Hamlet's Hit Points?

[JoeGKushner]

Very interesting. some of the things I was thinking about in terms of actual D&D game play seemed to be covered by the first chapter of the DMG 2 which is also in part written by Robin D. Laws.... Especially with 'turning points' broken into problem solving or dramatic turns with tension and release.

Strange that it feels like reading Hamlet's Hit Points first for the overall and then reviewing ye old DMG 2 for 4e would be the right way to get the most from it... As I look at the pass/fail branching on page 9 it reminds me of the up and down ticks in Hamlet's Hit points only with D&D illustrations as opposed to those found in the Hitpoint book.

 

[pemerton]

some of the things I was thinking about in terms of actual D&D game play seemed to be covered by the first chapter of the DMG 2 which is also in part written by Robin D. Laws

Those parts of DMG 2 are lifted more-or-less straight from the revised HeroQuest rulebook (written by Laws).

What I find a bit frustrating about them is that they don't try to connect Laws' ideas about narrative "rhythm" to the actual mechanics of 4e, like setting DCs for checks and XP budgets for combat encounters. For example, at one point Laws talks about setting a DC of 1 - in effect, an automatic success - but he doesn't tell us how this approach might be systematically integrated with skill challenge or combat design and resolution.