat it. Later on, you will find this enemy as normal monsters in the world, and you can kill them with just a few hits.

So high-level is Tier 4?

Not necessarily. Higher tiers have similar issues as lower level ones. The monsters (or encounters) you can thrust against the players' characters can get boring as well. Fights tend to get longer and longer, and the monsters can feel somewhat bullet spongy. Or you have to fight a lot of monsters. The variety also tends to be low. So you trade goblins for ancient dragons.

Ideally we should look at something like the end of Tier 2. So somewhere in the middle of your level range. We are past mere bandits. We have a broader monster variety and they tend to have some interesting abilities and mechanics, that go beyond mere hitting the thing as hard as you can.

Learning curve

Analysis Paralysis is a thing. The higher the level, the more things you can do, and most people can't decide between more than three to five things.

Simplicity comes by omission. On-Paper solutions, like abilities, spells or skills, should be few and players should more rely on out-of-the box thinking. More options deter from doing this. Crunchy systems like Pathfinder will not make the shortlist of such systems. Cairn and Shadowdark are probably more suited. This philosophy leans of course more to OSR-style type gaming.

Pregenerated Characters are also the best bet. I really like to roll new characters with new players, but at high-levels I'd rather have more time for actual playing. It is to be said though, that I have the experience, that when players roll their own characters, they are more invested in it and they tend to be able to roleplay easier. I think that is the price that has to be paid.

Let's also not forget the other side: the GM. Higher-levels also means more cognitive load. This is were funky interactions between different abilities and skills start to emerge. This is of course exciting on one hand, but can easily get overwhelming. Especially if you want to explain things to newer players. So anything that keeps these cross-interactions at a minimum, the better.

Where to go from here?

Do I have a solution? A set of instructions? A list of One-Shots?

No. Sadly.

It is more of an encouragement to get started, find or create some high-level one-shots and run them. I think that there is a want for such adventures. Yes, everybody at the table has to know, what they are getting into and as a GM you will have a little bit more to do. But I think it is worthwhile to pursue this.

I want to test it out. Theory is one thing, but practice is the best teacher. Maybe I'm completely wrong on this and it will end in a disaster. But then at least I tried.