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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 5454490" data-attributes="member: 29398">With this short paragraph you've just crystallized something that's bugged me about 4e since before Day 1 but that I just couldn't quite put a finger on until now.&quot;the GM sets up situations and the players play through them&quot; works only as long as a) the DM can keep finding situations to set up, and b) the players are willing to play through them and not bother with the rest of the game world.&nbsp; It falls apart if [a) the DM runs out of situations and turns the players loose] and-or [b) the players want to step outside the presented situations] and the DM can't or won't world-build on the fly. (very few can)For a single-path-down-the-rails campaign or a one-off adventure this is fine; what more do you need?&nbsp; But for a campaign where the players and-or DM actually want to engage with the game world beyond the adventures, it's not enough.&nbsp; And to make it enough a DM not only has to do the usual world-building she'd have to do anyway but also has to fight the game's system at the design level in order to do it.This is even more disappointing in that to me Worlds and Monsters set 4e up to be a world-builder's game.Lan-&quot;just-in-time DMing only works until the party gets there early&quot;-efan</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 5454490, member: 29398"] With this short paragraph you've just crystallized something that's bugged me about 4e since before Day 1 but that I just couldn't quite put a finger on until now. "the GM sets up situations and the players play through them" works only as long as a) the DM can keep finding situations to set up, and b) the players are willing to play through them and not bother with the rest of the game world. It falls apart if [a) the DM runs out of situations and turns the players loose] and-or [b) the players want to step outside the presented situations] and the DM can't or won't world-build on the fly. (very few can) For a single-path-down-the-rails campaign or a one-off adventure this is fine; what more do you need? But for a campaign where the players and-or DM actually want to engage with the game world beyond the adventures, it's not enough. And to make it enough a DM not only has to do the usual world-building she'd have to do anyway but also has to fight the game's system at the design level in order to do it. This is even more disappointing in that to me Worlds and Monsters set 4e up to be a world-builder's game. Lan-"just-in-time DMing only works until the party gets there early"-efan [/QUOTE]

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