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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6682364" data-attributes="member: 42582">Other posters not far upthread have given some references and illustrations.The poster-child adventure for this style, in my view, is Dead Gods. (The same approach is also evident in the 3E module Expedition to the Demonweb Pits.)And here is some illustrative text from the PHB (pp 9, 18):This is the heart of roleplaying. The player adopts the role of a character and then guides that character through an adventure. The player makes decisions, interacts with other character and players, and, essentially, "pretends" to be his character during the course of the game. . . . [W]henever the character is called upon to do something or make a decision, the player pretends that he is in that situation and chooses an appropriate course of action. . . . The point of play is not to win but to have fun and socialise. An adventure usually has a goal of some sort: protect the villagers from the monsters; rescue the lost princess; explore the ancient ruins. . . . Remember, the point of an adventure is not to win but to have fun while working toward a common goal. . . . Now that you have finished creating the ability scores for your character, stop and take a look at them. What does all this mean? . . . Obviously, Rath's [the example PC's] ability scores . . . are not the greates in the world. Yet it is possible to turn these "disappointing" stats into a character who is both interesting and fun to play. . . . In truth, Rath's survivability has a lot less to do with his ability scores than with your desire to role-play him. . . . f you take an interest in the character and roleplay him well, then even a character with the lowest possible scores can present a fun, challenging and all-round exciting time. Don't give upon on a character just because he has a low score. Instead, view it as an opportunity to role-play, to creat a unique and entertaining personality in the game. Not only will you have fun creating that personality, but other playrs and the DM will have fun reacting to him.The contrast with the comparable text in Gygax's PHB could hardly be starker.In Gygax's PHB, the point of the game is to win: to overcome challenges and thereby gain levels.In Gygax's PHB, the GM creates a world which contains challenges, but the adventure is something that the players choose: they equip their PCs as they think appropriate, gather the information that they feel is needed, set the goal for the expedition that they think is achievable, and enter the GM's dungeon aiming to realise that goal despite the obstacles and distractions the GM will put in their way.In Gygax's PHB, the role that one adopts is that of a particular character class, which sets the parameters for permissible "moves" and available resources while playing the game. There is barely a hint that roleplaying is a type of pretense, or adaptation of an imaginary personality.In Gygax's PHB, weak stats are primarily a hindrance to be worked around, not a chance for entertaining characterisation.Whereas the text from the 2nd ed AD&D PHB presents the adventure as something the GM authors and that the players guide their PCs through. The players' main function is presented as one of characterisation of a PC in a fun and entertaining manner. The mechanics of the two systems are near to identical, but the stated goals and techniques of play could hardly be more different.</blockquote>

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