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Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 4774868" data-attributes="member: 3400">Personally, I don't think there's a significant difference in the rule-heaviness of 3e vs 4e. The difference is in how they're handled. 4e has literally thousands of encapulated rule-ettes but they're pushed out into the hands of the players to run as individual powers. Their scope is highly limited in duration each time one is involved.3e's rules filter more through the DM since they are, particularly in the case of spells, more open ended.3e is oriented toward system thinkers since it was the first of the D&D family to really impose structured systems on things outside of combat - combat principles were applied to skill in general netting the d20 system, something largely continued in 4e. 3e also devised a system for classifying and building monsters in an organized fashion, one focused mainly around the type of monster and how that type of monster generally interacts with the world and PCs. 4e is less system thinker oriented, in part, because its design system is based more on the role the monster is expected to play in combat and the level of opposition it expected to play to the PCs. I would say that the difference, fundamentally, is that the 3e system is intended to generate monsters with stats that fit in with its general type while 4e is intended to generate monsters with stats that fit with the combat math assumptions of a given level.I don't think either is more improv-oriented than the other. 4e promotes more strongly certain types of adjudication on the fly by systematizing them as an attack roll - appropriate attack vs appropriate defense - to handle unexpected actions that aren't delineated as powers. 3e's more open-ended design of spells and abilities allow for more improvisational use than 4e's strict power construction.One thing about 4e is that it is benefiting from a different approach to information presentation than previous editions. Everything with respect to powers, magic items, and feats is designed to be tightly compacted and readily managed by players with a set of cards. This sort of idea has been percolating a long time since the 1e days back when Dragon magazine articles suggested players put their magic items on index cards so they didn't have to refer to the DMG during play. This is the first edition to really make that presentation style a core part of the game's design. 2e had it with spell and magic item cards, but as a supplemental product that I don't recall actually seeing in 3e from WotC (though I might have missed it).This is the main feature that allows DMs to travel lightly, without so many books. So if you go with 3e, I would suggest you consider doing something similar with your players. Cards are easy to make since pretty much all of the core rules are available on-line for free and can be cut and pasted into documents, formatted, and printed out on index cards or any other format that makes things easy on you and your players.</blockquote>

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