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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2906025" data-attributes="member: 18280">To be honest, I think that part of the problem I have with the game is that it has lost some sense of "mortal beings exploring the unknown".  Part of this is that, in 3.X, PCs rapidly cease to be "mortal beings" in any meaningful sense of the word.  Another part is that, with lengthly combat times and even lengthlier prep times, "exploring the unknown" sort of goes out the window.  There is a reason, I think, for the appeal of running an arena-style D&D 3.X campaign.  In previous editions, this would get old fast -- the combat engine wasn't varied enough, and the game was more about poking about in Places Angels Feared to Tread, at least IME.  To me, 1e was about pushing back the boundaries of exploration.  2e was about character definition (with its kits and Player's Option books, I'd say it pushed farther in this direction than 3e...perhaps too far).  3.X is far more combat focused.  To match my personal tastes, I've toned the classes back down to mortal status....although, at the same time, I added some races that are not mortal (call me a study in paradox!)  I think that they are still equal to the standard 3.5 classes in power level, but different in the nature of their powers.  A lot of this is, admittedly, "feel".  Slowing level progression while removing Ye Olde Magick Item Shoppe was another major factor in restoring the "mortals" part of the equation.The exploration part, I think, is hurt only by the slow pace of combat in the current ruleset and by the length of time it takes to stat things out.  In 1e, I could write a 40-encounter-area adventure over the course of an evening.  In 2e, I could write a 20-encounter-area adventure over the course of an evening.  In 3e, depending upon level, I'd be lucky to write 10 encounters an evening.Conversely, in 1e, my PCs went through 20+ encounters a session.  In 2e, 10+ encounters a session, in 3e, about 3-6 encounters per session.  Speeding up combat, and speeding up scenario creation, are therefore two of my biggest "on the plate" goals for this summer.RCEDIT:  OTOH, just for the record, I don't buy the idea that "epic adventures" and "high-level play" go hand-in-hand.  I believe that it is quite possible to have epic adventures at any level!  This is, of course, sort of my point...that you have to have a whole whack of superpowers to become embroiled in an important, continent-spanning storyline is anathema to my way of thinking.  I wouldn't put any of the main characters in the comic League of Extraordinary Gentlemen above 6th level in the first volume, yet that adventure took them to Africa, France, and Britain, and put them in direct conflict with the criminal masterminds of pulp fiction.  And, when you look at it, Quatermain and Mina have no special powers at all.Conversely, some movies and fiction that seem very "high level" in terms of what the characters can do fall flat on the "epic adventure" scale, at least IMHO.  This was also true, btw, of some of the 1e and 2e higher level modules.  Yeah, you needed Kewl Powerz to defeat the High Muckity Muck, but so what?  Epic adventures have more to do with spanning vast areas, and doing things that truly affect the world, than with what powers get you there.  Indiana Jones can ride a zepplin in search of the Holy Grail without needing to be able to fly himself.  (And trying to reproduce the feel of those movies is yet another demonstration of how the action point mechanic is more important than levels for epic adventures!)RC</blockquote>

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