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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5949934" data-attributes="member: 42582">My feeling is that different people are responding to different features of 4e and of the playtest.For those who don't like it, generally the most salient feature of its mechanics is that they are not process-simulation (ie they get the player to make decisions that don't correspond to decisions by the PC, and they have features/processes that don't model processes taking place in the gameworld). And D&Dnext still has some mechanics like this - Reaper, hit dice and fighter surges, for example.For at least a certain subset of 4e players, what is most salient about its mechanics is the way they tightly integrate to make the encounter the focus of play, with tight scene framing (especially tight by traditional D&D standards), tight pacing and a high degree of player control over the way the situation unfolds. D&Dnext doesn't seem to have very much of this - there are no encounter powers or milestones, there are durations and other action resolution features that draw attention away from the encounter and into more traditional D&D "exploration", etc.So those who didn't like 4e's techniques are still going to find some of those techniques in D&Dnext. But those who liked 4e's techniques for the particular play experience they produced may not find that experince replicated by D&Dnext.I think 4e is "weird" - noticeably different - compared to older versions of D&D. And I don't think it's just the emphasis on tactical combat - it's the way those mechanics work, and are so overt, and are expected to be taken up by the players in a blatant, even flagrant, fashion.I don't know how many people look at 4e in the way I described. I know that Campbell and I aren't the only ones on ENworld.(Also:  [MENTION=16586]Campbell[/MENTION], caveats noted. For me, 4e is the right mix of gonzo fantasy and narrative play. Rolemaster is the right mix of gonzo fantasy and purist-for-system play, though over the years my group drifted RM in a narrativist direction. I like RQ, and admire it, but find it too mechanically austere for extended play. Once my 4e campaign finishes, I'm hoping my group will let me run Burning Wheel for something less gonzo and more overtly narrativist.)</blockquote>

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