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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dragonblade" data-source="post: 3818442" data-attributes="member: 2804">After listening to the monsters podcast, I'm totally on board with 4e feeling more D&D to me than 3e. I used to come up with complex stories on the fly by being able to run monsters right out of the monster manual back in 2e and 1e days.Ever since 3e, I feel almost a subconscious yet crushing responsibility to keep an encounter "balanced" by following the rules. Before I run a monster I feel like I have to go look up all their abilities and feats to make sure I don't make a mistake.If I want to add levels or advance a monster, I feel like I need to follow all the formulas exactly. I know this is all me, and I could probably ignore this stuff, but it just feels "wrong" somehow.After listening to the 4e monster podcast, I feel liberated. Like I can go back to being a total improv based DM. Now that I think about it, that it exactly! In 1e and 2e, I felt like I could improv whole campaigns on the fly with nothing more than a half page of notes in front of me (and I did). With 3e that feeling disappeared and I dislike DMing 3e for that reason. I feel like I need several hours of prep even when running pre-written adventures.With 4e, based on what I've heard, I will once again be able to improv intricate campaigns totally on the fly. And to me thats really what the classic D&D feel was all about.</blockquote>