tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post3679653460317430456..comments2024-03-26T02:31:48.024-05:00Comments on Trollsmyth: Old School, New School, Red School, Blue Schooltrollsmythhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-16009522855899219322009-03-11T17:45:00.000-05:002009-03-11T17:45:00.000-05:00In the Villa of the Poyma, there are a few encount...<I>In the Villa of the Poyma, there are a few encounters that are very tough for a straight-up, mano-y-mandible fight.</I><BR/><BR/>Oh, indeed. Most amusing, sir. Frikkin' spiders.Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15528192783751011497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-38599814510218435052009-03-09T10:02:00.000-05:002009-03-09T10:02:00.000-05:00...Thing is, after 10 years of 3.X, maybe many of ...<I>...Thing is, after 10 years of 3.X, maybe many of us don't know how to do that anymore.</I><BR/><BR/>And this, I think, is James Maliszewski's primary thesis in a nutshell.<BR/><BR/>As I surmised, and Wyatt confirmed, a DM skilled enough with 4e can probably pull it off. There's a lot of flexibility built into 4e, though I do think how the magic system got gutted in the name of balance has a powerful influence on the sort of outside-the-box play we're talking about. And I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, honestly. That could be the subject for a whole week's worth of posts, and they're probably better written by someone more familiar with 4e than me.trollsmythhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01895349218958093151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-2096315481656860472009-03-09T09:00:00.000-05:002009-03-09T09:00:00.000-05:00The thing is... while a typical 4e encounters is o...The thing is... while a typical 4e encounters is over-detailed and usually geared toward one of the two mechanically defined conflict resolution (combat/skill challeneges), nothing prevents us as DMs and players to play it like we did way back when.<BR/><BR/>I think that we more or less dug ourselves into a mental furlough where we automatically reach for rules first in any given RPG situations. <BR/><BR/>Older Games (or their clones) are not burdened with so many rules so by default you wing it and you got/get the typical scenes where PCs negociate with Kobolds or set up a fiendish trap made up of Rope, oil, mule dung and a broken cart to catch that wandering Owlbear.<BR/><BR/>Breaking that mental pattern is a probably one of the key pre-requisite to bring 4e closer to the older experiences. The designers took out monster skills and feats because the DM can take back control of non combat issues like they used to...<BR/><BR/>...Thing is, after 10 years of 3.X, maybe many of us don't know how to do that anymore.ChattyDMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06774125843333573256noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28751902.post-90959453504871118852009-03-09T00:07:00.000-05:002009-03-09T00:07:00.000-05:00I really think, as you touched upon, that this fle...I really think, as you touched upon, that this flexibility depends on the GM. All of my encounters in my 4e notes read like this:<BR/><BR/>"Combat Encounter<BR/><BR/>[Details]<BR/><BR/>Or Skill Challenge<BR/><BR/>[Details including the phrase "wing it"]"<BR/><BR/>The skill challenge needn't be talking. It can also be running.<BR/><BR/>I tell my players that they can turn anything into a skill challenge if they can justify what they're doing to me. People could argue, I suppose, that I'm not playing 4e how it's meant to be played, or whatever, but it's never come particularly hard for me to do this. The game doesn't seem to encourage it, and I think that's a shame. Skill Challenges should get more push than Wizard's gives them. Virtually any encounter could also be a skill challenge.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com