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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 4496477" data-attributes="member: 42582">Why is consistency important? It is obviously not an accident that 4e uses different action-resolution mechanics for combat and non-combat encounters, as that is one of the most striking features of the design. Other games have also featured this sort of difference between combat and non-combat action resolution mechanics (eg Rolemaster, Runequest) although it is more marked in 4e. It suggests to me that combat is meant to be one of the primary vehicles whereby the expression of one's PC's character takes place. This puts a heavy burden on the power system to deliver in this respect. I think that, on the whole, it probably does. A PC's powers are the window into that PC's soul (a bit like in a superhero comic).Honest evaluation - I am paying for the first version of D&D I can conceive of playing seriously since 1st ed AD&D back in the 1980s. I don't care about the word count or the white space. I care about playability.If I had to choose between paying for 4e or downloading Pathfinder for free I'd choose the former, because I can't imagine playing the latter. (Addressing the question of whether, ultimately, it's a good or bad thing that a good RPG is available only to those with the money to pay for it is probably outside the scope of this thread, and a violation of the board rules.)As for the suggestion that I have some sort of duty to purchase RPGs from smaller companies who have gamers at heart: (i) I have a shelf-full of ICE products, including practically everything published for Rolemaster in the past 20 years, plus a good collection of products from other companies, so I feel I've done my bit to put food on the table of deserving game designers; (ii) Ron Edwards ran much the same argument in his <a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/articles/12/" target="_blank">"Nuked Apple Cart" essay</a> written 10 years ago, and if I felt I was under any such duty I would go the rest of the way with Ron and spend my money on "a few slim roleplaying books with high-octane premises and system ideas" rather than on rehashes of 3E D&D.</blockquote>

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