Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="BryonD" data-source="post: 4015817" data-attributes="member: 957">I think you pretty well made the case of 4E marginalizing DMs right there.The problem with your assessment, at least for my gaming style, is the claim that one will find &quot;the right combination of feats and skills&quot;.&nbsp; The reality for me has always been that you can find dozens of interesting and fun builds for foes.&nbsp;&nbsp; In 4e, you pretty much follow a script.&nbsp; The designers have bragged that 4E will be easier to DM and thus, they expect, it will grow the DM base.&nbsp; I agree it appears it will be much easier to DM.&nbsp; Whether or not great numbers of people who won't DM 3E decide to dive in for 4E remains to be seen.&nbsp; But IME good GMs don't grab whatever system they see and houserule it into their own game.&nbsp; They pick the system(s) that fit what they are going for and houserule it into a polished version of what they want.&nbsp; So I think it is a bad assumption that good DMs will just jump over to 4E and keep rolling through houserules. And before I get flooded, I know, I know, YOU'RE DM is one of the best DMs you ahve ever played with and he is thrilled with what he sees in 4E and can't wait to get rolling.&nbsp; Congratulations.&nbsp; You are very fortunate.I think the DM will still be critically important in 4E.&nbsp; But the DMs role will be marginalized and that is a bad combination.&nbsp; If 10% of the great DMs don't go to 4E and every one of them is replaced by 5 weak DMs, then that will be a bad thing for 4E.&nbsp; And I think I'm giving 4E a major benefit of the doubt on both those numbers.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="BryonD, post: 4015817, member: 957"] I think you pretty well made the case of 4E marginalizing DMs right there. The problem with your assessment, at least for my gaming style, is the claim that one will find "the right combination of feats and skills". The reality for me has always been that you can find dozens of interesting and fun builds for foes. In 4e, you pretty much follow a script. The designers have bragged that 4E will be easier to DM and thus, they expect, it will grow the DM base. I agree it appears it will be much easier to DM. Whether or not great numbers of people who won't DM 3E decide to dive in for 4E remains to be seen. But IME good GMs don't grab whatever system they see and houserule it into their own game. They pick the system(s) that fit what they are going for and houserule it into a polished version of what they want. So I think it is a bad assumption that good DMs will just jump over to 4E and keep rolling through houserules. And before I get flooded, I know, I know, YOU'RE DM is one of the best DMs you ahve ever played with and he is thrilled with what he sees in 4E and can't wait to get rolling. Congratulations. You are very fortunate. I think the DM will still be critically important in 4E. But the DMs role will be marginalized and that is a bad combination. If 10% of the great DMs don't go to 4E and every one of them is replaced by 5 weak DMs, then that will be a bad thing for 4E. And I think I'm giving 4E a major benefit of the doubt on both those numbers. [/QUOTE]

Verification