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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 6011108" data-attributes="member: 463">What sold me on 4e was an experience during my first session playing it, in 2009. An enemy cult priest had Dazed me (Rothgar the Fighter) and run off laughing, while his bodyguards wailed on me. In pre-4e I would not have been given any choices, it would mean I was stuck, ineffective until the spell effect ended. Even in 4e that would have been the tactically-optimal (Gamist) thing to do. I had played a drama-rich 3e Midnight game and it was always very frustrating when this kind of thing happened, the fiction would have to take a back seat to the (G/S) d20-3e mechanics - mechanics which seemed to have a personal animus against my Ironborn Sword &amp; Board Fighter, Zana Than. They rarely allowed me to play the cool character that existed in my mind's eye.However in the 4e game, at that point my brain went into Narrativist mode (though still actor-stance): Rothgar cares enough&nbsp;&nbsp; about beating that bastard that he is going to do whatever it takes to get him...I charged the priest, sucking up two opportunity attacks from his guards, putting me to single-digit hp.I made my charge Basic Attack, did some damage.GM: &quot;OK then, next player...&quot;Me: &quot;Hold on there. Action Point.&quot;(Couple minutes of rules dispute follows - GM initially wants to veto it, but eventually we determine that you can indeed spend APs while Dazed, and after a Charge).Me: &quot;Daily...&quot;Rothgar then proceeds to smear the no-longer-laughing cult priest over the landscape. I was pretty much wrecked for the rest of the fight, but I had made a Narrativist decision, the kind you see in movies all the time, when the hero says &quot;No.&quot; - and my decision had been supported by the mechanics! After years of painful experiences with 3e play, this was immensely satisfying.It took me another 2 years to mid 2011 before I could say I had reasonable mastery of 4e - there were and are huge problems with the game - but I'll never forget that first experience.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 6011108, member: 463"] What sold me on 4e was an experience during my first session playing it, in 2009. An enemy cult priest had [I]Dazed[/I] me (Rothgar the Fighter) and run off laughing, while his bodyguards wailed on me. In pre-4e I would not have been given any choices, it would mean I was stuck, ineffective until the spell effect ended. Even in 4e that would have been the tactically-optimal (Gamist) thing to do. I had played a drama-rich 3e Midnight game and it was always very frustrating when this kind of thing happened, the fiction would have to take a back seat to the (G/S) d20-3e mechanics - mechanics which seemed to have a personal animus against my Ironborn Sword & Board Fighter, Zana Than. They rarely [I]allowed[/I] me to play the cool character that existed in my mind's eye. However in the 4e game, at that point my brain went into Narrativist mode (though still actor-stance): Rothgar [I]cares enough[/I] about beating that bastard that he is going to do whatever it takes to get him... I charged the priest, sucking up two opportunity attacks from his guards, putting me to single-digit hp. I made my charge Basic Attack, did some damage. GM: "OK then, next player..." Me: "Hold on there. Action Point." (Couple minutes of rules dispute follows - GM initially wants to veto it, but eventually we determine that you can indeed spend APs while Dazed, and after a Charge). Me: "Daily..." Rothgar then proceeds to smear the no-longer-laughing cult priest over the landscape. I was pretty much wrecked for the rest of the fight, but I had made a Narrativist decision, the kind you see in movies all the time, when the hero says "No." - and my decision had been [I]supported by the mechanics[/I]! After years of painful experiences with 3e play, this was immensely satisfying. It took me another 2 years to mid 2011 before I could say I had reasonable mastery of 4e - there were and are huge problems with the game - but I'll never forget that first experience. [/QUOTE]

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