Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 6028918" data-attributes="member: 20323">When I was younger (childhood and early teenage years), I never had a great grasp of the rules even when I started DMing. Some of the best fun I've had role-playing was virtually free form, rolling dice whenever we felt there was a dramatic conflict to be resolved, pretty much. What made that work was a very intimate group: just me and one or two of my best buddies.The larger the group, or the less intimate that group, the more important rules are.And which rules set you choose has an impact on the game. For example, in 3e it was common practice to buff the frontline before a major fight, including casting enlarge; personally that created a dissonance for me (none of the fantasy literature I read had enlarged knights, and it felt...gamey and gimmicky), but we all laughed about it. Buffing didn't look the same in 4e, and was significantly less than 3e because classes were more balanced, but there was a lot more condition/effect tracking round to round. For us that meant using condition markers, having an initiative caller, and a whole host of other adaptations that felt quite artificial and structured at first. Another example: compared to 1st level characters in AD&D, 4e 1st level characters are already accomplished adventurers. What game system you choose changes the kind of stories you tell.</blockquote>