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To make sure I'm understood, epic destinies are a great addition to D&D because they formalize the end-game, which IMHO is important in all RPG, but even more in gamist-oriented ones.

That's the most interesting scoop out of KoS. You can rationalize that the cleric have these rituals because they fit the character, but that's not the fundamental decision criteria. Instead, think about the help/hindrance the NPC offers to the PCs when they face the adventure's challenges.

One could argue that in any edition of D&D, a campaign that ends without a TPK is a win.

I haven't written off too, but I won't look for it in during challenges, but more in the overall flow of the campaign, i.e. what will the next adventure be about ? IMO, in a typical D&D 4E challenge, the player should assume the classic author stance : 1) find the best action (tactically) 2)...

Sorry for the misunderstanding, it's late and sometimes my English-as-second-language fails. Well, it's not as much easy in games like D&D than games like BW to have powerful generic rules. Why? BW is about conflicts, D&D is about challenges. Conclicts require heart-breaking decisions from...

Let's talk about the impact of those created walls on the local economy of a pseudo-medieval kingdom for example :) (You don't have to actually come up with a detailled answer on this).

Indie RPG relying on DM fiat instead of rules ? Look at Burning Wheel where the GM is a lot more constrained/guided by the rules than in all editions of D&D.

Coming up with a coherent (that doesn't imply balanced) game where "linear, in-game" mechanisms can tackle things such as a permanently conjured/created wall of iron is IMO simply impossible. It could be done easily in non-vanilla Narrativist RPG, but that's probably not what you are looking...

And I'll add : comments that imply/state that in opposition, past editions of D&D clearly supported these playstyles are also pretty irritating. All editions of D&D are somewhat "schizophrenic" on the supported playstyle issue, it seems to me that 4E will be a lot more sane/focused...

Don't give up, maybe someday more people will understand these basic RPG notions :) ... and If you want an harder challenge, try the "Simulationist by habit" crowd on Candlekeep boards ;)

More than one ;)

What ? You mean that we could "roleplay" in combat ??? ;)

There is really two different kind of "railroading". First one happens when the DM narrates the initial scene or the transition between the scenes where the players can take actions. IMHO, this one SHOULD be used more, because during the scenes, the players have many meaningful decisions to...

Double post.

A player who chose to play a defender, is of course limited in his way of helping the group overcoming the fight. For example, he's not good at healing his allies. The important thing is that in his "limited" scope of action, does he still have some meaningful (in D&D, that means tactical)...

IME, people that doesn't like the definition of roleplaying being to add narration/acting on top of resolution mecanisms is the people who define roleplaying strically as "in-character acting". I would like you say I'm wrong.

The rules in a game tell to the players what the game is about. D&D is mainly about combat occuring in dungeons, so it's not surprising that you find a lot of rules about it. It would be fine to create a D&D supplement that would add rules to emcompass other kinds of situations where...

Not really, in D&D, outside of combat you are still trying to overcome challenges. Using social skills, rituals, skill challenges and so on is in a way, the same thing than combat. In many groups, there is a lot of narration/acting done to make the transition between the "scenes" where...

D&D 4E combat roles tell to the players at which position they play in combat (like a forward vs a goaler in hockey). It is a very good thing to have in a gamist (i.e. tactics vs challenges) RPG like D&D. However, D&D has a long history of (IMHO, boring) "acting" guidelines, like alignments...

In fact, I think I have a broden definition of it than you.