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<blockquote data-quote="Hella_Tellah" data-source="post: 4125662" data-attributes="member: 52669">What happens when a player wants to build a fortification?&nbsp; The same thing that happens when a player's character wants to aim for his enemy's knees, perform surgery, drink so much alcohol that it impairs his senses, open a business, troll a lake, write a novel, teach another character a sword-fighting style, leave a trail of bread crumbs leading back to his tent, or make a few gold pieces chilling people's beers in the pub with a ray of frost.This is a game of make-believe, and if you aren't comfortable with making things up on the fly, you'll have to stick to activities that are clearly spelled out in the rulebooks.&nbsp; The book can only contain so many pages of rules before it's physically difficult to carry the requisite materials around.&nbsp; Somewhere before that point, the game will have so many rules that it's an exercise in masochism to try to run the thing.&nbsp; And somewhere before that point, you'll reach a depth in the rules that gives you mechanics for everything the game should be doing, and very broad guidelines for improvising everything else.&nbsp; Running 3.5, adhering to every rule for all the most mundane activities, brings you to the level of &quot;physically difficult to carry,&quot; and well beyond the point of masochism.&nbsp; If I understand the designers' commentary correctly, and they're serious about making an elegant system, then 4th edition will fall into that third category, maintaining deep, useful rules for running a group of adventurers around in a fantasy setting while providing guidelines for improvising the rest.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hella_Tellah, post: 4125662, member: 52669"] What happens when a player wants to build a fortification? The same thing that happens when a player's character wants to aim for his enemy's knees, perform surgery, drink so much alcohol that it impairs his senses, open a business, troll a lake, write a novel, teach another character a sword-fighting style, leave a trail of bread crumbs leading back to his tent, or make a few gold pieces chilling people's beers in the pub with a [i]ray of frost[/i]. This is a game of make-believe, and if you aren't comfortable with making things up on the fly, you'll have to stick to activities that are clearly spelled out in the rulebooks. The book can only contain so many pages of rules before it's physically difficult to carry the requisite materials around. Somewhere before that point, the game will have so many rules that it's an exercise in masochism to try to run the thing. And somewhere before that point, you'll reach a depth in the rules that gives you mechanics for everything the game should be doing, and very broad guidelines for improvising everything else. Running 3.5, adhering to every rule for all the most mundane activities, brings you to the level of "physically difficult to carry," and well beyond the point of masochism. If I understand the designers' commentary correctly, and they're serious about making an elegant system, then 4th edition will fall into that third category, maintaining deep, useful rules for running a group of adventurers around in a fantasy setting while providing guidelines for improvising the rest. [/QUOTE]

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