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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6411095" data-attributes="member: 6696971">If I were going to create a guide for making 4e the best gaming experience it can be, I would focus on making sure the players (GM included) grok the fundamental 4e machinery (purpose and application) of the system and understand best practices (principles and techniques) which produce the high octane action/adventure pace and the thematic focus of 4e.  In no particular order:A.  Skill Challenges 1)  Stakes, player goals, genre tropes, and what the opposition actually is on a conflict by conflict basis.2)  Players telegraphing intent and the GMing techniques of fail forward/success with complication with (1) above as the foundation.3)  Scene framing, pacing, dramatic momentum, and coherent scene closure.B.  The Game Engine1)  Healing Surges (what these abstractly represent and how to use them, especially in Skill Challenges, to provoke tension and Big Damn Hero play)2)  The Keyword system (what these mean for the fiction, for the codified mechanics, and for GM adjudication)3)  Encounter and Daily resources (what these "mean" and the play experience they are meant to produce)4)  The Math (p 42 and monster/hazard creation)5)  The Encounter Budget system6)  The Rest/recharge mechanics (how to use/manipulate them to create the play experience you're looking for.7)  Forced, Tactical Movement, Terrain Interaction and how to create dynamic, exciting, and challenging player opposition (imperative that this is cogently and coherently explained at the concept level)8)  Exception-Based Design (and the logic/system expectations for those exceptions where GMs must make rulings)There is plenty more (Ritual System, Disease Track, Immediate Reactions, Stealth, etc) but grokking each of these is so absolutely central to 4e play that they need to be clearly, cogently, and transparently canvassed.  I think the rest is intuitive and/or needs less attention.C.  The Player Hooks or Game's Focus/Premise1)  Minor/Major Quests2)  Themes, Paragon Paths, Epic DestiniesD.  General Principles1)  Open and close scenes dramatically and keep the pressure on and the pace up until the conflict is resolved.2)  Always focus play on what the players care about by way of their expression of their PCs (C above).  Fill their lives with adventure that is centered around this and allow their decisions, the momentum of conflicts they resolve, and genre expectations to propel play.3)  Always push play towards conflict and escalate, escalate, escalate!4)  Keep battlefields large (abstracted out 2 to 3 times the real world measurements) and filled with stuff to interact with.That looks pretty good off the top of my head.</blockquote>

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