3rd edition promotes the imagination...

[Celtavian]

this website is proof positive that it does.

I don't mind someone promoting a different game system. That is fine.

I just don't appreciate the assertion that a given game system involves more imagination because it includes a few less combat rules and no magic item creation rules.

In 3e, DM's still need to fashion a good story and still have tremendous latitude to create their own rules, monsters and other such things.

Look at this webpage for example. I have never in all my days of gaming seen so many gaming companies, products, house rules, and general discussion. Even though some folks don't want to admit, it has all come about because of 3rd edition.

3rd edition unified and marketed a strong gaming system with open, modifiable content. And many gamers have run with it, creating products to suit their own needs as well as possibly appeal to the needs of other gaming groups.

If that isn't a spurring of the imagination, then I don't know what is.

How anyone can come on here and say that 3rd edition has not sparked the imagination of gamers in a way that has never been done before irks me. I cannot help but voice my displeasure with that opinion and point to the plethora of evidence available at this website and many others that utterly destroy the credibility of the person making such an assertion.

3rd edition is the most imaginative version of D&D to date, period, not only in terms of the wide assortement of options it gives DM's and players, but also in terms of the wide assortment of business opportunities it provides to the gaming community.

 

[Olive]

yeah! What Celtavain said!

 

[Alzrius]

Booyeah!

 

[Eosin the Red]

My thoughts are close to yours, though I despise magic on the street corner settings. 3E gives an even playing field, in that you can create any setting you desire. All that is required is finding the right tweaks and turns within the rules. 3E for me requires more thought and imagination than the other games I play. The DMing part does not change in any setting, your job remains providing a good story and fun for your players. The increased workload comes from choosing and building exactly what you need to evoke the flavor of your setting.

Decreased imagination could not capture the essence of Star Wars, Wheel of Time, Slaine, Judge Dread, Fading Suns, Traveller, Scarred Lands, Comic Books, EverQuest, and that list continues to grow. How does something that stifles the imagination allow me to play in all of those genres?

 

[Nightfall]

All I have to say is thanks to 3rd edition and d20, I got lots of rep.

 

[Thresher]

Yep, D&D finally caught up with all those other game companies that 10-15years ago had imersive, equal and flexible character development.
Its still lacking a little I feel in spontanaity when running, seems a case of more book keeping and metagaming that everything has to be so very pre-planned.

Im looking forward to 3.5 and have high hopes that a lot of things will be better handled.

 

[rounser]

How anyone can come on here and say that 3rd edition has not sparked the imagination of gamers in a way that has never been done before irks me. I cannot help but voice my displeasure with that opinion and point to the plethora of evidence available at this website and many others that utterly destroy the credibility of the person making such an assertion.

TROG-DORRRRRRRR!!!!!
TROG-DORRRRRRRR!!!!!
And the Trog-dor comes in the NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!

 

[Drawmack]

I believe that 3e promotes imagination in distinctly different ways then previous editions did.

First there is skills and feats which allow the GM an easy mechinism for adding house rules. For example you want low magic you can create an arcane ability feat that must be taken at first level which is needed to cast any arcane magic and create a devine power feat that does the same for devine magic.

Then create a skill called spell aptitude. In order to cast n level spell you need x ranks. Then you can play with these until you get the desired effect.

Viola low magix without a ton of work on the DMs part.

This is what I call rules & setting inginuity. By making it easier to customize the rules you encourage people to customize the setting.

Then there is the freedom factor. Since 3e has rules for so many aspects of the game that did not have rules before the GM is free to spend their time making up scenarios and interesting plot lines instead of working out rules for things there are no rules for.

 

[diaglo]

it has all been done before. nothing is original.

 

[Gargoyle]

it has all been done before. nothing is original.

Oh, like THAT hasn't been said before.

Actually, I think that only applies to the limited dimensions available to pure storytelling mediums like novels or movies. With an interactive experience like roleplaying, it seems like there is endless variety.

You can run the same published adventure several times, and different groups will surprise you every time with their choices and the dice will surprise you with their fickleness. There are so many variables that I cannot remember a single roleplaying session I've participated in that seemed "unoriginal". Some were boring, and sometimes the plots or characters were stereotypical, no doubt, but if you look at the experience as a whole, considering the social, gaming, and roleplaying aspects, they were all unique.