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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Irda Ranger" data-source="post: 4023709" data-attributes="member: 1003">What I like about "squares" is that I can pretend it means "yards" (which is pretty close to a meter, but is a length I can visualize). Then suddenly, Poof!  The room sizes and hallway widths make more sense! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Too bad the booster packs are still random. Worst idea ever, IMO. I'm a D&D player, not a minis collector, and in my game I need 6 orcs, 2 hill giants, a purple worm, 8 gnoll archers, etc. etc. - not whatever WotC feels like selling me.WotC would get quite a few sales out of me (as opposed to zero) if packs were non-random. I don't like blaming WotC's trading card heritage for poor corporate decision-making, but I think this is a pretty good example of that very thing.And now, to post to topic ( <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ):Partly.  It also has to come from the players, and the interaction between and among the group as a whole.  The PCs aren't there to be entertained; they're equally responsible for the mood and drama at the table as the DM.  Burning Wheel has some really inspiring rules for how to implement this mechanically (rules I am trying to adapt into my 3.75/SWSE/Iron Heroes game), but you don't have to have such rules for it to happen (though it really helps).But as for your contention that soul & drama can't come from the rules, I think that's right.  The rules can interfere with soul & drama (by being a headache, or unnecessarily complex), but once a certain threshold of simplicity, clarity and guidance is met, the rules can't offer you any more.  It's up to the group to cross the finish line.Very nice post, but what you have accurately noticed and described quite well is not "the soul" of D&D.  It's simply the mental state called "Flow", indicating rules mastery (which is why it never happens when you pick up a new game system).  Flow can be achieved while doing almost anything, so D&D 3E is hardly unique.  Surfers, carpenters, writers, martial artists, factory line workers and even lawyers (like me) can achieve Flow while doing what they do.  4E will be no different, I am sure.You can read more about Flow <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csikszentmihalyi/dp/0060920432/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1201726595&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a> .</blockquote>

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