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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6066827" data-attributes="member: 6696971">There are many things about 4e that I appreciate greatly.  However, I would say that at its absolute core is friendliness toward the metagame.  The AEDU framework is emblazoned with thematic, flavor-rich, mechanically-rich powers; exploits (martial), evocations (primal), prayers (divine), spells (arcane) etc.  It provides players with never-before-seen (especially martial characters) abilities to impose the vision of their archetype upon the fiction; and some taboo, metagame means to do so (author and director stance).  This culminates in powerful narrative sculpting capabilities from the PC-side of the game.  From the GM side, you have metagame scene framing tools (non-combat and combat), carrots (milestones/APs, quest xp embedded in advancement), and outcome based design which gives the GM unprecedented control in consistently conjuring the challenges/pressure/adversity that they're looking for the PCs to respond to. As an aside, this is the primary reason why I see nothing in 5e that appeals to my group's sensibilities.  It seems that, once again, the metagame is absolutely taboo...and the game is built around that premise.I think there are three ways to have immediate understanding of the fundamental design framework of 4e;1)  Exposure to indie gaming systems that promote this friendliness toward, and leveraging of, the metagame (this could be through play or just reading).2)  An evolution of playstyle that is burned out on a creative agenda that states flatly that the metagame is a subversive concept within the RPG credo.  A playstyle that has slowly (or radically), organically moved toward overt metagame tools/props/concepts; failing forward, fortune in the middle, bangs and kickers or any player authored thematic story element (hence the thematic preparation and efforts at coherency in my games), metagame carrot incentives (FPs, APs, etc), etc.  A playstyle that has appreciation for and understanding of the pacing of a scene-framed game versus an open sandbox or an adventure path.3)  No exposure to RPGing and the D&D cultural meme that metagaming is subversive to RPGs.I had both 1 and 2.  I got what 4e was either aiming at or fell into (most unlikely) immediately.  There was no system mastery required to produce what I was looking for.  I'm better now than I was at the beginning but the game that we're playing now is not too far from the game that we started with.If you do not possess either 1 or 2 within your background and strictly played 1e gamist sandbox/dungeon-crawl, 2e massaged story/DM force AP, 3.x/PF process sim sandbox, then 4e conceptually and mechanically may look like you've got a different horse hitched up to your worn old wagon.  However, after a little bit of exposure (and maybe some disagreement with the subversive metagame philosophy), you may find it an elegant, user-friendly way to get where you want to go.  Or not.I think its a mix of both.  Strategic to put the odds in your favor and tactical in the moment of conflict to secure victory.In my book, solely strategic would be such that the fight is utterly won without any steel drawn or resources deployed during a scrape (such as drowning a dungeon with an endless decanter or dimensional shifting a heward handy haversack bomb, etc).That works for me.  If there was a Seer or Oracle (something that implies metagame leveraging), that should be in the mix.I absolutely agree with both of these points.Same backgrounds for both of us.  Its no coincidence that our ultimate testimonies are the same.If I take the formor naval commander PC that I spoke of earlier (in this thread?  Or maybe in another?), I can frame scenes around him that either overtly call on that thematic material (homeless and unappreciated vets, pirates, corrupt beaurocrats, begrieved families who have lost their beloved father/husband who died in battle for his brothers-in-arms/country, fallen heroes needing a second chance, anything relating to sailors/boats/ships/ports/navigation, etc) or imply it and I know that my player is going to take the reins over and sculpt what comes next.  I don't have to force any story and I really don't have to work too hard at playing out the color of the thematic material or making it over-the-top.  We've got common understanding and he's got the thematic underwriting/machinery within his PC and the backing of the mechanics/resolution tools to take things over and off we go.  This is why I work hard pre-campaign to make sure I'm on the same page as my players thematically and with regards to their genre expectations.  If I know those things through and through, it is unbelievably easy for me to compose something off the cuff, throw it at them and know they will recognize it as relevant to their characters and the rest of the session will emerge coherently from their resultant decision-making.</blockquote>

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