Some games assume the PCs are heroes, others simulate an environment and let the chips fall where they may. Others take a more adverse position on heroism, and discourage heroism and make players fight for survival against impossible odds. Let's break down the design of heroism in RPGs today.
Heroic Games: Some games are designed so the PCs are heroes, better than the average person. Characters are meant to fight, survive, and beat scores of enemies in an average adventure. Think of an action videogame, where the PCs are heroes that advance through endless waves of opponents. The challenge of these games is judging the enemy's strength in real time, and give yourself a tactical advantage in every encounter. Games like DnD4, the classic Space Opera, Star Frontiers, the original Marvel Super Heroes, and d6 System are great examples of heroic games. One of my favorite "heroic game" quotes is from Space Opera, where the give PC's a +10% chance to hit in close combat, just because close combat is dangerous and PC's are supposed to be the heroes. Heroic games are great "party games" where you have players new to roleplaying, or groups that just want to have a great time.
Simulation Games: Some games put PCs and enemies on the same level, and let the toughest survive. The goal of these games is place everyone on the same level, everyone is spun up using the same rules, and neither side gets a special advantage. The challenge not only becomes tactics, but resource management and knowing how to beat the other side based on the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. You have to know your builds, know your rules, and know your enemy to survive. The rules are still fair, and combat is not discouraged - there is a good bit of survivability, if you know what you are doing. Good example of simulation games are Pathfinder/DnD3, Traveller, the James Bond RPG, the classic Aftermath, Top Secret, Gangbusters, and even SBRPG. Simulation games appeal to the tactical gamer, groups that like to build characters well, understand the rules, and beat the enemies at their own game.
Realistic Games: If a game has a quote, "combat is real and deadly," chances are this is a game designed to be realistic. Combat is discouraged, and damages are high. Combat is not a game, and if you get the first shot or blow in, you have the advantage, and will probably win. The original GURPS, Mercenaries Spies and Private Eyes, FASA's Star Trek, and Call of Cthulhu are good examples of this type of game. If you browse to the weapons section, and see the average rifle doing twice the damage as a PC has hit points, you are probably reading a realistic game. Relaistic games are a tough sell with a lot of groups, nobody likes their character getting one-shotted, and the appeal comes from a more interaction and mental layer. The roleplaying is the star here, and the rules are secondary.
The design of a RPG should fit its theme, and enhance the story. If the game simulates realistic espionage during the Cold War, you can't have PCs running around and surviving like James Bond. That may be fun, and fit the design of the latter James Bond movies, but it's not what you want to do for this game. You would want cloak-and-dagger stuff, with combat being deadly and real, and danger at every turn. Staying out of combat is survival - and smart play. Regardless, this type of game would not appeal to a group of excitement-driven players, it would be more intellectual and slow paced.
It's interesting too, when you think about James Bond - the early movies definitely are realistic affairs, where a pistol kills in one shot, and the action is subtle and muted, perfect fodder for a realistic game. The latter James Bond movies (excluding the current trilogy) are straight up action movies like Rambo, with James running through machine-gun fire multiple times during a movie, dual wielding guns, and enough explosions to level a copper mine. If you're thinking this is more heroic gaming, you are on the right track. The genre of James Bond has moved along, and it would be difficult for one game to simulate all the movies without a lot of configuration to handle different eras.
There are a couple things to remember here, like understanding what type of game you are playing, and making sure your group likes that type of game. We have played many games with groups that didn't fly well, many times because the group expected something else, like an action-hungry group wanting to kill sea-monsters in Cthulhu's port of Innsmouth. While that would be cool in an action-minded sense, the original game really didn't intend the game to be a DnD4 style monster hunt. At times, you will need to make adjustments to a game to fit the group's expectations, and even switch games to something that fits better depending on how things go.
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