Tactical Boardgame?

[pawsplay]

OTOH, to me, board games are ALL about simulationism. I mean, any board game beyond Snakes and Ladders usually tries to simulate something. Monopoly is a simplistic economic simulation. Advanced Squad Leader is a massive sim game. So, maybe they were talking about how 4e has become this huge simulationist playground.



... what?

I did not say games don't simulate anything. I said 4e disdains simulation. Monopoly is not what I would call a very robust simulation.

ASL is a massive sim. I don't think that's the board game people are referring to. But even if it were, it would be possible for there to be two games, one very sim the other not, they have almost identical styles of play.

4e largely divorces simulation from game play. Simply because something has interactive qualities doesn't make it simulation. Simulation is an attempted virtual reality. 4e has squares for movement, arbitrary passage of time and sequences of events, instant healing after a night of rest, and so forth. Many games have some of these elements. 4e is notable for having enough that it is in some ways more like Monopoly.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

Consider how many games end up grinding to a halt because of cumbersome combat rules at the higher levels. Also consider typical first level games. A huge flaw of MMO type games is that you spend a great deal of time early on performing glorified pest control. D&D was never quite that bad, but it was pretty hard for your players to take Goblins and Kobolds seriously as monsters, even at low levels. As a DM, I tend to end up with more TPK situations resulting from goblin and Kobold scale encounters than I get at higher levels.

4th Edition has modified the combat system in such a way that low level characters do not entirely suck, and that high level games should not break down. They have made non magic using characters more interesting as well.

It sounds to me like a few too many people are upset that the Wizard was taken into a dark alley and then beaten savagely with a nerf bat while many of the other classes took his stuff and redistributed it.

I would not be surprised if 1st level combat at early levels feels like it gets repetitive. Your simply not going to have many powers to chose from at that level. If it still feels that way around level 4 or 6, then I would be concerned. Low level combat is just not something that seems likely to best showcase the difference between classes. The concerns may be valid, but I think it is still a bit too early to be worried.

If 4th edition combat plays like a tactical boardgame, is that really such a bad thing? I am a very tactical gamer, but the story is still every important. If the combat side plays fair and plays fast, how could that possibly detract from the story side of the game? If the combat is fast and fun, where is the problem?

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