Dragon Editorial: Fearless

[Shroomy]

Chris Youngs (though still credited as Chris Thomasson) wrote an article on how the math of 4e has affected his playing style:

http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dred/20080220a

 

[Mouseferatu]

Heh. He's not the only one. I'm playing a rogue in my 4E playtest group, and he's one of the most reckless characters I've ever played. (That's just how the character shaped up; it wasn't a deliberate attempt to test the death and dying rules, though I've now done so more than once. ) And I'm having a blast with him.

 

[hong]

The "damn the torpedoes ninjae, full speed ahead" attitude is one I've pimped for a while now, and it's good to see it taking a hold.

 

[Voss]

Yikes.

You can take more risks because nothing is going to kill you outright. He says its less metagaming than it was in 3e, but in its own way its just as much or more.

And the action movie garbage bothers me. Is this game still playable if you don't want a two dimensional action-explosion fest?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Yikes.

You can take more risks because nothing is going to kill you outright. He says its less metagaming than it was in 3e, but in its own way its just as much or more.

Less is going to kill you outright. But trust me, there have been a few times where it's only been sheer luck that my character's recklessness didn't result in a replacement PC.

 

[Greylock]

The "damn the torpedoes ninjae, full speed ahead" attitude is one I've pimped for a while now, and it's good to see it taking a hold.

That's the way I've played for quite a while. The typical moment of truth at our game table goes something like:

Player 1 - Someone, stick something in the hole.
Player 2 - Heck no! It might blow up!
Player 3 - [stares at the ceiling]
Player 1 - We shouldn't I guess.
Player 4 - Anyone got a pole?
Player 3 - [stares at the floor]
Player 1 - Maybe we should try it on our way out...
Greylock - Oh, to heck with it! My character sticks his fist in the hole!

*wham*

 

[Ondo]

He says its less metagaming than it was in 3e, but in its own way its just as much or more.

No, he says "but now I don't have to metagame and shirk away from certain tasks that I knew carried far more risk in previous editions." It's pretty obviously true that being bold all the time is less metagamey than being bold, except for a few times where your knowledge of the rules tells you it's too dangerous.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

I like this, it means you can make good encounters and challenges without risk of massive sudden character death.

I always hated save or die.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Ah yes, reminds me of a game I played years ago in 2e.

We were all looking into a pit in a dungeon after having fought through a bunch of orcs over several encounters. Everyone was hurt, and my character had nearly died once. We weren't sure how deep it was or what was down there. Everyone else debated for a bit whether to go on or turn around and go back, and it was decided that the only sensible thing to do was to turn around.

Of course, when asked what my vote was, I turned to the DM and said "I jump in the hole."

And it turned out, going on was the best course of action. Whiny scaredy cats shouldn't call themselves "adventurers." My character was more than happy to point that out to them. Adventure to adventure.

That is the type of game I want to play!

 

[Lanefan]

Ah yes, reminds me of a game I played years ago in 2e.

We were all looking into a pit in a dungeon after having fought through a bunch of orcs over several encounters. Everyone was hurt, and my character had nearly died once. We weren't sure how deep it was or what was down there. Everyone else debated for a bit whether to go on or turn around and go back, and it was decided that the only sensible thing to do was to turn around.

Of course, when asked what my vote was, I turned to the DM and said "I jump in the hole."

And it turned out, going on was the best course of action. Whiny scaredy cats shouldn't call themselves "adventurers." My character was more than happy to point that out to them. Adventure to adventure.

That is the type of game I want to play!

Hear hear!

Charge first, ask questions later never.

Lanefan