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David Noonan on D&D Complexity
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<blockquote data-quote="RFisher" data-source="post: 3120879" data-attributes="member: 3608"><p>Of course, then the cycle just starts over again because a few short months after 4e has consolidated & streamlined everything, the first 4e splatbook will be out.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I found the "innovations" of the 3.0e splatbooks unimpressive. I sold them off (the first RPG products I'd ever allowed to leave my possession!) & decided to jump off the bandwagon. Perhaps the 3.5e supplements have been better (UA tempted me!), but I've decided that with 3 shelves of gaming material, I've got just about all the innovations I'll need for a long time.</p><p></p><p>(Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge WotC doing their best to make money they best way they know how. I probably couldn't do any better.)</p><p></p><p>But back to the original topic, this is directly one of the reasons I choose to only play & not DM 3e anymore. When I first read the dragon entry in the 3.0 MM, I knew I could never do them justice.</p><p></p><p>P.S. I actually think the 3e grappling rules aren't too bad. If it ever comes up in classic D&D, I plan to use something similar.</p><p></p><p>P.P.S. It's really a shame that he ended up designing the encounter area so that the PCs would <em>not</em> have advantageous positions to lure the dragon into.</p><p></p><p>P.P.P.S. The key to running 3e combat (says the guy who has sworn off running 3e) is to have a stack of index cards. (Not those fancy initiative cards; just plain, blank, index cards.) Write each PC's name on one & each monster group on one. At the beginning of combat, put them in initiative order. When someone holds an action or otherwise changes their position in the initiative order, their card moves appropriately. Each spell or other lasting effect gets a card with it's name & duration. The PC/monster on the top card acts & you put their card on the bottom of the deck & repeat. When you get to an effect card, decrement the duration & move it to the back.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RFisher, post: 3120879, member: 3608"] Of course, then the cycle just starts over again because a few short months after 4e has consolidated & streamlined everything, the first 4e splatbook will be out. Personally, I found the "innovations" of the 3.0e splatbooks unimpressive. I sold them off (the first RPG products I'd ever allowed to leave my possession!) & decided to jump off the bandwagon. Perhaps the 3.5e supplements have been better (UA tempted me!), but I've decided that with 3 shelves of gaming material, I've got just about all the innovations I'll need for a long time. (Don't get me wrong. I don't begrudge WotC doing their best to make money they best way they know how. I probably couldn't do any better.) But back to the original topic, this is directly one of the reasons I choose to only play & not DM 3e anymore. When I first read the dragon entry in the 3.0 MM, I knew I could never do them justice. P.S. I actually think the 3e grappling rules aren't too bad. If it ever comes up in classic D&D, I plan to use something similar. P.P.S. It's really a shame that he ended up designing the encounter area so that the PCs would [i]not[/i] have advantageous positions to lure the dragon into. P.P.P.S. The key to running 3e combat (says the guy who has sworn off running 3e) is to have a stack of index cards. (Not those fancy initiative cards; just plain, blank, index cards.) Write each PC's name on one & each monster group on one. At the beginning of combat, put them in initiative order. When someone holds an action or otherwise changes their position in the initiative order, their card moves appropriately. Each spell or other lasting effect gets a card with it's name & duration. The PC/monster on the top card acts & you put their card on the bottom of the deck & repeat. When you get to an effect card, decrement the duration & move it to the back. [/QUOTE]
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