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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8625657" data-attributes="member: 42582">I absolutely think that 4e forays into "story now" territory. I believe I was the first person to assert this on ENworld, maybe the second following [USER=386]@LostSoul[/USER].But I don't see that as having much to do with different allocations of authority - those differences are genuine (player-authored quests; magic item wishlists) but modest. In a player-authored quest, it is still the GM who does the scene-framing. With a magic item wishlist, it is still the GM who decides when a treasure parcel is discovered.I see it as having to do with how authorities are exercised. A player-authored quest obliges the GM to use their authority over scene-framing so as to advance the player's desired quest. A magic item wishlist obliges the GM to use their authority over when treasure is discovered so as to enable the player's PC to discover the desired magic item.In some ways it's similar to what I posted upthread about Apocalypse World:What makes 4e distinctive is the capacity it gives to the GM to respond to players' driving play - because the scene is the site of action, and all PC builds are (roughly, if the game isn't being distorted too badly by some broken builds) equally mechanically capable and (very important) on the same resource load-out and recovery schedule. So the GM can just frame scenes in response to what the players have their PCs do, and what their quests are, and see what happens. There is no need for GM curation of an "adventuring day", for GM curation of "spotlight balance", for GM curation of anything much.And the game lacks those features of D&D that (to borrow Edwards's words) tend to reinforce simulationist priorities - there's no signficant duration tracking (around spells, healing times, etc), no scry-teleport-fry that pressures the GM to prioritise pre-emptive worldbuilding, non-combat is resolved via a skill challenge which is a closed scene resolution framework that doesn't need GM secret backstory to make it work, etc.Don't get me wrong - I love (pre-errata) Come and Get It. But (in my view) it's not that pretty modest narration-sharing, or the other bits I mentioned, that mark out the fundamental contrast between 4e D&D and 2nd ed AD&D, 3E and 5e. Rather, it's the other things I've pointed to.</blockquote>

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