How many Tools do you Need?

[JohnSnow]

Ack, and I agree with Lanefan as well. The sky truly is falling.

That's pretty much what I'm saying. If you include naval rules, which is something that probably should be in the core books since it's likely to come up, then all I really want to see are enough rules to get me through the scene. It's a fairly corner case that isn't going to be a center piece of most campaigns, but, is likely to come up at least once in a while. So, a page or two of mechanics for dealing with ship to ship combat - very basic, quick and simple, some rules for buying ships and how to crew them and rules for navigating and sailing. Done.

I guess the question becomes, how far off into corner case land do we want to go? Ships and chases? Probably going to come up. Building castles? Maybe. Pregnancy rules? No thanks.

My god...the sky really is falling. We all agree.

Here's what I'm hoping for.

• Detailed resolution mechanics for small unit combat (the classic adventuring skirmish encounter).
• Detailed mechanics for the archetypal actions taken in said combats.
• Detailed resolution mechanics for archetypal non-combat actions, including things like sneaking, climbing, bluffing, negotiating, and running away.
• Simple resolution mechanics that can be used for infrequently-used actions.
• Detailed mechanics for frequently used adventure scenarios such as overland travel, darkness, and various "normal" terrain features.
• Basic mechanics for infrequent adventure scenarios such as naval combat, siege warfare, aerial combat, and underwater adventuring.

In other words, if it's an adventure game, there ought to be chase mechanics and good basic unarmed combat rules - two things D&D has NEVER really had. If it's a medieval fantasy adventure game, we need detailed rules for using swords, bows and magic.

I think 4E WILL have all these, even if it has to give some other things slightly short shrift out of the box.