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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Red Castle" data-source="post: 8953719" data-attributes="member: 7040765">Regarding 4e and that some thinks the lack of flavor text and descriptions discourage roleplay, I personally disagree. But that might be because I always created my own homebrew world and never used a premade module.For me, what always draw me to roleplaying games is the way it encourage creativity, rule systems that allows me to live what I imagine, create my own story with some friends around the table. There is some RPG that will be about exploring a particular world (like for example Star Wars, Legend of the Five Rings or Trudvang) where the lore is important to really feel the world, and there is others where it lets the storyteller come up with his own lore. For me, DnD (especially 4e) as always been more like the latter, a ruleset and toolbox that allow me to create a story in a medieval fantasy world. I as the DM decide the geography, the politics, the history, the lore of the world I create for my campaign, for the story I want to tell. And for that purpose, I personally love the less is more approach of 4e: give me some guideline about the creatures and powers, but let me put the meat around it, adapt them to my world, my vision. Don't restrict me by telling me how a creature should behave and how they live their lives, let me come up with those informations and then let my players find out how it is my world by experiencing it, instead of just looking in a monster manual and suddenly knowing everything about them. And even better, when the situation allows it, let the player come up with information, let him create it, it will invest them even more in your campaign world. A player thinks the description of a power is lacking? Let him come up with what happens, don't limit yourself to what a book tells you, make it your own. Want your fireball to be a green fire, why not? Do you think it should materialize at the middle of the zone and then expend, or is it shot from your staff and then explode? For game purpose, the only important thing is the effect, the rest is flavor and you as a DM or a player can easily, and are encourage, to make your own.When I look through the 4e Monster Manuals, I love that it let me enough space to adapt the creatures to my vision. Bullywugs have maybe 3-4 paragraph of text and info, and yet has been a good part of two of my campaigns. Same for the Kruthik. The information given is just enough to build a base, but then I do what I want with them. But regardless of your approach, I don't think either is better or worst for roleplaying. Roleplaying is more up to the players around the table than the game played, it doesn't need a lot of rules, just some basics. It's more about interacting together,with the world, that having a lot of rules. And my personal opinion regarding social rules is that, again, less is more. Having too many rules during a social encounter can get clunky and break the flow and immersion.</blockquote>

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