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<blockquote data-quote="LostSoul" data-source="post: 5209323" data-attributes="member: 386">I really like 4E; I think it's a slick and elegant engine.&nbsp; I do have a few issues with it, though.This is probably my biggest issue with 4E, discovered after playing for some time.&nbsp; (That's why I called my hack &quot;Fiction First&quot;.)&nbsp; The way I look at it is: If you can always come up with some colour to justify why this power works in this situation, it means that &quot;this situation&quot; isn't really important.&nbsp; What's important is the power and the rules, not the colour around it.In other words, the situation in the game world doesn't affect resolution (of the situation in the game world, it's strange).&nbsp; What gets resolved are the numbers on the sheet - HP, XP, attack bonuses, skill modifiers, defences.&nbsp; You have to take the time and effort to give those meaning; but the game doesn't push you that way, it doesn't give you a reason to apply that meaning.&nbsp; It doesn't point to that blank space and say, &quot;Hey, look, what goes here, guys playing the game?&quot;It makes it easy to ignore the game world, even if you'd like to focus on it.&nbsp; The game is complex and there are a lot of things going on at any one point, and when one thing isn't related to anything else (i.e. the game world), it's the first to go.However, the elegance of the system is such that it makes it easy to put the game world back in if you strip out some of the other elements.&nbsp; What's more, the system has some nice numbers to it, and it's still D&amp;D with elves and dwarves and orcs and gnolls - that's why I've stuck with it and hacked it into something more of my liking.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="LostSoul, post: 5209323, member: 386"] I really like 4E; I think it's a slick and elegant engine. I do have a few issues with it, though. This is probably my biggest issue with 4E, discovered after playing for some time. (That's why I called my hack "Fiction First".) The way I look at it is: If you can always come up with some colour to justify why this power works in this situation, it means that "this situation" isn't really important. What's important is the power and the rules, not the colour around it. In other words, the situation in the game world doesn't affect resolution (of the situation in the game world, it's strange). What gets resolved are the numbers on the sheet - HP, XP, attack bonuses, skill modifiers, defences. You have to take the time and effort to give those meaning; but the game doesn't push you that way, it doesn't give you a reason to apply that meaning. It doesn't point to that blank space and say, "Hey, look, what goes here, guys playing the game?" It makes it easy to ignore the game world, even if you'd like to focus on it. The game is complex and there are a lot of things going on at any one point, and when one thing isn't related to anything else (i.e. the game world), it's the first to go. However, the elegance of the system is such that it makes it easy to put the game world back in if you strip out some of the other elements. What's more, the system has some nice numbers to it, and it's still D&D with elves and dwarves and orcs and gnolls - that's why I've stuck with it and hacked it into something more of my liking. [/QUOTE]

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