D&D 4E Flow and 4e.

[That One Guy]

I'm not an expert at the concept of Flow. I know as much as the next person who's like, "Yeah man, I know what you mean." A really rough description is 'being in the zone', a sense of time dilation... [sblock="Flow"] is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, or in the groove.[/sblock]...or I could steal that from wikipedia and call it even.

Alright, so the other night I ran a pre-4e game. Continuing my mental exploration from our last game, I noticed that a certain energy flowed through my group. I don't know if it's the people/characters or if it's a function of the system. When a person is doing something nifty, it doesn't really feel like the game is slowed down.

I tried running a 'system test' with 6 minions, some picadors, hobgob soldiers, archers, a few magic users, and some NPCs who were under attack, and the party. This fight took the longest of any fight I've tried to run in pre-4e(2 hours and 45 minutes or so). When I told my players it was 10 they were shocked. There had been such a sense of flow that time was lost. I know fun D&D sessions can carry on into the night sometimes... but I'm wondering if a lot of people have noticed a similar sense of energy to their Pre-4e games. It's like... I've had epic and long 3.x sessions, but I feel like after that much time a few people wouldn't be 'with it' let alone 'into it'.

Does this make sense? Has anyone else noticed this sort of group flow occurring more often with 4e than previous editions of D&D?

Sorry for any difficulties in my typing or explaining concepts... I blame a cold.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Nah, you make plenty of sense. Besides for that, can't add much, unfortunately have not yet had the chance to test it out, I really want to, to.

 

[MindWanderer]

Seeing as how one of the development team actually read Csikszentmihalyi, it's not surprising that you've had this experience. I've had it in earlier editions of the game, but I think 4e will make it easier. "Grinds to a halt" moments should become more rare.

 

[That One Guy]

Seeing as how one of the development team actually read Csikszentmihalyi, it's not surprising that you've had this experience. I've had it in earlier editions of the game, but I think 4e will make it easier. "Grinds to a halt" moments should become more rare.

That is really interesting, and it's kind of cool that it came through so well even in pre-4e. Can you give me a link?

 

[Family]

Since were on philosphy I though I might add my 2 cents:

From: About The Purposes of Good and Evil, by Cicero

"Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure."

I though it summed up the motivation of most adventureres.

 

[That One Guy]

Since were on philosphy I though I might add my 2 cents:

From: About The Purposes of Good and Evil, by Cicero

"Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure."

I though it summed up the motivation of most adventureres.

I think you may be right. Pleasure being anything enjoyed, so even selfless acts are in a way some pleasure... even if one sacrifices their life, it is because the person is aware of some greater gain. I still think it is a very noble thing.

So, Wizards' Rules. Has anyone else ever thought about having their ingame wizards follow the rules?