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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8222995" data-attributes="member: 42582">What distinguishes 4e, mechanically, from other versions of D&D is:(1) Closed scene resolution outside of combat (ie skill challenges); (2) Full embrace of fortune-in-the-middle in its core combat resolution, combined with a lot of player-side mechanical capacity that feeds into positioning and effect-heavy combat.Showing off (1) depends on clear framing of the fiction and the GM allowing the players to take control of the fiction through their action declarations (basically the opposite of most 2nd ed AD&D era module set-ups).Showing off (2) depends on large spaces, interesting terrain including cover and verticality, circular paths, the GM using different sorts of creatures set up in interesting positions and/or waves, and being open to p 42 and related ideas like terrain powers.The best module I used for 4e wasn't a 4e module at all: it was the B/X module Night's Dark Terror. The (near-)opening scene where the PCs are attacked on a boat was awesome in 4e: a river and its banks are a large space; the terrain included the PCs' boat, the NPCs' raft, the water, a sandbar, and the river banks; I used ranged attackers from the banks and raft, as well as melee attackers swimming through the water to attack the PCs; and I don't remember all the action declarations any more, but some of what I remember includes taking cover in the boat from NPC arrows, jumping across to the sandbar and falling into water, taking control of the NPCs' raft, and a final fight on the bank between the PC fighter and the NPC bandit leader.The 4e combat engine brings a lot of mechanical overhead with it: to make it worthwhile, in my view, it needs to be used for these vivid, "visually" dramatic, action-packed combats.</blockquote>

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