Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Is 4E doing it for you?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="SenseiMike" data-source="post: 4479801" data-attributes="member: 77571"><p>Show me in previous edition books where it specifically said you need to have a balanced party. You won't find it anywhere. It might recommend the Cleric in a party, but I remember a passage that stated that you shouldn't try to shoehorn a player into playing something he doesn't want to play. Yes, I do remember Gygax and others saying in published adventures that they want a balanced mix of characters running through this. My guys and I ran through White Plume Mountain without a Thief, and we finished it. Yes, the traps were hell, but we finished it. </p><p> </p><p>One aspect of the First and Second Editions of the game that I rather liked was the way the game said to roll up characters that offered another challenge; playing with what you got. Note that these games never told you there had to be competent characters meted out for their specific roles, or otherwise they would've dispensed with the rolling method altogether as the 4E PHB has done. This implied that, if you simply played with the stats the dice gave you, you were bound to potentially be lacking in a role; which is where the books of those editions had basically made the case that party balance was not so pressing. Maybe none of the players had rolled a high enough Dexterity to be a Thief. The challenge, then, was how do we overcome this inability? </p><p> </p><p>I realize few people even in those days played the game like this, but I sure did, and I loved that sort of challenge. And it's when you can overcome such things like that that exercises your mind, enabling you to go through very challenging adventures like White Plume without a Thief. In fact, we went through Castle Ravenloft the first time without a Mage; it was very hard, but we did it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SenseiMike, post: 4479801, member: 77571"] Show me in previous edition books where it specifically said you need to have a balanced party. You won't find it anywhere. It might recommend the Cleric in a party, but I remember a passage that stated that you shouldn't try to shoehorn a player into playing something he doesn't want to play. Yes, I do remember Gygax and others saying in published adventures that they want a balanced mix of characters running through this. My guys and I ran through White Plume Mountain without a Thief, and we finished it. Yes, the traps were hell, but we finished it. One aspect of the First and Second Editions of the game that I rather liked was the way the game said to roll up characters that offered another challenge; playing with what you got. Note that these games never told you there had to be competent characters meted out for their specific roles, or otherwise they would've dispensed with the rolling method altogether as the 4E PHB has done. This implied that, if you simply played with the stats the dice gave you, you were bound to potentially be lacking in a role; which is where the books of those editions had basically made the case that party balance was not so pressing. Maybe none of the players had rolled a high enough Dexterity to be a Thief. The challenge, then, was how do we overcome this inability? I realize few people even in those days played the game like this, but I sure did, and I loved that sort of challenge. And it's when you can overcome such things like that that exercises your mind, enabling you to go through very challenging adventures like White Plume without a Thief. In fact, we went through Castle Ravenloft the first time without a Mage; it was very hard, but we did it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Is 4E doing it for you?
Top