Diagonal wonkiness scenarios

[keterys]

I will try 4e when it comes out to see the whole thing, though.

All I'm asking for - give it a shot.

Very seriously, it allows me greater immersion in the story and action. Best is not using a grid and counting squares at all and just describing the action, but the grid has a lot of other benefits... but I'm so ready to drop kick the extra math right out and concentrate purely on the immersion.

 

[Ourph]

What about a Prysmatic sphere or a fireball?
The burst description says it affects a 5x5 square, and it is supposed to be a sphere.

No, it is supposed to be a square, that's why the rules say it fills a 5x5 square.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

Yes, it works. Yes, it's simple. Yes, it's fast. But it's not a map of the gameworld, it's a map of a tactical rulespace.

Worse, it's a map of the rulespace that nearly everyone who plays will mistakenly believe to be a map of the gameworld. And given the lavishly illustrated battlemaps that WotC produces, that mistake is not only understandable, it's encouraged by the designers.

 

[baberg]

In my final post to this thread (it grows boring arguing with those who have already decided their opinions) I point to Massawyrm who has DM'd a 4th Edition campaign as part of the playtesting.

At first glance there are a couple rule changes that will seem silly. The one that crawled up my craw the first session was the fact that diagonal movement counts as just one square. The idea that you could move faster diagonally than you could straight or side to side is retarded. But by the second session I didn’t care. Why? No one EVER had to recount a movement. You could eyeball distances without surprises popping up because you forgot to double count the second diagonal.

Everyone moves and counts and there’s never a hint of second guessing. And when it came down to it, any optimization a player could get out of it was balanced by the monsters having the same thing. Life is just easier this way.

 

[Wormwood]

Life is just easier this way.

Ease of play breaks my suspension of disbelief.

 

[Nytmare]

Ease of play breaks my suspension of disbelief.

Hey! You got your suspension of disbelief in my ease of play!

 

[ruemere]

I agree that "1-1-1-1" method is easier to use. That's why I'm going to switch to hexes. And, dudes and dudettes, whenever my character is going to stand in a rectangle(-ish) closed space, he's not going to need to worry about corners silently creeping toward his back... they will stay right there where some architect placed them.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Sir Sebastian Hardin]

That's the same option I will take. Hexes solve the thing. Bursts and Blasts will work just as well and the world/map/grid will be consistente during the whole session.

Yay for hexes!!

(I've even built a flexible home-made hex board, covered with sticker plastic that allows for customization with whiteboard markers! It even folds for 3D combat!)

 

[Will]

I was thinking of using off-set squares, but I think I'll just use hexes; Chessex makes some vinyl battlemats in hex and square of various designs.

We use a cloth-like battlemat with a square grid, and it's very convenient; if we have to break in the midst of combat, just mark down where folks are, roll it up for next time. Reusable.

 

[IanB]

Maybe. Maybe not. I agree that it has to do with how one's brain works, but I don't think it has to do with OCD.

I'm pretty sure you're aware, Ian, that I tested DDM08 for several hours before this rule drove me from the game. Some people just have different emphases in what they perceive. I perceive illogical constructions -- verbal, spatial, and temporal -- almost as if they're surrounded with some kind of aura. I just can't not see them. It's what allowed me to excel in law school, but obviously has its downsides, too. I was excited for DDM08 -- as I'm sure you remember -- and for 4E ... and the disappointment was pretty depressing.

I'm sure you are right that I am not picking the right sort of mental whatnot for my description there.

I would encourage you to give DDM08 another try. After playing 2 pre-releases for DoD2 at DDXP, sitting down to play the 1.0 rules on Saturday for the championships felt absolutely awful. It was like sitting down to take the SATs all over again. I wanted, more than anything, to just be playing 2.0 instead. The game is so much more fun without morale checks, with all the mobility and flexibility in engagement, etc., that I think it just blows away the oddities involved in movement. I believe in you Jeff - you can get past this issue.

I do think it will be harder to adjust to it in the RPG, simply because elevation and 3 dimensional movement will inevitably get involved.