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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 4086517" data-attributes="member: 22779">All rules were optional is NOT a strength of a game.&nbsp; I know people take this stance WRT 2e, but, to me, it wasn't concept first, rules second, it was, &quot;We'll do whatever the heck we want to, mechanics and balance be damned.&quot;&nbsp; And it meant that 2e became an unholy mess very, very quickly. Heck, take the Fighters Handbook.&nbsp; The first splatbook (IIRC) for 2e broke the game.&nbsp; It made TWF the absolute king for all melee characters.&nbsp; There was no reason NOT to do TWF.&nbsp; It was so good that all other choices were clearly second best.That's not putting concept ahead of mechanics, that's having no concept of how mechanics should work.&nbsp; And 2e was replete with examples like that.&nbsp; Take the Faiths and Avatars books.&nbsp; Hrm, let's take a cleric, give him access to all wizard spells, with no spellbook, and a cleric's casting list.&nbsp; All for the xp of a druid.&nbsp; And this was a good idea?We've seen what happens when you put concept first and then try to shoehorn mechanics.&nbsp; D&amp;D has been yoked with this for decades - all sorts of wonky crap that only survived because it became a sacred cow.&nbsp; Finally they're taking those holy bovines out into the pasture and putting a gun in their ear.&nbsp; It's about time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 4086517, member: 22779"] All rules were optional is NOT a strength of a game. I know people take this stance WRT 2e, but, to me, it wasn't concept first, rules second, it was, "We'll do whatever the heck we want to, mechanics and balance be damned." And it meant that 2e became an unholy mess very, very quickly. Heck, take the Fighters Handbook. The first splatbook (IIRC) for 2e broke the game. It made TWF the absolute king for all melee characters. There was no reason NOT to do TWF. It was so good that all other choices were clearly second best. That's not putting concept ahead of mechanics, that's having no concept of how mechanics should work. And 2e was replete with examples like that. Take the Faiths and Avatars books. Hrm, let's take a cleric, give him access to all wizard spells, with no spellbook, and a cleric's casting list. All for the xp of a druid. And this was a good idea? We've seen what happens when you put concept first and then try to shoehorn mechanics. D&D has been yoked with this for decades - all sorts of wonky crap that only survived because it became a sacred cow. Finally they're taking those holy bovines out into the pasture and putting a gun in their ear. It's about time. [/QUOTE]

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