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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7701474" data-attributes="member: 996">But a balanced encounter is likely to be reasonably fun, while an imbalanced one might be awesome or terrible.&nbsp; Thing is, you can use a workable system to advisedly create an imbalanced combat to spice things up, while with a less functional system, it just happens...The resources aren't un-helpful, DMing is just challenging again.It's not needless.&nbsp; Making DMing harder has arguably saved D&amp;D, and thus the hobby, from self-destruction.No, I'm actually sorta a little bit serious.&nbsp; 4e had useable encounter guidelines, running it was easy, I saw more new players stick with the game and become DMs (and transition to DMing faster and with greater success) then ever before while I was participating in the Encounters program.&nbsp; It was remarkable what a little simplification and systemization can do.&nbsp; But that didn't help D&amp;D take off like 5e has, because it disrespected the games history by trying to be better, nor did it appeal to the fans deeply rooted in that history.&nbsp; And, as great as it might be to have a game that's easier for newbies, it's even better to have an experienced, /positive/, motivated group of existing players to introduce new ones and experienced DMs to mentor new ones.&nbsp; Enough of the fan base didn't just abandon D&amp;D but turned against it, that no amount of being less unappealing to new players was&nbsp; going to make up the loss.&nbsp; 5e has healed that rift and AL attracts plenty of long-time and returning fans to be there to share their enthusiasm for the game with new players, rather than actively maligning it.&nbsp; It's created a continuity between the fad years and the present - and the decades in-between - so that the D&amp;D that may be played going forward is still recognizably the D&amp;D that was back then.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7701474, member: 996"] But a balanced encounter is likely to be reasonably fun, while an imbalanced one might be awesome or terrible. Thing is, you can use a workable system to advisedly create an imbalanced combat to spice things up, while with a less functional system, it just happens... The resources aren't un-helpful, DMing is just challenging again. It's not needless. Making DMing harder has arguably saved D&D, and thus the hobby, from self-destruction. No, I'm actually sorta a little bit serious. 4e had useable encounter guidelines, running it was easy, I saw more new players stick with the game and become DMs (and transition to DMing faster and with greater success) then ever before while I was participating in the Encounters program. It was remarkable what a little simplification and systemization can do. But that didn't help D&D take off like 5e has, because it disrespected the games history by trying to be better, nor did it appeal to the fans deeply rooted in that history. And, as great as it might be to have a game that's easier for newbies, it's even better to have an experienced, /positive/, motivated group of existing players to introduce new ones and experienced DMs to mentor new ones. Enough of the fan base didn't just abandon D&D but turned against it, that no amount of being less unappealing to new players was going to make up the loss. 5e has healed that rift and AL attracts plenty of long-time and returning fans to be there to share their enthusiasm for the game with new players, rather than actively maligning it. It's created a continuity between the fad years and the present - and the decades in-between - so that the D&D that may be played going forward is still recognizably the D&D that was back then. [/QUOTE]

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