Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf 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 Nest
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!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
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
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Challenge the Players, Not the Characters' Stats
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="joethelawyer" data-source="post: 4498843" data-attributes="member: 55764"><p>i was reading a post over on <a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com" target="_blank">GROGNARDIA</a> i believe, and came across this (cut and pasted from a larger post):</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>"The crux of it, though, is this: <em>challenge the player, not the character's stats</em>. That's probably the single most important difference between old school and contemporary roleplaying games. I think that it's at the root of why most old schoolers have an instinctive hatred of skill systems in RPGs. Skill systems often imply not just what your character can do but also what he knows. That creates both a powerful separation between player and character knowledge but also creates the expectation that a character's knowledge ought to be able to give the player the solutions needed to solve in-game puzzles, tricks, traps, etc."</p><p></p><p></p><p>that one section "<em>challenge the player, not the character's stats"</em> sums it up for me in terms of what i like about older style play over the new systems which, with a rule for everything, makes it harder to do so.</p><p></p><p>that's also my answer to the thread which asks what is missing in 4e, or the thread asking if someone would play 4e if necro games managed to bring a 1e feel to it. if someone could make 4e into a game where player skill counted for far far more than character stats and abilities, then yes, i would play and like 4e. </p><p></p><p>as it is now, my group plays a heavily houseruled version of 3.0, not even 3.5, which makes 3.0 more like 1e.</p><p></p><p>anyhow my 2 cents. i have never seen a statement which so clearly articulated my position on the differences between the editions that the one i quoted above. i thought it might make for interesting discussion.</p><p></p><p>this blog posting lead to an interesting discussion within my gaming group, and i thought it might do so here as well. please no edition flame wars.</p><p></p><p>the esact link to the blog/article is here:</p><p></p><p><a href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/04/gygaxian.html" target="_blank">http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/04/gygaxian.html</a></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="joethelawyer, post: 4498843, member: 55764"] i was reading a post over on [URL="http://grognardia.blogspot.com"]GROGNARDIA[/URL] i believe, and came across this (cut and pasted from a larger post): "The crux of it, though, is this: [I]challenge the player, not the character's stats[/I]. That's probably the single most important difference between old school and contemporary roleplaying games. I think that it's at the root of why most old schoolers have an instinctive hatred of skill systems in RPGs. Skill systems often imply not just what your character can do but also what he knows. That creates both a powerful separation between player and character knowledge but also creates the expectation that a character's knowledge ought to be able to give the player the solutions needed to solve in-game puzzles, tricks, traps, etc." that one section "[I]challenge the player, not the character's stats"[/I] sums it up for me in terms of what i like about older style play over the new systems which, with a rule for everything, makes it harder to do so. that's also my answer to the thread which asks what is missing in 4e, or the thread asking if someone would play 4e if necro games managed to bring a 1e feel to it. if someone could make 4e into a game where player skill counted for far far more than character stats and abilities, then yes, i would play and like 4e. as it is now, my group plays a heavily houseruled version of 3.0, not even 3.5, which makes 3.0 more like 1e. anyhow my 2 cents. i have never seen a statement which so clearly articulated my position on the differences between the editions that the one i quoted above. i thought it might make for interesting discussion. this blog posting lead to an interesting discussion within my gaming group, and i thought it might do so here as well. please no edition flame wars. the esact link to the blog/article is here: [url]http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/04/gygaxian.html[/url] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Challenge the Players, Not the Characters' Stats
Top