Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Blog Post by Robert J. Schwalb
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6330832" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>For what it's worth, here's my take on "story" and advancement in 4e.</p><p></p><p>PCs in 4e advance from heroic to epic tier. This has a mechanical dimension - XP lead to levels lead to power-ups that support the change in the story - as well as a story dimension. The necessary XP are earned for engaging the encounters that the GM frames. (This is a pretty big difference from classic D&D - you don't get XP just for taking your PC into the dungeon.) </p><p></p><p>So as long as the GM frames encounters that speak to that default story, earning XP equals developing the story. For instance, heroic PCs deal with goblins, but those goblins presage something about Bane and his role in the Dusk War. By the time the PCs reach epic tier, they are key players in the Dusk War (whether working with or againt Bane).</p><p></p><p>If the GM is using the default MM, then it's easy to frame encounters that are linked in this sort of way to the default "story" of 4e D&D. </p><p></p><p>I mostly stopped paying attention to the WotC modules after the early ones, but I think some of their weakness can be explained in terms of departures from the above: using monsters that have no link to the default story, so the enconters have no non-mechanical stakes or interest. Given how easy the game makes it to avoid this, it's kind of odd how badly they fell into this trap. (Just one example: in the module E1 they introduce a new primordial who has no prior standing in the 4e or broader D&D canon, and whom the players won't even learn the true story of until part way through the module. And then a good chunk of the encounters in the module are with the minions of this tractionless primordial.)</p><p></p><p>On this approach to 4e, I'm not sure about its replay value. There are multiple ways to play the game's default story, but they're probably not unlimited. 4e Dark Sun tries to put forward a different default, but I'm not sure there's 30 levels worth of material there. (I've often thought that if I were to run 4e Dark Sun I'd do it vignette-style, skipping by 2 or 3 levels at the end of each scenario.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6330832, member: 42582"] For what it's worth, here's my take on "story" and advancement in 4e. PCs in 4e advance from heroic to epic tier. This has a mechanical dimension - XP lead to levels lead to power-ups that support the change in the story - as well as a story dimension. The necessary XP are earned for engaging the encounters that the GM frames. (This is a pretty big difference from classic D&D - you don't get XP just for taking your PC into the dungeon.) So as long as the GM frames encounters that speak to that default story, earning XP equals developing the story. For instance, heroic PCs deal with goblins, but those goblins presage something about Bane and his role in the Dusk War. By the time the PCs reach epic tier, they are key players in the Dusk War (whether working with or againt Bane). If the GM is using the default MM, then it's easy to frame encounters that are linked in this sort of way to the default "story" of 4e D&D. I mostly stopped paying attention to the WotC modules after the early ones, but I think some of their weakness can be explained in terms of departures from the above: using monsters that have no link to the default story, so the enconters have no non-mechanical stakes or interest. Given how easy the game makes it to avoid this, it's kind of odd how badly they fell into this trap. (Just one example: in the module E1 they introduce a new primordial who has no prior standing in the 4e or broader D&D canon, and whom the players won't even learn the true story of until part way through the module. And then a good chunk of the encounters in the module are with the minions of this tractionless primordial.) On this approach to 4e, I'm not sure about its replay value. There are multiple ways to play the game's default story, but they're probably not unlimited. 4e Dark Sun tries to put forward a different default, but I'm not sure there's 30 levels worth of material there. (I've often thought that if I were to run 4e Dark Sun I'd do it vignette-style, skipping by 2 or 3 levels at the end of each scenario.) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Blog Post by Robert J. Schwalb
Top