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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 443018" data-attributes="member: 1645">I think there are a number of things that could make the game more playable &quot;out of the box&quot; -- some have been touched on; some haven't.Umbran mentioned &quot;a drastic enough simplification of the game to make it restrictive&quot;.&nbsp; That sounds awful, phrased like that, but a simpler set of core rules would certainly make more sense to new players -- and it's not as if they can't buy supplements later.Agback made the excellent point that &quot;in D&amp;D so much depends on knowing details about features of the D&amp;D game world&quot; and that a more &quot;realistic&quot; world is easier to understand and gamemaster.Of course, saying &quot;realistic&quot; in a D&amp;D conversation summons all kinds of trouble, but he has a point.&nbsp; Once characters can ignore common soldiers, fly, teleport, read minds, divine truth, etc., it becomes much, much harder to plan an adventure.&nbsp; You'll notice that low-level adventure modules read more like common fantasy stories.&nbsp; High-level adventures read like pure D&amp;D.So we simplify the game a bit and we reserve the reality-bending magic for higher levels.&nbsp; That helps a bit.&nbsp; What else can we do?&nbsp; For all its many pages of advice, I don't think the DM's Guide lays out the typical adventure formula quite clearly enough.&nbsp; I'd like to see something as crystal clear as <a href="http://www.miskatonic.org/dent.html" target="_blank">The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot</a>.&nbsp; (Lester Dent wrote the Doc Savage stories.)&nbsp; Once you know what you're doing, you can drop the formula.&nbsp; A snippet:Everyone could also use certain locations mapped out, preferably full-size, as battle maps: a tavern, a tower, a keep, a monster den, etc.Everyone could also use pregenerated stats for certain common monsters/enemies -- not just the 1st-level Goblin Warriors, but their 3rd-level Captain, the Wolf-Riders, etc.What would you put in a Basic Set?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 443018, member: 1645"] I think there are a number of things that could make the game more playable "out of the box" -- some have been touched on; some haven't. Umbran mentioned "a drastic enough simplification of the game to make it restrictive". That sounds awful, phrased like that, but a simpler set of core rules would certainly make more sense to new players -- and it's not as if they can't buy supplements later. Agback made the excellent point that "in D&D so much depends on knowing details about features of the D&D game world" and that a more "realistic" world is easier to understand and gamemaster. Of course, saying "realistic" in a D&D conversation summons all kinds of trouble, but he has a point. Once characters can ignore common soldiers, fly, teleport, read minds, divine truth, etc., it becomes much, much harder to plan an adventure. You'll notice that low-level adventure modules read more like common fantasy stories. High-level adventures read like pure D&D. So we simplify the game a bit and we reserve the reality-bending magic for higher levels. That helps a bit. What else can we do? For all its many pages of advice, I don't think the DM's Guide lays out the typical adventure formula quite clearly enough. I'd like to see something as crystal clear as [url=http://www.miskatonic.org/dent.html]The Lester Dent Pulp Paper Master Fiction Plot[/url]. (Lester Dent wrote the Doc Savage stories.) Once you know what you're doing, you can drop the formula. A snippet: Everyone could also use certain locations mapped out, preferably full-size, as battle maps: a tavern, a tower, a keep, a monster den, etc. Everyone could also use pregenerated stats for certain common monsters/enemies -- not just the 1st-level Goblin Warriors, but their 3rd-level Captain, the Wolf-Riders, etc. What would you put in a Basic Set? [/QUOTE]

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