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<blockquote data-quote="Zaruthustran" data-source="post: 3840230" data-attributes="member: 1457">Grossout, I think you may be able to create a hybrid system that scratches your itch. Build characters using the 4E rules as normal, and just play as you did back in the day: with your DM keeping a rough idea of positioning. Don't worry too much about the exact rules for AoOs and whatnot--just go with the general *intent* of those rules, which is basically: if your opponent is standing right in front of you menacing you with his sword, he'll get a free whack at you if you drop your guard by casting, shooting, running away, etc. That &quot;etc.&quot; is the secret power of going off the grid: the rules cannot anticipate everything, so the flipside of 3E's greater granularity was that DMs (and some players) were filled with doubt whenever an unanticipated rule came up. In 2E you'd just wing it--you wouldn't even notice the speed bump. But in 3E I've noticed there's lots of looking through books, interpreting rules, and other nonsense. Like in my last game, some guys were on a tower taking cover behind a parapet. A player wanted to shoot the guys. We spent a bit of time talking about &quot;drawing lines to all four corners of a target's square&quot;, and what that meant in three-D space. In a looser game off the grid, you just say &quot;sure, he's got cover&quot; and move on.I suggest your DM use figures (or coins, or pawns, or dice, or whatever) to represent characters and monsters. Maybe even a whiteboard or blank battlemat so he can draw in terrain and other features. You can use these tools to visualize the battlefield, but don't worry at all about precisely counting individual squares. My point: you get the aid of having everyone on the same page in terms of locations and terrain features, but don't have to worry about, say, having only 6 squares of movement when the door is 7 squares away. Just say &quot;I move to the door&quot;, and if the DM thinks it's reasonable that your character can get there, go for it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zaruthustran, post: 3840230, member: 1457"] Grossout, I think you may be able to create a hybrid system that scratches your itch. Build characters using the 4E rules as normal, and just play as you did back in the day: with your DM keeping a rough idea of positioning. Don't worry too much about the exact rules for AoOs and whatnot--just go with the general *intent* of those rules, which is basically: if your opponent is standing [i]right in front of you[/i] menacing you with his sword, he'll get a free whack at you if you drop your guard by casting, shooting, running away, etc. That "etc." is the secret power of going off the grid: the rules cannot anticipate everything, so the flipside of 3E's greater granularity was that DMs (and some players) were filled with doubt whenever an unanticipated rule came up. In 2E you'd just wing it--you wouldn't even notice the speed bump. But in 3E I've noticed there's lots of looking through books, interpreting rules, and other nonsense. Like in my last game, some guys were on a tower taking cover behind a parapet. A player wanted to shoot the guys. We spent a bit of time talking about "drawing lines to all four corners of a target's square", and what that meant in three-D space. In a looser game off the grid, you just say "sure, he's got cover" and move on. I suggest your DM use figures (or coins, or pawns, or dice, or whatever) to represent characters and monsters. Maybe even a whiteboard or blank battlemat so he can draw in terrain and other features. You can use these tools to visualize the battlefield, but don't worry at all about precisely counting individual squares. My point: you get the aid of having everyone on the same page in terms of locations and terrain features, but don't have to worry about, say, having only 6 squares of movement when the door is 7 squares away. Just say "I move to the door", and if the DM thinks it's reasonable that your character can get there, go for it. [/QUOTE]

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