helium3 said:This is exactly correct. The actual experience that playing a game provides depends on two things. One is the "culture" that's built up around the game and the other is the "rules" that dictate how the game is to be played.
Fer example, WoD plays like an EMO kid's paradise because (a) everyone else that plays WoD "knows" that's how it's "supposed" to be played and because (b) to an extent the rules support that sort of play.
If 3E D&D provides a certain experience and you change the rules in a way that supports a style of play that's different from that, I'm fairly confident that over time the culture that exists around the game will shift to reflect the new rules. Which means that people that don't want to change have to stick with the prior edition for find something else.
So, in effect your saying that if my group plays 4e, despite our stessing of roleplaying, and our many years of roleplaying experience, we won't be able to roleplay using 4e? Cause that is what it sounds like you are saying.