Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6182319" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I do.&nbsp; I just wrote a pretty abridged post regarding the formalization of Quests in 4e and how, by my eyes and certainly by the effect on play at my table, it is D&amp;D's version of &quot;establish transparent and focused premise&quot; and the PC build tools and resolution tools are D&amp;D's version of &quot;address transparent and focused premise.&quot;&nbsp; I would say that is as bare-bones for Story Now creative agenda as you need.&nbsp; Whether or not the tools are up to the task is contentious, and thoughtful folks (like Ratskinner, LostSoul moderately disagree, while other thoughtful folks like Imaro, Nagol, billd rather vehemently disagree) have differing opinions there.&nbsp; But I say it meets those two criterion.&nbsp; Further, it provides players with deeply thematic tools to affect the narrative, engaging and attempting to affirm their various premises, via deployment of Author stance, and on rare occasion, Director.Case in point.&nbsp; I had a player with a formalized, transparent, self-authored quest for the Heroic Tier of play.&nbsp; It was sort of a &quot;Dark Side vs Light Side of the Force&quot; Quest.&nbsp; A lengthy Skill Challenge (spanning all of 10th level) decided the outcome of that Quest.&nbsp; He was able to deploy a great deal of authorship over the outcome (via PC-build resource deployment).&nbsp; In the end, he lost the Skill Challenge.&nbsp; Inherent to that outcome was (i) the more negative outcome to the Quest, (ii) retraining a few feats/powers and/or adding a few keywords to powers and removing a few others, (iii) an Alternate Advancement award, (iv) and his choice of Paragon Path and Epic Destiny for those Tiers.&nbsp; It completely shaped the character for the final two tiers of play.&nbsp; There was no GM fiat or force in any of it.&nbsp; It was formalized Quest meets PC build tools meets GM-framed situations meets player decisions meets mechanical resolution tools meets naturalistic GM-deciphering of that mechanical resolution into narrative output.&nbsp; All of that addressed premise and created the emergent story of the game generally and the nature of the PC's protagonism specifically.Similar in many respects to your Wizard dieing and returning as Deva Invoker.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6182319, member: 6696971"] I do. I just wrote a pretty abridged post regarding the formalization of Quests in 4e and how, by my eyes and certainly by the effect on play at my table, it is D&D's version of "establish transparent and focused premise" and the PC build tools and resolution tools are D&D's version of "address transparent and focused premise." I would say that is as bare-bones for Story Now creative agenda as you need. Whether or not the tools are up to the task is contentious, and thoughtful folks (like Ratskinner, LostSoul moderately disagree, while other thoughtful folks like Imaro, Nagol, billd rather vehemently disagree) have differing opinions there. But I say it meets those two criterion. Further, it provides players with deeply thematic tools to affect the narrative, engaging and attempting to affirm their various premises, via deployment of Author stance, and on rare occasion, Director. Case in point. I had a player with a formalized, transparent, self-authored quest for the Heroic Tier of play. It was sort of a "Dark Side vs Light Side of the Force" Quest. A lengthy Skill Challenge (spanning all of 10th level) decided the outcome of that Quest. He was able to deploy a great deal of authorship over the outcome (via PC-build resource deployment). In the end, he lost the Skill Challenge. Inherent to that outcome was (i) the more negative outcome to the Quest, (ii) retraining a few feats/powers and/or adding a few keywords to powers and removing a few others, (iii) an Alternate Advancement award, (iv) and his choice of Paragon Path and Epic Destiny for those Tiers. It completely shaped the character for the final two tiers of play. There was no GM fiat or force in any of it. It was formalized Quest meets PC build tools meets GM-framed situations meets player decisions meets mechanical resolution tools meets naturalistic GM-deciphering of that mechanical resolution into narrative output. All of that addressed premise and created the emergent story of the game generally and the nature of the PC's protagonism specifically. Similar in many respects to your Wizard dieing and returning as Deva Invoker. [/QUOTE]

Verification