Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Review of New Players Handbook Posted at Acts of Geek...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6354082" data-attributes="member: 42582"><p>I'm not posting to defend the quality of the review. (I've got an opinion about that, but it's irrelevant for present purposes). I'm just explaining that I think it's fairly clear what the vagueness and arguments are that the reviewer is worried about: the vagueness that arises over positioning details (which you seem to agree with in your point (a)) and the possibility of arguments if (a), (b) and/or (c) break down in some fashion (eg the players don't trust the GM on some particular call, perhaps becaus the GM wasn't reasonable or didn't warn the players).</p><p></p><p>I think these are reasonable concerns to have about a system which sets out to combine 5'-increment action resolution, incuding OAs, with theatre-of-the-mind. Not everyone will share these concerns. Maybe only a minority will. But I don't think that minority are obviously crazy or fundamentally mistaken.</p><p></p><p>For example, I'm looking at the warlock invocation that lets your Eldritch Blast push a target 10'. Suppose that the player of the warlock wants to use this to push an enemy adjacent to the fighter, so the fighter can engage it without having to disengage from the fighter's current enemy. GM judgement calls on positioning can have a big impact on whethe or not that invocation, used in that way, is effective or not. A completely impartial and reasonable GM might still make calls that a player finds unfair, or inconsistent with the impression the player had earlier been given of who is where.</p><p></p><p>Rolemaster has very little forced movement, and most of it is triggered randomly (by crit results) rather than by the exercise of player agency. So in a situation like the one I've just described I'd be happy to toss a coin - heads the enemy ends up adjacent to the fighter, tails and they didn't quite make it. But in a game which makes forced movement an important player ability, I think the pressure for precision can be greater, at least with players who are oriented towards the game in a certain sort of way. That's why, in 4e, I generally use a grid.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 6354082, member: 42582"] I'm not posting to defend the quality of the review. (I've got an opinion about that, but it's irrelevant for present purposes). I'm just explaining that I think it's fairly clear what the vagueness and arguments are that the reviewer is worried about: the vagueness that arises over positioning details (which you seem to agree with in your point (a)) and the possibility of arguments if (a), (b) and/or (c) break down in some fashion (eg the players don't trust the GM on some particular call, perhaps becaus the GM wasn't reasonable or didn't warn the players). I think these are reasonable concerns to have about a system which sets out to combine 5'-increment action resolution, incuding OAs, with theatre-of-the-mind. Not everyone will share these concerns. Maybe only a minority will. But I don't think that minority are obviously crazy or fundamentally mistaken. For example, I'm looking at the warlock invocation that lets your Eldritch Blast push a target 10'. Suppose that the player of the warlock wants to use this to push an enemy adjacent to the fighter, so the fighter can engage it without having to disengage from the fighter's current enemy. GM judgement calls on positioning can have a big impact on whethe or not that invocation, used in that way, is effective or not. A completely impartial and reasonable GM might still make calls that a player finds unfair, or inconsistent with the impression the player had earlier been given of who is where. Rolemaster has very little forced movement, and most of it is triggered randomly (by crit results) rather than by the exercise of player agency. So in a situation like the one I've just described I'd be happy to toss a coin - heads the enemy ends up adjacent to the fighter, tails and they didn't quite make it. But in a game which makes forced movement an important player ability, I think the pressure for precision can be greater, at least with players who are oriented towards the game in a certain sort of way. That's why, in 4e, I generally use a grid. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Review of New Players Handbook Posted at Acts of Geek...
Top