D&D 4E Presentation vs design... vs philosophy

[pemerton]

Have you read the Adventures in Middle Earth for 5e? I love it; it's the only way I'll play or DM 5e again. I agree completely that 5e as is is not at all appropriate for Middle Earth (way, WAY too much magic, unless you're doing the Silmarillion or something), but Cubicle 7 has done, IMO, a great job at bringing the setting to life under a familiar game system. If you haven't checked it out, I really recommend it.

I've heard rumours.

I have The One RIng plus various supplements (I must have got a PDF special deal at some stage), but can't really imagine playing it. It just seems too fiddly. As I posted, I'm using Cortex+ Heroic at the moment for my LotR needs!

 

[Garthanos]

I would love to play Dr Strange in a MHRP game, but I don't know that I'll ever have that opportunity.

Take the 4e sleep spell make one you resist with each of the Defenses. They are three different binding spells Crimson Bands of Cytorak is Fortitude, I think it was Ribbons of Raggador for the Reflexes Teehee.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's definitely more freeform in its non-combat resolution, but the use of Icon Relationship Dice in this are really allow the game to shine and give player agency in a way I haven't seen in any other system. Having said that, I am definitely working on a skill challenge adjacent system to use in it.

Have you read the Adventures in Middle Earth for 5e? I love it; it's the only way I'll play or DM 5e again. I agree completely that 5e as is is not at all appropriate for Middle Earth (way, WAY too much magic, unless you're doing the Silmarillion or something), but Cubicle 7 has done, IMO, a great job at bringing the setting to life under a familiar game system. If you haven't checked it out, I really recommend it.

It’s an excellent supplement for playing in Middke Earth using 5e’s rules, though I think there are some places where it clashes with 5e’s design aesthetics - for example, some of the AiME classes have features that give the player a bit of narrative control, where 5e usually keeps narrative control firmly in the DM’s hands. I have no problem with those sorts of abilities, but they do stick out a bit in a 5e framework. That’s why I think One Ring is ultimately the better system to use for games set in Middle Earth, though AiME is still great to have for DMs who want to run a Middle Earth game but might have a hard time convincing their players to switch systems from D&D.

 

[Oofta]

Are there any really iconic stories or characters that represent spellcasters that you might want to emulate, in the same vein as those stories you both talk about represent martial characters?
(Not counting actual D&D-based novels.)

That's tough because magic in most stories tends to be so different from D&D magic. On the other hand my first wizard was named after a Piers Anthony character the wizard Trent. My version wasn't quite as cutthroat (he had no desire to rule) but he was definitely neutral out for himself kind of guy.

 

[Garthanos]

If I can branch into Myth and Legend and find D&D class wizardry I would like to play the Ancient Celts.The Tuatha de Danaan era with Lugh Lamfada and Nuada Silverhand and company had stories that features Healers of grand scale and Sorceror/Druas which are of D&D Caliber their hero class definitely have both the at-wills and rituals down.

 

[Arilyn]

I've heard rumours.

I have The One RIng plus various supplements (I must have got a PDF special deal at some stage), but can't really imagine playing it. It just seems too fiddly. As I posted, I'm using Cortex+ Heroic at the moment for my LotR needs!

One Ring plays pretty smooth. But I'm loving your Cortex version too!

 

[Maxperson]

I would actually posit that we have a much more straight-laced, hidebound community today than we did back then. I mean, we actually see posts today where people are all like, "I don't want science fiction in my fantasy!" That's ... odd to me. D&D has always been deeply, deeply weird and drew from a multitude of sources.

As one of those people, D&D drawing from a multitude of sources doesn't change things for me. I enjoy a wide variety of fantasy sources, just as I enjoy a wide variety sci-fi sources. I just don't as a general rule want the two to mix. I play fantasy games to experience fantasy, and sci-fi games to experience sci-fi. Finding one mixed with the other throws me off and isn't what I want in a game. The only exception to that is Star Wars which is blended science fiction and fantasy.

 

[Maxperson]

No, it means the initiative rules are completely borked in the name of efficiency.

Each shurikin should ideally get its own initiative. Just like each attack in a multi-attack sequence should get its own initiative.

Why? They aren't being thrown sequentially. They are literally being thrown three at a time. It's like throwing a handful of rocks. You aren't going to roll initiative for each rock.

 

[Lanefan]

Why? They aren't being thrown sequentially. They are literally being thrown three at a time. It's like throwing a handful of rocks. You aren't going to roll initiative for each rock.

If they're all being thrown at the same target I can get behind this; but if they're going for different targets (particularly if those targets aren't standing close together) throwing them three at a time doesn't sound very productive.

That, and the issue of the multiple melee attacks or sling/bow/xbow shots still remains.

 

[CapnZapp]

Tell me if you need another two dozen pages before we can continue discussing Pathfinder 2...