ExploderWizard
Hero
It also seems to me that a few folks are saying that it is wrongbadfun for the DM to run 4e in an "old school" way.
RC
I don't consider the idea wrongbadfun (or badwrongfun

It also seems to me that a few folks are saying that it is wrongbadfun for the DM to run 4e in an "old school" way.
RC
Sure. I'm one of those people.I was given to understand that some folks thought that any game could be played in an "old school" way.
Yes, but how big a part is a matter for some debate (and more disagreement). For instance, combat in our campaign hews pretty close, if not exactly to, the 4e RAW. Everything else, not so much (and in our group that's a whole lot of else). Since most of the game's action takes place in a DM-mediated --as opposed to rules-mediated-- space it seems old-school to me.Part of running a game in an "old school" way is interpreting powers and abilities in ways that seem plausible.
I didn't mean to give that impression. But I do think a 4e DM should learn the rules before he or she breaks/modifies/reinterprets them. That's just good advice no matter what game you're playing.It also seems to me that a few folks are saying that it is wrongbadfun for the DM to run 4e in an "old school" way.
If you always follow the letter of the RAW, even when what the RAW says happens doesn't make sense to you (be it tripping oozes, swimming while immobilized, getting archers to jump off battlements to fight you, or halfling fighters pushing giants around), the game will become an exercise in maniuplating the rules and you'll lose the gameworld and the fiction to the mechanics.
Great description of a 4e martial power....a variety of potential maneuvers that the character can execute that are represented with the same mechanical effect.
I don't consider the idea wrongbadfun (or badwrongfun) to play 4E this way but I don't really see the point of it myself. 4E PC's are superheroes and should get to do superhero stuff. If that isn't the style of game desired then it's simply a matter of the right tool for the right job.