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<blockquote data-quote="Reynard" data-source="post: 4752483" data-attributes="member: 467">Some more thoughts on this as the coalesce in my brain:I guess what I am talking about is &quot;functional compatibility&quot;. That is, being able to open the book and use the material with no or minimal fiddling. The most basic illustration of this would be an &quot;edition neutral&quot; D&amp;D adventure or supplement. For example, in such an adventure there might be an encounter with 8 orcs, designed for 3rd level PCs. &quot;Orc&quot; is a known quantity, a defined term in D&amp;D, as is &quot;3rd level&quot;. The adventure, then, is &quot;functionally compatible&quot; with any edition of D&amp;D in which 8 orcs versus a party of 3rd level PCs is an equivalent encounter or challenge. No stat blocks are needed, either, since &quot;orc&quot; is a defined term. This compatibility may even extend to other fantasy games where the relationship between &quot;8 orcs&quot; and &quot;3rd level&quot; is equivalent.The other end of the spectrum would be using stat blocks as they are presented in a given edition but changing the definitions of the terms in a stat block. If, for example, an orc has a stat block of AC 15, HP 6, Attack +4 in a given version of the game, it is &quot;functionally compatible&quot; with any other version of the game, or other game entirely, which uses the same stat block with the same relative meaning. Even if your system is noticeably different -- say an opposed roll is used for combat where the target rolls under their AC and attacker tries to roll over it, and the one with the greater result is successful, or some such -- it is still compatible so long as the relative values and relationships are similar.It would be an interesting exercise, I think, to try and redefine all the terms in a typical D&amp;D stat block (pick an edition) and change the rules surrounding those terms and values to create a different play experience but maintain functional compatibility.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Reynard, post: 4752483, member: 467"] Some more thoughts on this as the coalesce in my brain: I guess what I am talking about is "functional compatibility". That is, being able to open the book and use the material with no or minimal fiddling. The most basic illustration of this would be an "edition neutral" D&D adventure or supplement. For example, in such an adventure there might be an encounter with 8 orcs, designed for 3rd level PCs. "Orc" is a known quantity, a defined term in D&D, as is "3rd level". The adventure, then, is "functionally compatible" with any edition of D&D in which 8 orcs versus a party of 3rd level PCs is an equivalent encounter or challenge. No stat blocks are needed, either, since "orc" is a defined term. This compatibility may even extend to other fantasy games where the relationship between "8 orcs" and "3rd level" is equivalent. The other end of the spectrum would be using stat blocks as they are presented in a given edition but changing the definitions of the terms in a stat block. If, for example, an orc has a stat block of AC 15, HP 6, Attack +4 in a given version of the game, it is "functionally compatible" with any other version of the game, or other game entirely, which uses the same stat block with the same relative meaning. Even if your system is noticeably different -- say an opposed roll is used for combat where the target rolls under their AC and attacker tries to roll over it, and the one with the greater result is successful, or some such -- it is still compatible so long as the relative values and relationships are similar. It would be an interesting exercise, I think, to try and redefine all the terms in a typical D&D stat block (pick an edition) and change the rules surrounding those terms and values to create a different play experience but maintain functional compatibility. [/QUOTE]

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