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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 5036435" data-attributes="member: 75065">I guess the different versions of dnd demonstrate, in a way, that it can be done differently and still work. Each way will be to the tastes of some more than others. I guess that's the thing about different tastes.  My memories of Ad&d was a far more descriptive/counterdescriptive flowing battle where a few scribbles on paper with a pencil were all that were needed to set the encounter. Roll and see how things turn out. I can't remember any rules for non-combat. So if they existed they were irrelevant to how me and my friends were playing the game. The DM described what was going on. We described how we reacted. We rolled the dice and waited to see what happened next. 3e there seemed to be alot more rules, both for battle and what went on outside of combat, so the scribbling on paper became somewhat more sophisticated. I couldn't keep track of so many rules, so action outside of combat was a little bit 'swingy'. I tried to have the notions I did have memorised influence my decision making, in so far as to how i made my rulings as DM (didn't get to play). But looking things up in books brought the game to a halt, so it was often preferable to wing it and look up the rule later for next time. My experience with 4e combat is the most sophisticated and tactical of the versions I have played. It's streamlined enough that I may only stop the game to check the effects of a condition once a game, every couple of sessions. And even that is just a glance at my DM screen. There are no major guidelines to rules outside of combat, so I have reverted to how I played AD&D, describing the situation, letting my players react, describing the consequences of their reaction and/or rolling the appropriate dice to see how things turn out... or even not rolling if the players have impressed me sufficiently with their ideas or roleplaying. I have found this makes non-combat encounters very fluid. Sometimes I structure them with a skill test, where I create one-off rules I consider appropriate and fun for the situation. Although 4e combat is very tactical, and the rules are combat orientated, my games have the same amount of combat and roleplaying situations as any of the other versions I have played. For me the system is an engine I use to drive my adventures. Like a car. It's not the same driving a hummer as it is to drive a 1950's mini, but that doesn't mean it alters my destination or even the route I take to get there.</blockquote>

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