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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9322641" data-attributes="member: 6790260">And I have seen this alleged "acceleration" in all of one campaign. The one I'm currently playing in, run quite graciously by Hussar of this very forum.When folks say 5e's issues lie heavily on the GM side of the equation, they aren't joking. There are numerous parts of 5e that are simply NOT used the way they were designed, consistently not used that way, despite the fact that doing so actually makes the play experience worse for most people who play it--and even sometimes worse for the person running it! (I'm particularly thinking about the skills system there, and how it is very poorly used by a large chunk of 5e DMs, but that's just the most prominent example.)While I surely do not share the interest, I consider it an absolute requirement that any future full, proper, no-pretense, we-actually-recognize-it-as-one edition of D&D provide full-throated, well-tested, effective rules for "Novice Levels" or "Zero Levels" or whatever folks might want to call them.I consider this no less essential than anything that caters to my own interests, even though I would probably never make use of those rules myself. Because part of a commitment to creating a system that is well-designed for a wide variety of players is stuff like that. Spending development time on things that I don't care about, but which I know would make a HUGE difference for people with different interests.I'm aware of what they aimed for. I have seen it, as noted, precisely once, and that only extremely recently.Gonna have to stop you right there. I am attached to my character before a single die has hit the table. I am not able to roleplay a character to which I have no attachment. It would be like trying to write a poem about something you literally could not care less about, or trying to give an enthusiastic performance with a song you genuinely feel no emotions about whatsoever. I just can't do it.Whereas I find that you get them to do the craziest things, all throughout the campaign, by ensuring (a) they know they won't be harshly punished for creativity, (b) they feel confident that they can accurately gauge the risks involved, and (c) they actually feel comfortable taking risks, because they know you don't just willy-nilly take away the stuff they're invested in (even if you may torture them ruthlessly over some change or cost <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />).When creativity is rewarding, when players play in good faith, when DMs support sincere enthusiasm, when the players know (as Jafar so kindly taught us!) "after all, there are things SO much worse than death!"--that's when you get players doing the crazy stuff, gladly throwing themselves into devil-pacts and swinging from chandeliers with Flynn-ly abandon and smooching dapper swains left and right.Instead of grubbing for every advantage they can get, they trust you, and you trust them--they trust you to not shut them out of participation, to not destroy the anchors that tether them to the experience, and in return, you trust them to adhere to the spirit of the game, to do what is dramatic and exciting and productive rather than merely what is safely sterile and dully efficient.One might even say you encourage them to make magic feel magical again.That is also my preference, unless I'm very specifically aiming for a full 1-to-max adventure path. (Someday, someday I will find a 4e group willing to run Zeitgeist. And it will be beautiful.)It doesn't at all need to be slower though. 4e has 30 levels. Three years is 36 months. Accounting for occasional delays, e.g. say 3 months total of missed weekly sessions (aka about 4 missed sessions per year, which IMO seems pretty conservative!), running from level 1 to level 30 (gaining 29 levels) means gaining around one level per month, give or take. Since 4e characters start off actually competent and fulfilling their class concept right away, as opposed to feeble and inept and extremely likely to die, there is no issue with spending four weeks at 1st level. (And yes, I have lost multiple 5e characters before they even reached level 2, and I even effectively lost a particular one thrice in one campaign!) Indeed, it can be quite pleasant to stick with a focused skillset at first so you really learn exactly what you can do with it before moving on.But being trapped in a world where one bad roll can literally mean the end of your adventuring career, where death is not merely a danger but an everpresent, constant, paranoia-inducing threat? I don't enjoy that in the least--and stretching it out over months of play? God, I'd almost rather you actually torture me than do that. At least the latter gets it over with.</blockquote>

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