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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4112054" data-attributes="member: 2067">No more meaning than the rest of ENWorld polls. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Yes, there is a new paradigm, the designers have admitted as much. Those who say there isn't are really ignoring the express statements of those who are making the game. I mean, I guess they could be mistaken? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />The new paradigm isn't too drastically distant from the old one. They say it's on two slightly different sides of the middle ground -- 3e leaning toward consistency, 4e leaning toward "shut up and roll the dice!," both with elements of the other. G/N/S isn't the most useful model for this. Instead, try the Character - Narrative Continuum. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> 3e was interested in you playing a character. Barbarians are like this. Rangers are like that. Fighters should be able to do X, monks should be able to do Y. This evokes a character. 4e seems to be interested in  you telling a story. X happens, then Y, then Z! Then, the monsters come CRASHING THROUGH THE WALL! There's danger and action an ninjae rogues around every corner! Go! Roll! Win! Or loose, hahahahahaha!3e is based around constructing a character. Events come out of your characters.4e seems to be based around a series of events. Characters happen around the events.I come at D&D from an acting angle. I want to play a character. The character acts, and events happen because of the character. Because my character is X, he does Y, and this leads to Z. 4e's dominant paradigm doesn't always satisfy that, because it doesn't care what my character is, it only cares what he does. A story happens, in my model, not because it is imposed on my character, but because my character takes actions to move the story in different directions. To me, this was great, because it gave me an autonomy that movies and books lack -- I could influence the world through my character's capacity and ability.This D&D seems to be a more narrative angle, based on movies and stories. It focuses on what your character does. There are attacks, movements, motions, defenses, auras, triggers, things that HAPPEN. In 3e, it could sometimes take a minute or two to get to what happens -- you'd have to build up the explanation, the motive, and the characters first. In 4e, you've eliminated that time. Don't bother with the explanation, the motive, or the characters: here is what happens, take it and run with it. The elements of the game that I like and that I want to keep are the elements that let me play a character, and then cause an event. 4e, by and large, seems to be taking the position that the event defines the character. I am very unhappy with that position, but perhaps I can still find a compatible approach, if 4e truly tries to at least attempt to keep a toe on the middle ground.</blockquote>

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