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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 7754290" data-attributes="member: 42582">What socio-political decision does this reveal?I can certainly tell you, as a cold hard fact, that both rather left wing and rather right wing posters on this board have enjoyed 4e. (I am not going to identify said posters, as that would violate board rules, but my judgements of political affiliation are not speculative but based rather on PM correspondence.)In any event, to reiterate and elaborate: the decision is aesthetic. It is a decision that levelling is not a reward of play, but rather a pacing device.It is comparable to the way Pendragon handles time: whereas in Gygax's AD&D time is a resource, to be used sensibly (or squandered foolishly) in improving one's position as a player (see his DMG p 38), in Pendragon one adventure occurs each year. Time in Pendragon is not a resoure, or a reward, but rather the passage of time is a backdrop to the unfolding events of play.So, in 4e, the increasing prowess and reputation of the PCs ia a backdrop to the unfolding events of play.These are decisions about game design, with the aim of producing a particular experience. They are not political manifestos. No. A medal is an award for achievement. In 4e XP are not an award for achievement as a player (unless you count playing the game as an achievement). They are a pacing device.Which goes back to my point that not everyone plays RPGs as competitions or wargames.If there is no XP awarded for successful dungeon exploration (ie extraction of gold and other treasure) then I don't really see how the game is Gygaxian in sprit.I used XP in my first 4e campaign because that was the default in the rulebooks. In future I wouldn't bother. Levelling when everyone at the table things it would be fun, or make sense, to level up would be just as effective (maybe moreso) and require less bookkeeping.</blockquote>

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