D'karr
Adventurer
Not an entirely bad choice when compared to some of these threads.
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Has the DM fallen from grace?
- Thread starter ForeverSlayer
- Start date
Not an entirely bad choice when compared to some of these threads.
malraux
First Post
I'll be in my bunk.
The bottom line is that myself and lots of people I know have no problem with creating a campaign when it comes to 3rd/Pathfinder. I don't have all day to work on my games but I know how to make what little time I do have count because I know the rules and I have taken the time to become familiar with them. Creating encounters at a short period of time isn't for everyone, but it is able to be done.
Even the 4th edition DMG's are thin compared to the PHB's and like someone said before, what was in the DMG has been moves to the PHB's.
Even the 4th edition DMG's are thin compared to the PHB's and like someone said before, what was in the DMG has been moves to the PHB's.
Aenghus
Explorer
I think nowadays the average player has a lot more experience than in days of yore and is a lot less willing to accept poor behavior on the part of a DM. This is completely separate from problem players, who IMO are at the same ratio of the total player base they always have been.
DMing tools have improved, and the preparation burden in 4e is significantly lighter. Prep time grew far too high in the latter half of my 3.x campaign, and the worst part is that most of it was wasted. Most NPCs in fights expired in a few rounds, and the bulk of their feats, prepared spells and magic items were irrelevant to the result.
4e Monsters/NPC stats are much more focused, containing only the relevant details to a combat encounter, which makes prep much easier and proportionally more effective. NPC personality etc need fleshing out proportional to their (possibly expected) longetivity. The lack of Save or Die shortcuts in 4e makes it far less likely an important NPC will be anticlimactically one-shotted, something I saw too many times in 3.x days. (Not that NPCs should be invulnerable, but removing the temptation to try your luck is something I appreciate in 4e).
DMing tools have improved, and the preparation burden in 4e is significantly lighter. Prep time grew far too high in the latter half of my 3.x campaign, and the worst part is that most of it was wasted. Most NPCs in fights expired in a few rounds, and the bulk of their feats, prepared spells and magic items were irrelevant to the result.
4e Monsters/NPC stats are much more focused, containing only the relevant details to a combat encounter, which makes prep much easier and proportionally more effective. NPC personality etc need fleshing out proportional to their (possibly expected) longetivity. The lack of Save or Die shortcuts in 4e makes it far less likely an important NPC will be anticlimactically one-shotted, something I saw too many times in 3.x days. (Not that NPCs should be invulnerable, but removing the temptation to try your luck is something I appreciate in 4e).
Last edited:
The whole point is nothing was certain and that is a play style a lot of people like. Sure that evil caster may not be able to get all his spells off but that's just a part of the game.
This is where simulationist and gamist start to come in.
Some people are like "Why does a dragon need Detect Magic"? Well there are lots of uses for Detect Magic and it was up to the DM to come up with that. Hell a dragon would use Detect Magic on the group to see what items were magical so he was careful not to destroy them when he killed the PC's.
If this was 4th edition then the dragon would only be equipped with what he was going to use for the purpose of combat.
malraux
First Post
No. Nowhere in the rules explicitly or implicitly is it stated that a dragon couldn't have a funny hat, a collection of erotic dragon statuettes, or rituals for fun or plot as the DM whims.
Now his combat stat block will likely only include items related to combat, but that's just an information display issue.
D'karr
Adventurer
The bottom line is that I, and lots of people I know, have no problem with creating a campaign when it comes to 4e. I don't have all day to work on my games. But I know how to make what little time I do have count. Because the rules are simplified and easier to remember. A DM can literally run the game from the DM Screen. I also don't have to look for necessary creature information in multiple sources as it is all provided directly in their stat block.
In addition, the tools provided (electronic and otherwise), the simplified and properly working guidelines for designing encounters, and the ad-hoc guidelines for things not covered in the rules, provide a consistent framework that lets the DM concentrate on the most important stuff. No longer do I have to worry whether a 7th level NPC wizard gets 1, 2, or 3, third level spells, and whether he gets a bonus spell for his intelligence. I can now choose to make that NPC using simple rules, I can select an appropriate one from a book, I can modify the one from the book to make him more thematically accurate for the encounter, or I can create him just like a PC if I prefer.
It used to be that creating encounters in a short period of time wasn't for everyone. Now, with the tools/rules/guidelines provided it is for everyone, including those with very little time or rules knowledge.
The original question was whether the rules had relegated the DM to a lower rung in the grand scheme of things. My original opinion still stands. The tools/rules/guidelines provided have truly given the DM the opportunity to unleash his potential and creativity without worrying about unimportant things.
FireLance
Legend
Assuming combat had not already started, of course. A 3e dragon would have to be very confident that he was facing inferior foes to spend three rounds of combat identifying the strength and location of the auras of the party's magic items.
Squire James
Explorer
As a long-time DM, I never felt I have achieved a state of grace to fall from. It's kind of like a local "lawyer talk" commercial I heard, where some caller said, "You bring back the good reputation of attorneys." Every time I hear that, I think (and say if I'm alone) "Exactly when did attorneys have this good reputation that this guy supposedly brought back?"
As to the intent of the topic, I think the general attitudes of people have more to do with a perceived decrease in DM authority than game systems do. For one thing, people seem much more willing to get into long, drawn-out arguments that sometimes go to Saturday Night Live levels of dead-horse-beating!
As to the intent of the topic, I think the general attitudes of people have more to do with a perceived decrease in DM authority than game systems do. For one thing, people seem much more willing to get into long, drawn-out arguments that sometimes go to Saturday Night Live levels of dead-horse-beating!
