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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8174774" data-attributes="member: 82106">When I run actual 4e, I run it straight up by the book, HOWEVER I don't consider 4e to be a lot like other D&Ds. If you read the first couple pages of the 4e PHB1 and DMG1, and then go read the 'agenda' and 'principles' parts of the Dungeon World rules, you will see that they are actually evoking very much the same concept. It is just that WotC put it very mildly, used a much more low-key rules implementation of it, almost slid 'Story Game' in the back door. And then Mike Mearls came along and utterly did not understand what they were doing, not even a little bit. Maybe it wasn't even him particularly, but half the team was in some other universe. They tried and tried to put the genie back into the bottle, but you cannot really do it.So, a LOT, maybe most, people mistook 4e for some sort of "tactical D&D", but that is NOT WHAT IT IS. It is a hardcore action adventure fantasy genre Story Now design. And that is how it plays best, IMHO. I mentioned extreme action before, there should be something exploding, burning, collapsing, etc. ALL THE TIME. The GM should be listening to the players, asking questions, guiding the action towards what they signal is 'story' for them. Things like backgrounds, themes, PPs, EDs, feats, power choices, etc. are all big here. Build on that. If the dwarf wants to be 'berserk axe dwarf', well then play to that! And build on his story, why is he like that? What does he want? etc. Keep laying the pressure on the PCs too. Just lard it on. If they think they're in the sheep dip now, they ain't seen nothin' yet! You can push HARD in this game, and then when they think they've had enough, you can push harder. Characters have a big battery, they will come back from 99% dead, and get up and fight again. And read DMG2, it has a lot of ideas and tools that work to help showcase the story and move it forward, and make the DM's job easier (and much stronger SC rules). And don't listen to people who say SCs don't work. They read DMG1 and were sad. They gave up and never got the part where an SC is a STORY, maybe a small one, but it should have a PLOT and go through at least a couple transitions. If you think of it as a little mini-adventure, one that keeps moving forward into different connected situations, then it will all work fine. DMG1 just totally had horrible examples, and some very rough alpha-quality mechanics.</blockquote>

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