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D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
Rambling thoughts on 4e and Lord of the Rings.
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<blockquote data-quote="Neonchameleon" data-source="post: 6073498" data-attributes="member: 87792"><p>The skill challenge doesn't allow 4e to do anything you can't do without them almost as well. What it allows is a new DM who understands them (and WotC's guidance is not good at this) to cope with unfamilliar situations and off the wall PC plans almost as easily as a veteran DM. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?333704-4th-edition-The-fantastic-game-that-everyone-hated/page3&p=6073430&viewfull=1#post6073430" target="_blank">I've written a few paragraphs today that were missing from the skill challenge guidance and explain how it was meant to be used</a>.</p><p></p><p>The reason 4e does better than any other edition at LotR is that the mundane/magical split isn't as harsh, and there is no dependence on a cleric. Most of the time in both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, the company is without Gandalf or anything resembling a caster. Which means no healing. And half the game gone. At least in any editions before 4e. 4e you can keep the high action playstyle and not have a single caster in the party. It makes for an interesting dynamic, but not a gaping hole.</p><p></p><p>(There's a simple house rule that really makes LotR work better in 4e than it otherwise would - Extended Rests may only be taken at a place of safety - somewhere like Rivendell or Lorien).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Pre-4e was poor at most of those. Lankmar? Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser? A thief who was an apprentice magician and a match for his barbarian friend with a sword. And no mages or clerics with them at all. 4e: Thief with Ritual Caster. Dying Earth? A setting where great archmages could only memorise half a dozen spells at a time but were generally extremely <em>physically</em> as well as magically capable? Despite D&D Wizards being called Vancian, that really <em>really</em> doesn't fit. 4e: PCs with abilities above and beyond the norm and you pick ones with only a light dusting of spells? Sure.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Having been playing a 4e Martial Only LotR campaign for a lot of last year, this is accurate <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> And it worked pretty well.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Pretty much what we did (with a broad-ish definition of Martial to include a Skald and a Hunter Ranger).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This is a very interesting point <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> And one of the reasons you have much more of a movie feel than a book feel with orthodox 4e-martial in Middle Earth. I think for the puzzle-monsters you'd have to run one off things anyway and no system would really help or hinder that much as they are all one off.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Dr Who RPG has one briliance in it - the Initiative Sequence. Talk, Act, Run, Fight. (I think - the runners might act before the act (i.e. non-combat actions) people).</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This. The Morghul Blade is basically the Condition Track in action - and Healing Surges show up in just about any heroic fantasy; most fantasy heroes spend healing surges at some point or other. That said, the condition track is only a trivial advantage for 4e here as the mechanics are basically a useful bolt-on rule that would work in any game and wouldn't take long to explain.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Neonchameleon, post: 6073498, member: 87792"] The skill challenge doesn't allow 4e to do anything you can't do without them almost as well. What it allows is a new DM who understands them (and WotC's guidance is not good at this) to cope with unfamilliar situations and off the wall PC plans almost as easily as a veteran DM. [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?333704-4th-edition-The-fantastic-game-that-everyone-hated/page3&p=6073430&viewfull=1#post6073430"]I've written a few paragraphs today that were missing from the skill challenge guidance and explain how it was meant to be used[/URL]. The reason 4e does better than any other edition at LotR is that the mundane/magical split isn't as harsh, and there is no dependence on a cleric. Most of the time in both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, the company is without Gandalf or anything resembling a caster. Which means no healing. And half the game gone. At least in any editions before 4e. 4e you can keep the high action playstyle and not have a single caster in the party. It makes for an interesting dynamic, but not a gaping hole. (There's a simple house rule that really makes LotR work better in 4e than it otherwise would - Extended Rests may only be taken at a place of safety - somewhere like Rivendell or Lorien). Pre-4e was poor at most of those. Lankmar? Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser? A thief who was an apprentice magician and a match for his barbarian friend with a sword. And no mages or clerics with them at all. 4e: Thief with Ritual Caster. Dying Earth? A setting where great archmages could only memorise half a dozen spells at a time but were generally extremely [I]physically[/I] as well as magically capable? Despite D&D Wizards being called Vancian, that really [I]really[/I] doesn't fit. 4e: PCs with abilities above and beyond the norm and you pick ones with only a light dusting of spells? Sure. Having been playing a 4e Martial Only LotR campaign for a lot of last year, this is accurate :) And it worked pretty well. Pretty much what we did (with a broad-ish definition of Martial to include a Skald and a Hunter Ranger). This is a very interesting point :) And one of the reasons you have much more of a movie feel than a book feel with orthodox 4e-martial in Middle Earth. I think for the puzzle-monsters you'd have to run one off things anyway and no system would really help or hinder that much as they are all one off. The Dr Who RPG has one briliance in it - the Initiative Sequence. Talk, Act, Run, Fight. (I think - the runners might act before the act (i.e. non-combat actions) people). This. The Morghul Blade is basically the Condition Track in action - and Healing Surges show up in just about any heroic fantasy; most fantasy heroes spend healing surges at some point or other. That said, the condition track is only a trivial advantage for 4e here as the mechanics are basically a useful bolt-on rule that would work in any game and wouldn't take long to explain. [/QUOTE]
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