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[Very Long] Combat as Sport vs. Combat as War: a Key Difference in D&D Play Styles...
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<blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 7548980" data-attributes="member: 463"><p>Yes I agree. I definitely think the Pemertonian story-now & scene-framed approach to 4e encounters works well, and I have said so repeatedly over the years. When I have run the published 4e WoTC adventures I tend to chop out huge chunks, getting rid of a lot of the unnecessary encounters and focusing on the dramatic elements. They work best when they tie in to the backstory & concerns of the PCs and there is something greater at stake.</p><p></p><p>My first 4e campaign was a sandbox using the Necromancer Games' Vault of Larin Karr adventure. It ran for 21 sessions, 2009-2011, level 1 - 7/8. I always thought it had major problems, and ended in a near-TPK.</p><p></p><p>My most successful 4e campaign, <a href="http://frloudwater.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Loudwater</a> 2011-2016, 103 sessions level 1-29, I thought of it as a superhero team comic series (Fantastic 4 is closest), and the best parts of the campaign featured a lot of recurring villains, heel-face turns, personal relationships, even a couple weddings. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p><p></p><p>More recently I attempted to use the lessons from Loudwater to run a more sandboxy 4e campaign, <a href="http://nentirvalecampaign.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Nentir Vale - Fallcrest Saga</a> 2017-2018, 26 sessions level 1-6/7. I used the 'Threats to the Nentir Vale' book along with some modular adventures. One thing I did was design around the Heroic Tier, taking Level 5 as a baseline since Level 5 stuff can be used by Level 1 to Level 9 PCs. It had successful elements but I could never get the sandbox to work as well as in other editions. Certainly the lack of encounter tables was a factor.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="S'mon, post: 7548980, member: 463"] Yes I agree. I definitely think the Pemertonian story-now & scene-framed approach to 4e encounters works well, and I have said so repeatedly over the years. When I have run the published 4e WoTC adventures I tend to chop out huge chunks, getting rid of a lot of the unnecessary encounters and focusing on the dramatic elements. They work best when they tie in to the backstory & concerns of the PCs and there is something greater at stake. My first 4e campaign was a sandbox using the Necromancer Games' Vault of Larin Karr adventure. It ran for 21 sessions, 2009-2011, level 1 - 7/8. I always thought it had major problems, and ended in a near-TPK. My most successful 4e campaign, [URL="http://frloudwater.blogspot.com/"]Loudwater[/URL] 2011-2016, 103 sessions level 1-29, I thought of it as a superhero team comic series (Fantastic 4 is closest), and the best parts of the campaign featured a lot of recurring villains, heel-face turns, personal relationships, even a couple weddings. :) More recently I attempted to use the lessons from Loudwater to run a more sandboxy 4e campaign, [URL="http://nentirvalecampaign.blogspot.com/"]Nentir Vale - Fallcrest Saga[/URL] 2017-2018, 26 sessions level 1-6/7. I used the 'Threats to the Nentir Vale' book along with some modular adventures. One thing I did was design around the Heroic Tier, taking Level 5 as a baseline since Level 5 stuff can be used by Level 1 to Level 9 PCs. It had successful elements but I could never get the sandbox to work as well as in other editions. Certainly the lack of encounter tables was a factor. [/QUOTE]
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