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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7005045" data-attributes="member: 6778044">I wasn't referring to you specifically about 4e, but you essentially illustrate my point anyway.What it really comes down to for me is that I have only so much time to devote to gaming. I've played Runequest, Rolemaster, GURPS, Paranoia, Traveller, T&T, Gamma World, BECMI D&D (starting with Holmes), (A)D&D through 5e, and many others that I can't remember right now. When it comes down to it, my favorite has been AD&D with the FR Gray Box, heavily leaning on JRRT. Later editions of D&D have added some ideas and streamlined rules, and 5e in general is my favorite in terms of mechanics. When 4e came out, from a game design standpoint (of which I'm an avid amateur), I thought it had some really cool concepts, but overall it just wasn't D&D to me. It seems to share more (or perhaps not more, but just too much) in common with MtG which I tried to get into but it's just not my thing. I even went so far as to design a new campaign world and once again started tweaking the rules. But I later came to the realization that I wasn't looking for a new campaign world, I just wanted to go back to what I was enjoying to start with. And it was a combination of the rules and the setting.As I worked through the D&DNext, it started highlighting that a lot we had embraced in 3/3.5e, or even the post Skills & Powers 2e, we didn't like or need for what we find important in our game. The game had gotten more complex, but not in a way that ultimately improved our game. The rules often seemed to arise from common problems that were occurring at other gaming tables (particularly in regards to rules-lawyers and munchkinizers), or because it seemed it was determined that there needed to be a rule to adjudicate every possible action.The 5e rule set has reigned back in a lot of this, recognizing that a good mechanic that can be applied as needed to whatever situation is often all that is needed. The d20 mechanic combined with advantage/disadvantage is simple, elegant, and only requires the identification of a point in time that requires a resolution, and the application of a DC or a contest. If you want to sub-divide that, that's fine too. For me, discussions and my own thoughts and testing of passive skill checks, combined with the take 20 concept has really brought clarity to our rules approach. Our general approach now is to strip back and eliminate rules that we feel we don't need, and tweak those that either don't produce the results we're looking for, or specifically interfere with the world or the fiction that we want to be able to model.I'm not saying D&D 4e (or any other edition) is bad, or whatever. My only comment is that it's not my cup of zzar. From a game design stand-point I think it's pretty impressive in its complexity and completeness. It's just not the game I want to spend my limited time playing.</blockquote>

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