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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RFisher" data-source="post: 3395599" data-attributes="member: 3608">3e took many aspects of AD&D & turned them up to 11. This, IMHO, is a big part of why the games can look so similar but feel so different.I think part of the appeal of classic D&D for me is the way it invites me to fill in the gaps. I guess I find filling gaps more attractive than changing things.In a slightly different way, I think this touches on a basic issue of who I am. A rich, detailed set of rules is a burden for me because my brain tends to work more in big generalizations.e.g. In school, I was more likely to memorize "axiomatic" equations & derive the formulas I needed for each test question on-the-fly rather than memorize a bunch of "practical" formulas. (Like most analogies, that one is flawed in many ways, but hopefully it's more illuminating than blinding. (^_^))Someone else, whose brain works differently, would feel differently about a particular set of rules than I do.Of course, I could play 3e just as fast & loose as I do classic D&D. I'm fairly sure my players would be OK with me deviating from the books.Still, when players spend "points" (be they skill points or feat slots or whatever) on something out of the books, I feel a bit obligated to make it have an effect in play. Maybe not the by-the-book effect, but even having it there to accomodate at all changes how I do things.(Then there's the fact that, when I really look closely at 3e I start finding--e.g.--that I want to change half the spells to work more like they did in previous editions.)I guess a big problem with these sorts of discussions is that RPGs are so malleable, it can be hard to make firm statements about them. System matters, but not in ways that are absolute. Often in ways that are subtle. & it's really you+system.That certainly rings true for me. (Though there are some games that manage to morph the DM role into something completely different, but it is still there.)</blockquote>

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