NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Majoru Oakheart" data-source="post: 4175150" data-attributes="member: 5143">The thing is, 4e is really 2 games in one.  It understands that the time you need RULES the most are when there is a conflict of some sort.  It is at decision points that you need rules.  Does what the PCs want to accomplish happen?  Do they die from this attack?  And so on.That part of the game is the most GAME-like.  It is where the players get to role dice, use strategy, and generally do things similar to that of a board game.  It needs to be this way for a number of reasons.  Mainly that conflict resolution requires the most precision since it matters the most to the players(in that what happens at decision points and combats are what "forks" the story in one direction or another).The "roleplaying" or "narration" part of the game doesn't need rules.  It is the part of the game where players think of clever solutions to problems and use their own intelligence to come up with answers.  It is open ended and nearly anything could happen.  These portions allow the players creativity to shine through and to provide the flavor of the game to come through.4e really doesn't apologize for this duality, either.  It doesn't say it in so many words, but it gives off the impression of: You are playing a role playing game.  The point is to follow a storyline and see where it goes.  You get quests you need to accomplish and your characters go on these quests.  Along the way, monsters and bad guys will attempt to stop you.  At certain points you may have to fight them.  In order to figure out what happens during these battles you play this board game.  We've made the board game as streamlined as possible with the clearest rules possible to make it fun for everyone with very little arguing over the rules and other things that make playing the board game no fun.  When the board game is over, you go back to playing the role playing game.  We're not going to tell you what ever little number on your character sheet represents in the role playing game since numbers aren't required in that game and can mean whatever you want them to.  The numbers are for the board game.And I think this is where most people have difficulty wrapping their heads around the new game.  They want their numbers to be the answers to the role playing game.  They want to look at their sheet when faced with a door and think "which one of my powers gets me past this door?"  When they need to find someone in a village, they look at their sheets to see which spell answers that question immediately.  4e encourages pretty much throwing away your character sheet and actually roleplaying again at these times.  And I can tell you, it's a little intimidating for me.  I forgot how to do that a while ago when I figured out I had a spell or skill to solve all problems with a dice roll in 3e.</blockquote>

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