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<blockquote data-quote="D'karr" data-source="post: 6011747" data-attributes="member: 336">I'm on the same boat here.&nbsp; I've read several times that 4e doesn't lend itself to exploratory game play and I fail to see it.&nbsp; Maybe it's my playstyle but I found that 4e gives me more tools.Yeah, I honestly fail to see the difference of what I used to do with 1e, 3.x, and now 4e.&nbsp; The difference now is that I have more mechanics that I can appropriately leverage to achieve the desired results, and to reward that type of play.&nbsp; In 1e, and 3.x the main mechanic was HP Loss, and resource (meals, torches, ammunition) attrition.&nbsp; Then I'd have to &quot;determine&quot; what to reward them with when they accomplished the goal.I remember running some exploratory play in 3.x and at the end having to &quot;make up&quot; an appropriate ad-hoc XP reward for the players.&nbsp; I had to figure out how much XP to give based on very &quot;abstract&quot; parameters, as there had been no combat as part of the exploration.&nbsp; In 4e, I still have all the previous mechanics mentioned above. I also have healing surges and the disease track to leverage additional mechanics to the task, plus I have a solid framework to determine their rewards.&nbsp; I don't have to &quot;guess&quot; anymore.I have 2 current examples:One of my game groups is currently going through the Slavepits of the Undercity module.&nbsp; Since I was not using this as &quot;tournament&quot; play I decided to let the adventure ride with whatever the PCs decided to do.&nbsp; Their initial hook to the adventure was to find the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy merchant friend (NPC).&nbsp; Instead of engaging the slavers, or infiltrating the slave outpost they decided to buy back the girl.&nbsp; They spent sometime in Highport exploring, and &quot;making friends and influencing people&quot; (bluff, streetwise, diplomacy, and intimidate) to find the information they needed.BTW, the city of Highport is not detailed at all in adventure module A1.&nbsp; It just became the largest &quot;hive of scum and villainy&quot; among the coastal free cities.&nbsp; This was all free-form roleplay as they made their way through the city and its criminal organizations.&nbsp; When they finally made contact with an intermediary for the slavers, they decided to pose as &quot;buyers&quot;.&nbsp; They arranged to buy a girl, and went into the temple where they were surrounded by lots of orcs.&nbsp; This could have turned into a &quot;set-piece&quot; battle to get the girl.&nbsp; But they kept their cool, bought the girl, and returned her to her family.&nbsp; That particular day there was only one combat, and it was with some thugs that I &quot;randomly&quot; generated as an encounter in Highport.They spent quite a bit of their own coin to get information and the girl.&nbsp; This was money that they never got back as part of their initial &quot;quest&quot;.When they returned &quot;home&quot; the wealthy merchant found out about the slavers and their operation.&nbsp; Based on that information and in conjuction with some of his allies in the coastal free cities, the Church of Jaar (Pelor), and the Church of Aemahar (Erathis), he sent them back to face the slavers, but this time they were on a different mission - to destroy the organization.The quest, the exploration play, and the very small combats ALL rewarded them with XP and I didn't have to &quot;make things up&quot; in order to reward them.Second example:Some months ago I ran an adventure where the characters were &quot;lost&quot; in a wintry tundra trying to find the resting place of a &quot;beast of legend&quot;.&nbsp; As resources started to dwindle (food, water, fuel) the sense of &quot;we are going to die out here&quot; was definitely palpable and mounting.&nbsp; They were losing healing surges as environmental hazards.&nbsp; They were running into horrible hungry beasts mutated by the &quot;wyrd&quot; (one of the hazards).&nbsp; They were losing resources and had no good way to recover them as time went on. The disease track is wonderful for this because I can easily simulate heat stroke, heat cramps, hypothermia or winter blindness using it.In the end they arrived at the burial grounds and confronted the actual &quot;monsters&quot;.&nbsp; This adventure was brutal.&nbsp; And they got rewarded appropriately.IMO, 4e simply gave me more appropriate mechanics (more tools) to both &quot;punish&quot; (tax the PCs) and &quot;reward&quot; (appropriate XP) exploratory play.&nbsp; This is in addition to the mechanics that I already had in previous editions.-</blockquote>

[QUOTE="D'karr, post: 6011747, member: 336"] I'm on the same boat here. I've read several times that 4e doesn't lend itself to exploratory game play and I fail to see it. Maybe it's my playstyle but I found that 4e gives me more tools. Yeah, I honestly fail to see the difference of what I used to do with 1e, 3.x, and now 4e. The difference now is that I have more mechanics that I can appropriately leverage to achieve the desired results, and to reward that type of play. In 1e, and 3.x the main mechanic was HP Loss, and resource (meals, torches, ammunition) attrition. Then I'd have to "determine" what to reward them with when they accomplished the goal. I remember running some exploratory play in 3.x and at the end having to "make up" an appropriate ad-hoc XP reward for the players. I had to figure out how much XP to give based on very "abstract" parameters, as there had been no combat as part of the exploration. In 4e, I still have all the previous mechanics mentioned above. I also have healing surges and the disease track to leverage additional mechanics to the task, plus I have a solid framework to determine their rewards. I don't have to "guess" anymore. I have 2 current examples: One of my game groups is currently going through the Slavepits of the Undercity module. Since I was not using this as "tournament" play I decided to let the adventure ride with whatever the PCs decided to do. Their initial hook to the adventure was to find the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy merchant friend (NPC). Instead of engaging the slavers, or infiltrating the slave outpost they decided to buy back the girl. They spent sometime in Highport exploring, and "making friends and influencing people" (bluff, streetwise, diplomacy, and intimidate) to find the information they needed. BTW, the city of Highport is not detailed at all in adventure module A1. It just became the largest "hive of scum and villainy" among the coastal free cities. This was all free-form roleplay as they made their way through the city and its criminal organizations. When they finally made contact with an intermediary for the slavers, they decided to pose as "buyers". They arranged to buy a girl, and went into the temple where they were surrounded by lots of orcs. This could have turned into a "set-piece" battle to get the girl. But they kept their cool, bought the girl, and returned her to her family. That particular day there was only one combat, and it was with some thugs that I "randomly" generated as an encounter in Highport. They spent quite a bit of their own coin to get information and the girl. This was money that they never got back as part of their initial "quest". When they returned "home" the wealthy merchant found out about the slavers and their operation. Based on that information and in conjuction with some of his allies in the coastal free cities, the Church of Jaar (Pelor), and the Church of Aemahar (Erathis), he sent them back to face the slavers, but this time they were on a different mission - to destroy the organization. The quest, the exploration play, and the very small combats ALL rewarded them with XP and I didn't have to "make things up" in order to reward them. Second example: Some months ago I ran an adventure where the characters were "lost" in a wintry tundra trying to find the resting place of a "beast of legend". As resources started to dwindle (food, water, fuel) the sense of "we are going to die out here" was definitely palpable and mounting. They were losing healing surges as environmental hazards. They were running into horrible hungry beasts mutated by the "wyrd" (one of the hazards). They were losing resources and had no good way to recover them as time went on. The disease track is wonderful for this because I can easily simulate heat stroke, heat cramps, hypothermia or winter blindness using it. In the end they arrived at the burial grounds and confronted the actual "monsters". This adventure was brutal. And they got rewarded appropriately. IMO, 4e simply gave me more appropriate mechanics (more tools) to both "punish" (tax the PCs) and "reward" (appropriate XP) exploratory play. This is in addition to the mechanics that I already had in previous editions. - [/QUOTE]

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