Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="DeadlyUematsu" data-source="post: 9228455" data-attributes="member: 2677">This was a bit of a toughie.Based on my more unpleasant experiences with 3e and inferring from what I saw as a GM, 3e seems to be good for:1. "Kill largely non-threatening monsters for XP and loot." You can entertain players in any and all configurations by creating a verifiable stage of dominos for them to knock down (if you adhere to the CR/EL rules while they optimize up the wahoo, this will be easy) and then salvage riches from. If you adjust the monsters to be more challenging to whatever the players scaled themselves at, they'll whine.2. "OC building." Most players don't seem to care for setting/premise as much as being allowed to play whatever they want. You can put "reasonable" limits for this provided "reasonable" means "doesn't invalidate what I am trying to do mechanically or disallow evil or dumb characters". Keep in mind that "the number of options" that is toted about has nothing to do with anything and most "OCs" will use the same cookie cutter overpowered options because they're overpowered.3. "Let's debate the rules." There is a contingent of players that just seem to be there to quote and argue over the rules. If they "beat" the GM in this capacity, they are very VERY happy.More seriously, IMO, 3e is good at the following:1. Low-level adventures (period when its easiest to adhere to the intended system goals, there is a reason why E6 is popular).2. Adventures with a time limit (Red Hand of Doom).3. Adventures that adhere to the original design goals (e.g., dungeon crawls ala Forge of Fury, Necromancer Games modules).5. Adventure paths (I call them XP trails and setpiece trains from time to time but they largely help corral expectations that it can solve a fair number of problems from the get-go).6. Narrative-focused campaigns (the reduced lethality can be helpful if character continuity is needed).With 3e, you can run a traditional attrition-centric D&D sandbox with Gygaxian naturalism but there are elements added that get in the way:1. Wealth fungible for magic items meant that any item not helping the necessary number cycle effectively disappeared.2. Feat-based item creation ensured parties would always have what they wanted even if they couldn't buy it provided they had the prerequisites.3. Wands, scrolls, staves, and similar items effectively removing spells per day limitations and therefore attrition in ways.4. Lack of strict scaling necessitate a video game designer approach to creating detailed tactical situations as opposed to top level strategic ones.5. Unless policed, the rules discussions and number crunching can considerably distract from actually playing the game for potentially hours.6. The encounter-based experience system was far too easily reduced to "kill monsters for XP".</blockquote>

Verification