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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 4667902" data-attributes="member: 1210">I think 4e can handle a wide variety of play styles with a good dm and good players. Investigation- hell, I ran a segment of my 4e campaign that was heavily focused on investigation, with hardly any combat, for about 4 or 5 sessions recently, and they were some of the best sessions we have had (in an overall very fun game). Horror? I think you can do horror quite well in 4e, but I haven't tried it yet. The key is exception-based design. This is a beautiful throwback to 1e and earlier design philosophy; you just make what the game requires, and remember- the suggested guidelines are only suggested guidelines. If you want a horror game with a monster that pcs will have massive incentive to run from, give it resist 15 all; also, have its attacks hit at level + 15 and, while they might only do level-appropriate damage, if you add a rider that &quot;the target takes -5 to saves and cannot take standard or minor actions (save ends both); Aftereffect: the target is dazed and takes a -5 to saves (save ends both)&quot;. Suddenly a stand-up fight looks very, very bad to most groups of pcs. You just have to customize things. With the skill challenge rules, it is easy to put mechanics to almost any idea. I've done skill challenges for recognizing that the pcs are in an illusory trap, building a makeshift raft out of Underdark fungus, negotiating prices down from greedy dwarf merchants, escaping from a buried tower via a difficult climb and some tricky navigation, outrunning or outfoxing enemies, trying to deal with the insane, etc. In many of these cases, the skill challenge rules were modified (can't fail- but the challenge goes on, with consequences for each failure, until the pcs get 10 successes; pcs don't know they are in a skill challenge; the challenge is spread over 3 sessions, with many other events and encounters in between; etc etc).&nbsp; QFMFT!!!!</blockquote>

[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 4667902, member: 1210"] I think 4e can handle a wide variety of play styles with a good dm and good players. Investigation- hell, I ran a segment of my 4e campaign that was heavily focused on investigation, with hardly any combat, for about 4 or 5 sessions recently, and they were some of the best sessions we have had (in an overall very fun game). Horror? I think you can do horror quite well in 4e, but I haven't tried it yet. The key is [i]exception-based design[/i]. This is a beautiful throwback to 1e and earlier design philosophy; you just make what the game requires, and remember- the suggested guidelines are [i]only[/i] suggested guidelines. If you want a horror game with a monster that pcs will have massive incentive to run from, give it resist 15 all; also, have its attacks hit at level + 15 and, while they might only do level-appropriate damage, if you add a rider that "the target takes -5 to saves and cannot take standard or minor actions (save ends both); [i]Aftereffect:[/i] the target is dazed and takes a -5 to saves (save ends both)". Suddenly a stand-up fight looks very, very bad to most groups of pcs. You just have to customize things. With the skill challenge rules, it is easy to put mechanics to almost any idea. I've done skill challenges for recognizing that the pcs are in an illusory trap, building a makeshift raft out of Underdark fungus, negotiating prices down from greedy dwarf merchants, escaping from a buried tower via a difficult climb and some tricky navigation, outrunning or outfoxing enemies, trying to deal with the insane, etc. In many of these cases, the skill challenge rules were modified (can't fail- but the challenge goes on, with consequences for each failure, until the pcs get 10 successes; pcs don't know they are in a skill challenge; the challenge is spread over 3 sessions, with many other events and encounters in between; etc etc). QFMFT!!!! [/QUOTE]

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