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Message: <blockquote data-quote="bryce0lynch" data-source="post: 5799963" data-attributes="member: 6688546">I'm very worried about this element. It had a very strong presence in the very early versions (OD&D/Holmes, maybe 1E) and seems to have been on the decline since then.The core element was facing & exploring The Unknown. This extended not only to the environment but to the creatures as well. I'm going to use a dungeoncrawl in my examples. Exploring is about resource management. Going slow lets you detect traps and search for secret doors, but also expends your torches and food and increases the number of wandering monster checks. Do you press your luck when your resources are expended or retreat out to a basecamp or try and sleep where you are? More wandering monster checks! or maybe the monsters are now more ready for you if you left to rest in a camp nearby. Or maybe they raid you at night! Without these controls the players can simply take their time in a VERY cautious exploration, with no risk to manage at all. In support of this there must be a core decisions the players make that have consequences. Does the wizard take exploration spells or combat spells? Do I detect magic now or save it for later? These sorts of decisions result in raising the tension of the game. Making searching easy (from a time standpoint) or minimizing the agony over which spell to take will help eliminate the RIsk Management portion of the exploration game, which is a core element of Discovering the Unknown. In 4E terms, if the wizard has "detect magic" and "find secret doors" as an at-will then a significant portion of the risk management  mini-game has been eliminated, along with the associated Exploration element. This extends to healing. There has to be consequences for getting in to a fight, or being stupid in one When the party gets low on HP then they have to decide: push in further, retreat outside, or make camp? If healing is free, as it tends to be in 4E, then that aspect of the resource management game is significantly reduced. Any no, I don't buy the "controlling your surges" as a resource management issue. This element, more than anything else in this note, is critical to the exploration element of the game..This extends in to magic items as well. There needs to be a major shake-up in these. They need to be as non-standard as possible as no one knows what they do. +1 swords and potions of water breathing as not interesting. Other sword powers and goldfish you have to swallow to breathe water are much more interesting and reintroduce that element of the unknown in to that aspect of the game. This element, in particular, needs to be emphasized in the published modules, Encounters, and rulebooks. People take their leads from the published products.With regard to monsters, first time you face a Gibberring Mouther you're horrified. What are it's attacks? What's it vulnerable to? Is it very strong or are our attacks ineffectual? I was very disappointed to see a recent poll inquiring what monsters should be featured in the first adventures: Kobolds, goblins, orcs, skeletons. The featured monster should be something no one has seen before and that the PLAYERS don't know how to deal with.</blockquote>

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