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Blog Post by Robert J. Schwalb
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<blockquote data-quote="Emerikol" data-source="post: 6326667" data-attributes="member: 6698278"><p>Who could argue that deployment of abilities requires skill? I also agree that tactical choices require skill if the game facilitates the right choices. And to a degree I'm not against some of that in the games I play.</p><p></p><p>On the flip side, I believe the conversation about player skill vs character skill is really about strategic planning and preparation vs correct deployment of powers and abilities. It's also about problem solving at a level where the players thinking and his characters thinking is practically identical. Puzzles for example.</p><p></p><p>Again I don't want to denigrate any of these options as they really are not mutually exclusive. I do believe though a game can so focus on one aspect of play that others get neglected. That can be a DM fault and/or a game fault.</p><p></p><p>I think part of what went wrong imho with 3e and 4e is that the game became to regimented. Not because it had to but because it did encourage certain DM behaviors.</p><p></p><p>1. CR. In the old days monsters appeared organic to the setting and environment. PCs were never assured of a fair fight. Encounter balance was not even a concept.</p><p></p><p>2. Killing wasn't rewarded nearly as much. Finding a way to steal the treasure was often better than killing your way to it.</p><p></p><p>3. Because of #1 PCs didn't fight fair. The tried to get every possible edge they could get before fighting.</p><p></p><p>Could you run a newer edition game the same way? Sure and many of us did. The game though spent a lot of time teaching DMs to be fair and to balance encounters. So it didn't encourage that form of play.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Emerikol, post: 6326667, member: 6698278"] Who could argue that deployment of abilities requires skill? I also agree that tactical choices require skill if the game facilitates the right choices. And to a degree I'm not against some of that in the games I play. On the flip side, I believe the conversation about player skill vs character skill is really about strategic planning and preparation vs correct deployment of powers and abilities. It's also about problem solving at a level where the players thinking and his characters thinking is practically identical. Puzzles for example. Again I don't want to denigrate any of these options as they really are not mutually exclusive. I do believe though a game can so focus on one aspect of play that others get neglected. That can be a DM fault and/or a game fault. I think part of what went wrong imho with 3e and 4e is that the game became to regimented. Not because it had to but because it did encourage certain DM behaviors. 1. CR. In the old days monsters appeared organic to the setting and environment. PCs were never assured of a fair fight. Encounter balance was not even a concept. 2. Killing wasn't rewarded nearly as much. Finding a way to steal the treasure was often better than killing your way to it. 3. Because of #1 PCs didn't fight fair. The tried to get every possible edge they could get before fighting. Could you run a newer edition game the same way? Sure and many of us did. The game though spent a lot of time teaching DMs to be fair and to balance encounters. So it didn't encourage that form of play. [/QUOTE]
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