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Its not, no. It does however read somewhat as to how likely you are going to see a truly creative solution to a problem in play. In any case, my main thrust is that for any edition of D&D, creativity *is* always possible, just that it manifests in different fashions. Scry-and-die comes...

Sure, but if the issue is creativity, then maximum efficiency isn't always desirable. If a character has an at-will (however you manage this, power, wand, feat, whatever) "solve problem" spell then clearly you reach maximum efficiency. It also requires zero creativity to apply. -edit To...

Actually, I'm going to somewhat agree with this. Lets take a couple of old 8bit computers, the Sinclair Spectrum and the Commodore 64. These had extreme limitations on memory, processing power and so on. However, over time the software written for them steadily increased in scope and power...

I think there's a difference in what people are seeing as creativity here. Personally, I'm with Barastrondo here. When I think creativity, I'm thinking the scene in Apollo 13 where mission control has to figure out how to attach two incompatible components together with only the very limited...

I agree that its pretty much down to the group, and the nature of the ineffectualness. If you are presenting people with status-quo challenges or running a module, then there is more of an obligation to pull your weight in overcoming those challenges as the setting assumes that you are all...

See, we were having a productive discussion up till this point. Since it's back to the edition bashing I'm out.

Possibly (probably) I'm misunderstanding what you are meaning by DM fiat then. If you have a resolution mechanic already in place, (so in 4e this would be combat, skill challenges or application of page 42, for example) then you just use that. My perception of fiat is more "This fails" or...

Sure, sorry. As I see it, DM fiat has a useful place in a game, "Mother-May-I" is the degenerate case where it's overused to the detriment of the game. Doesn't happen under ideal conditions, but we were all bad/new/tired at some point. -edit Lawful Good rules lawyers do exist, even if they...

Some players appreciate their characters being challenged, but not themselves being challenged. Its the old wanting to play character substantially different from self idea. In that the challenge in a tactical wargame is always the player being challenged, rather than the units. Indeed...

The idea that DM fiat is good for players because it allows unlikely (but cool) plans to work. The fiction comment comes from that Discworld quote - "Million to one chances pop up nine times out of ten". The heros come up with an impropable, desperate plan and it works, not due to the inherent...

True, but those numbers are generated and manipulated by a person. Plus in some cases it's more appropriate to challenge the entity created and defined by those numbers, depending on how much you want the play to be about the players-as-characters rather than the players-as-themselves. Theres...

Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. How's your mind-reading these days? :) Yes, I'd agree, not every encounter should be winnable through direct conflict - its notable that this is pretty much the DM advice given in every DMG I've read. The gotcha's I prefer though are ones where the...

Absolutely. Thats included in "other information gathering methods". Still though, its a matter of DM style as to whether or not they are useful in obtaining your objective and can be considered good play or not. They may simply confirm what you've already figured out, which can be seen as...

Yeah, thats pretty much my point about reading the DM's mind (or knowing their style, if you prefer). In your game, good play is deciphering the engravings and following the clues, in my game, good play is ignoring the engravings and using other information gathering methods. A player going...

I think this is actually part of what Remathallis was looking for - the enemy monster is out of (easily) beatable range, but not massively so. Part of the challenge is letting people step in a huge mess *but realise they have done so and make corrective action*. If your tunneling monster had...

Its worth noting at this point that this is a guideline thats not presented in any edition of the DMG. -edit To expand on that a little further, there are still strategic considerations even if it were - avoiding a patrol you may be able to destroy might mean that they are less likely to be...

This is all fine, but its the kind of thing that has traditionally lead to accusations of pixel-bitching and overly cautious behaviour. This is particularly not aided by "Gotcha" monsters and traps seemingly deliberately designed to confound information gathering techniques. If you spend the...

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I'll certainly agree that 90% of emotional response to the game comes from those hazards ;)

See, thats not true either. Our first level fighter will be hitting a level 7 monster on something between an 11 and a 15 depending on role (AC = level + 12-16 vs +8 attack bonus), or pretty much exactly what you'd need to hit those 1e ACs (AC 5-3 vs THAC0 18 = 13-15). Its true that he'd be...