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Originally Posted by josephrey
And are there games where this is less of a factor? If so, how do their design mechanics work differently?
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There's three ways around the problem--power creep, rotation, and scenario design.
Power Creep is the direction Car Wars went in--printing more space-efficient designs over time that allowed vehicles to pack more punch. It kills your game in the long run. This is the direction RPG's go in in general. You sell supplements by making characters more powerful with the knowledge that, if the game keeps selling, you'll eventually just bail out to a new edition.
Rotation is the direction Magic: the Gathering uses. Over time, new cards come in, but old cards rotate out of the game. This allows them to keep the power level relatively even, while selling new product and pushing the game in different directions.
Scenario Design is probably the hardest to implement, but it's the option for handling Car Wars. Set up scenarios where the default vehicles aren't the best choice. Implement house rules (like no component armor) to force designers into different directions.