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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ExploderWizard" data-source="post: 6238262" data-attributes="member: 66434">I have never stopped being a huge fan of this playstyle. Player engagement is greatly enhanced when the players know that their contributions can have a big impact on outcomes, and not just for selecting the correct menu item and making a roll of X difficulty. A game handled largely by character based skills tends to make players less likely to contribute in areas that their characters are less proficient in. Who can blame them. If their own ideas and cleverness don't matter in the resolution of things there is little reason to bother. Let the character with the best modifier handle the appropriate tasks is the smart play. This kind of thing is what made skill challenges kind of drab and predictable. Either those with the highest skills in the right areas handled everything or the challenge required participation by all and was pretty much doomed to failure because the low modifier folks sank the ship. I like to run more freeform skill-challenge type situations that incorporate player ideas along with character abilities in the resolution. A character skill might be applicable, but even if there isn't one to apply from a particular player, a solid idea is still worth something. The part of the playtest packs that bugged me the most about Next was the section on exploration tasks. The whole play dynamic of choose a maneuver, and make a roll for every aspect of play just doesn't sit right. In a game driven by imagination, having pre-chosen choices for everything isn'y my idea of designing to the strengths of tabletop play.</blockquote>

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