Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="smathis" data-source="post: 4190417" data-attributes="member: 56465">Hi Joe:Thanks for the review and for keeping an open mind about 4e -- despite what sounded like a couple of glitches.One thing I noticed about the demo I played compared to many others in this forum is that the demo DMs never seem to do the Skill Challenge the same. I mean, what you described and how it was resolved was 110% different from what I played in.And we played the same mod. (Escape from Sembia)That sets off some warning lights in that I don't think the Skill Challenges were properly explained to these DMs. Heck, ours even out-and-out said he was having to fudge them because he didn't have that much to go on in the demo materials.I have high hopes for the mechanic but I wouldn't write it off just yet.The one point I disagree with you on is the need for a mapgrid. I think it will be easier to do 4e without a mapgrid than 3e. I might be optimistic. But having played it, I don't see it being any more difficult than 3e. Just the change in how AoOs and "the 5-foot step" work simplifies the matter greatly.YMMV.And in contrast to a number of other contributors to this thread, I gotta say that I don't think a mapgrid reduces arguments at the table at all.I think it just shifts those arguments to other areas.If you're playing with a group that's going to argue for 30 minutes about whether or not they were far enough away to avoid being caught in a fireball, then it's my experience that those kinds of players will argue about AoOs, 5-foot steps, diagonal movement, tumbling, etc. etc. all day as well. Despite having a mapgrid right in front of them.It may be just my personal experience running for and playing in some of these groups. But an argument about a fireball or whether or not a PC was here or there happened a few times in an evening when we played without a mat. But an argument over who provoked an AoO, who got to take one, who meant to take a 5-foot step, who didn't count a diagonal as two squares... that stuff happened every combat -- sometimes multiple times.Others may have different experiences. It's really down to group preference in either case.But there are really a couple of myths I'd like to debunk here. First, that you can't play 4e without a grid. And second, that playing with a grid is preferable because people don't get into rules arguments.I think playing with a grid is preferable if the group prefers playing with a grid. A good group could make nearly any method of playing a great experience. And a bad one could probably wreck a completely immersive, virtual simulation programmed to perfectly mimic the physics of the game world.But some people do prefer a grid. And trying to take that away from them is pretty bad mojo. I've found it's like a security blanket or something.I don't think that makes gridless play any less fun or optimal. It's just different.</blockquote>

Verification