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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bodhiwolff" data-source="post: 4756981" data-attributes="member: 71196">I cut my teeth on AD&D, and converted to 2E when it came out.  I stopped playing, but followed 3E (and 3.5) but realized that it was now more focused on pseudo-simulation.  As that style of game, it is extremely good, but it is not the AD&D style I was used to.  When 4E came along, it completely and absolutely reminded me of AD&D in its style of play and design, and that's what got me interested again. The main thing I notice about 4E design, and the way it relates to AD&D design, is that since it accounts for larger encounters, and larger groups of opponents, you simply make the dungeon area for that encounter encompass a broader area.  Thus, if the encounter is to include a squad of 10 orcs (of 3 different types) then you place it in something like a barracks, with adjoining officers' quarters, and a store-room with guards to the side, all joined by corridors, sealed off by double doors.    The encounter encompasses all 3 areas (with connecting corridors), and the relevant orcs in each of the 3 areas. So whereas you might've seen old adventures where 1 room has 2 monsters which you fight, and miraculously the surrounding rooms remain 'unactivated', in 4E you simply have 1 room contain 2 monsters where you fight, and the commotion alerts the nasties to the left and to the right rooms as well! So instead of just clearing one room, and having the sound miraculously never extend beyond that room to alert nearby opponents, instead you start an encounter in one room and have the remaining opponents charge in during the second round. Indeed, the published adventures will discuss how an encounter might start off and play out differently, depending upon which room in an encounter is the first to be activated, whether various creatues are surprised or alerted, etc. When the encounter is over, you've cleared a large chunk of terrain in the dungeon, freeing up the PCs to place guards and possibly rest up for 5 minutes.  The current room is cleared, as are the corridors and rooms to one side and the other. Thus, you can still build large dungeons and multi-level adventures.  Simply acknowledge that instead of 6 rooms equallying 6 encounters, those 6 rooms now equal two encounters. Personally, I find the whole system makes for a *more* realistic feel, and stops me from having to introduce long corridors and sound baffles to realistically keep the entire place from being alerted once a fight breaks out.  Instead, you simply design little dungeon chunks, connect them, and your'e finished. Add in areas and rooms with non-combat tests (traps, puzzles, exposition areas, exploration areas, NPC encounters, etc.) and your dungeon grows by leaps and bounds. The published adventures I've seen usually seem to acknowledge this broader scope.  You'll have an encounter emcompass a broad swatch of terrain, and the next encounter will be a distinct distance away.   It also enables me to set up each encounter as a unique story element, with its own internal consistency.  The makeup of the monsters is the personnel for the entire encounter, meaning that you're free to showcase that entire area's little story.</blockquote>

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