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Convincing 4th Edition players to consider 5th Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 5965511" data-attributes="member: 22779"><p>The idea of poor game design isn't necessarily false though. There are mechanics out there that are pretty easily categorized as "poor design". They are poor design because they are overly complicated and too difficult to use (1e Initiative rules, 3e grapple rules) or they are poor design because they lead to really boring times around the table (4e MM1 incorporeal undead with weakness powers - REALLY boring). </p><p></p><p>There's nothing wrong with pointing to a mechanic and saying, "Yes, this mechanic here? It's a badly written mechanic and here's three different ways we could do it better". And, honestly, I'm in the camp of "Let's make DM's into amateur game designers=poor game design". You can have very light rules without forcing the DM to play amateur game designer. </p><p></p><p>"How do I jump across this pit?" is not something I want to get fifteen different answers to. That's a fairly standard action that is perfectly predictable in a D&D game. Every table should give you the same answer, IMO. Exactly the same way that every table will give you the same answer when you ask, "What do I have to roll to hit this AC?" (Presuming, of course, you only ask tables that play the same edition <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite8" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":D" /> )</p><p></p><p>Like KM, I want the system to handle the fiddly bits and the details. I have no interest in doing that. Whether you do it with 3e's "Rule for everything" approach or something like Savage World's Rule of 4 - any score of 4 or higher succeeds, I'm pretty content.</p><p></p><p>But, rules absent is poor game design when we're talking about adjudicating actions that are perfectly reasonable and quite likely will occur several times, if not per session, then certainly per adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 5965511, member: 22779"] The idea of poor game design isn't necessarily false though. There are mechanics out there that are pretty easily categorized as "poor design". They are poor design because they are overly complicated and too difficult to use (1e Initiative rules, 3e grapple rules) or they are poor design because they lead to really boring times around the table (4e MM1 incorporeal undead with weakness powers - REALLY boring). There's nothing wrong with pointing to a mechanic and saying, "Yes, this mechanic here? It's a badly written mechanic and here's three different ways we could do it better". And, honestly, I'm in the camp of "Let's make DM's into amateur game designers=poor game design". You can have very light rules without forcing the DM to play amateur game designer. "How do I jump across this pit?" is not something I want to get fifteen different answers to. That's a fairly standard action that is perfectly predictable in a D&D game. Every table should give you the same answer, IMO. Exactly the same way that every table will give you the same answer when you ask, "What do I have to roll to hit this AC?" (Presuming, of course, you only ask tables that play the same edition :D ) Like KM, I want the system to handle the fiddly bits and the details. I have no interest in doing that. Whether you do it with 3e's "Rule for everything" approach or something like Savage World's Rule of 4 - any score of 4 or higher succeeds, I'm pretty content. But, rules absent is poor game design when we're talking about adjudicating actions that are perfectly reasonable and quite likely will occur several times, if not per session, then certainly per adventure. [/QUOTE]
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