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Legends and Lore 11/22/2011 - A Different Way to Slice the Pie
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<blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5736008" data-attributes="member: 54877"><p>This is about as much "complexity dial" as 4E is "exception-based design." That is, if you squint at it real hard and abuse the definition of both terms, you can sort of make it fit. But otherwise, they aren't. </p><p> </p><p>A much better example of a "complexity dial" would be something like more or less complex set of conditions, which--as far as the rules are concerned, would (or not, as you set it) apply at all levels. Say that the middle setting is what 4E has now. Dial up the complexity, and there might be more details attached to each condition (for realism, gameplay, etc.). Dial it down, and you might collapse things like Daze, Stun, etc. into a single action-denying condition. With the dial, you might also complicate or simplify durations or other aspects of how they work. Some of that might have power level implications--you wouldn't want Stuns to suddenly start happening all the time with low-level effects. But that's a side effect of what "Stun" means currently, not anything to do with the dial itself.</p><p> </p><p>Now, from a presentation point-of-view, there might be some use in packaging terms by tiers or otherwise in such blocks. If you have a bunch of conditions that never apply in the heroic tier, then call them out so that people don't have to learn them. But imbedding terms in each discrete place they arise is delusional and just asking for trouble. One of two things will happen: 1) You introduce all kinds of inconsistency that will make 1st ed. AD&D a model of clarity by comparison. 2) You will maintain, internally, a consistent guide to those rules, which gamers will eventually work out on their own and ask you why the hell you just didn't say so from the beginning, since you knew?</p><p> </p><p>A really bad idea all the way around.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crazy Jerome, post: 5736008, member: 54877"] This is about as much "complexity dial" as 4E is "exception-based design." That is, if you squint at it real hard and abuse the definition of both terms, you can sort of make it fit. But otherwise, they aren't. A much better example of a "complexity dial" would be something like more or less complex set of conditions, which--as far as the rules are concerned, would (or not, as you set it) apply at all levels. Say that the middle setting is what 4E has now. Dial up the complexity, and there might be more details attached to each condition (for realism, gameplay, etc.). Dial it down, and you might collapse things like Daze, Stun, etc. into a single action-denying condition. With the dial, you might also complicate or simplify durations or other aspects of how they work. Some of that might have power level implications--you wouldn't want Stuns to suddenly start happening all the time with low-level effects. But that's a side effect of what "Stun" means currently, not anything to do with the dial itself. Now, from a presentation point-of-view, there might be some use in packaging terms by tiers or otherwise in such blocks. If you have a bunch of conditions that never apply in the heroic tier, then call them out so that people don't have to learn them. But imbedding terms in each discrete place they arise is delusional and just asking for trouble. One of two things will happen: 1) You introduce all kinds of inconsistency that will make 1st ed. AD&D a model of clarity by comparison. 2) You will maintain, internally, a consistent guide to those rules, which gamers will eventually work out on their own and ask you why the hell you just didn't say so from the beginning, since you knew? A really bad idea all the way around. [/QUOTE]
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