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The danger of the Three Pillars of D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5819044" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>Well, sure, but mechanics aren't irrelevant here. In AD&D, for example, the only way to gain XP and treasure, at least according to the published rules, is to steal loot from creatures (whom you may or may not have to kill first). On the (not unreasonable) assumption that a player wants to advance his/her PC, this makes it hard to deliberately engage the fiction with the aim of failing.</p><p></p><p>Contrast Burning Wheel, where advancement <em>requires</em> confronting challenges at which your PC will almost certainly fail.</p><p></p><p>Adventure design also matters. If WotC want to be supporting PC builds that aren't competent at all 3 pillars, and will be failing if they participate in a category of challenge, that affects the way modules, for example, are written. Historically, D&D modules have been built on a "success" assumption, not a "participation even if fail" assumption - which is quite a different approach to presenting a scenario.</p><p></p><p>Conversely, if the goal of D&D remains to support players aiming at success via their PCs, then I think WotC should focus on meaningful contribution to all 3 pillars as the default design. Those who want to sit out still can, and those who want to drift the game to support participation-even-if-fail will have to tweak things a bit, much as they currently do in relation to combat (or skill challenges, presumably, for some 4e groups).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 5819044, member: 42582"] Well, sure, but mechanics aren't irrelevant here. In AD&D, for example, the only way to gain XP and treasure, at least according to the published rules, is to steal loot from creatures (whom you may or may not have to kill first). On the (not unreasonable) assumption that a player wants to advance his/her PC, this makes it hard to deliberately engage the fiction with the aim of failing. Contrast Burning Wheel, where advancement [I]requires[/I] confronting challenges at which your PC will almost certainly fail. Adventure design also matters. If WotC want to be supporting PC builds that aren't competent at all 3 pillars, and will be failing if they participate in a category of challenge, that affects the way modules, for example, are written. Historically, D&D modules have been built on a "success" assumption, not a "participation even if fail" assumption - which is quite a different approach to presenting a scenario. Conversely, if the goal of D&D remains to support players aiming at success via their PCs, then I think WotC should focus on meaningful contribution to all 3 pillars as the default design. Those who want to sit out still can, and those who want to drift the game to support participation-even-if-fail will have to tweak things a bit, much as they currently do in relation to combat (or skill challenges, presumably, for some 4e groups). [/QUOTE]
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The danger of the Three Pillars of D&D
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