Tuning Your Game’s Challenge Level

In this episode we explore how to find the right balance between challenge and frustration for your D&D game. D&D is supposed to be fun, but sometimes the greatest rewards come from feeling like you overcame an immense challenge. Finding the right challenge level is really tricky, depends entirely on the preferences of the people at the table, and is often a moving target.

We tell stories of games where we were able to find that perfect challenge level, talk about what it feels like when a game is too easy, share horror stories from games that were super frustrating, and give tips on how to find that right balance for your game.

This episode contains spoilers for Out of the Abyss.

Jargon Cheat Sheet

• 3.5: A revised version of the 3rd edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Often referred to as “three five”.
• APL: Average Party Level. For example, APL 12 is a group of level 12 adventurers (on average).
• Min-maxed: How optimized a character is to the fullest extent within the rules of the game. In D&D, this usually means maximizing for combat.
• Mod: Short for module, which is an old school term for a written adventure.