Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon 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 Next
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
*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!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
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
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Mike Mearls on how D&D 4E could have looked
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="pemerton" data-source="post: 7763869" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>There are assertions to the contrary in some canonical D&D materials (eg Gygax's DMG).</p><p></p><p>And in this thread there have also been assertions about genre - that fighters should be Conan rather than Achilles rather than Beowulf rather than Hercules.</p><p></p><p>I don't think that 4e does a good job of modelling the <em>pacing experience</em> of fiction, because 6 seconds of sword play takes much more time than it would in a film (even allowing for some slo-mo etc, in a film it wouldn't be more than 10 to 20 seconds) and more time than it would in a literary recount (a few sentences will do the job in both REH and JRRT).</p><p></p><p>But I think it does a reasonable job of modelling the <em>in-fiction events</em> of fiction. When the 1st level PCs in my game defended a homestead against goblin attack, there was the right mix of one-shots (vs minions) and back-and-forth (vs standard gobllins). At mid-heroic, the fighter leaping over a pack of hyenas (swarm) evading their bits (opportunity attack for moving within an adjacent square) to fight the gnoll on the other side seemed right. At mid-paragon, the paladin and fighter cutting their ways through phalanxes of hobgoblins (swarms again) seemed right. At mid-epic, the fighter leaping off the PCs' flying tower to land on a great white dragon and drive it to the ground (mehcanicaly, by knocking it prone) seemed right.</p><p></p><p>I could easily envisage running a LotR-flavoured game in 4e (Gandalf would be a warlord with wizard multi-class to gain Scorching Burst as an encounter power). Probably Conan also, although that does push some boundaries a bit harder (eg the way 4e healing works - being inspired by a friend's words of encouragement or blessing - fits JRRT better than REH) - I think a Conan game would need to use predominantly minion and swarm opponents, and really emphasise skill challenges as the main focus of play, even moreso than LotR.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 7763869, member: 42582"] There are assertions to the contrary in some canonical D&D materials (eg Gygax's DMG). And in this thread there have also been assertions about genre - that fighters should be Conan rather than Achilles rather than Beowulf rather than Hercules. I don't think that 4e does a good job of modelling the [I]pacing experience[/I] of fiction, because 6 seconds of sword play takes much more time than it would in a film (even allowing for some slo-mo etc, in a film it wouldn't be more than 10 to 20 seconds) and more time than it would in a literary recount (a few sentences will do the job in both REH and JRRT). But I think it does a reasonable job of modelling the [I]in-fiction events[/I] of fiction. When the 1st level PCs in my game defended a homestead against goblin attack, there was the right mix of one-shots (vs minions) and back-and-forth (vs standard gobllins). At mid-heroic, the fighter leaping over a pack of hyenas (swarm) evading their bits (opportunity attack for moving within an adjacent square) to fight the gnoll on the other side seemed right. At mid-paragon, the paladin and fighter cutting their ways through phalanxes of hobgoblins (swarms again) seemed right. At mid-epic, the fighter leaping off the PCs' flying tower to land on a great white dragon and drive it to the ground (mehcanicaly, by knocking it prone) seemed right. I could easily envisage running a LotR-flavoured game in 4e (Gandalf would be a warlord with wizard multi-class to gain Scorching Burst as an encounter power). Probably Conan also, although that does push some boundaries a bit harder (eg the way 4e healing works - being inspired by a friend's words of encouragement or blessing - fits JRRT better than REH) - I think a Conan game would need to use predominantly minion and swarm opponents, and really emphasise skill challenges as the main focus of play, even moreso than LotR. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Mike Mearls on how D&D 4E could have looked
Top