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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 4283066" data-attributes="member: 42582">4e is precluded from a certain sort of shallowness, just because the mechanics of 4e monsters mean a certain sort of thematic content is unavoidably present in the game. For example, whether or not anyone at the table asserts that Kobolds are small, shifty critters the mechanics reveal to all the players that Kobolds are like that.This doesn't protect against shallow plots - at least in my experience nearly all RPGs have shallow plots, because the spontaneous nature of plot generation in RPGing (or, in the case of pre-packaged adventures, the need for pretty generic plots to suit a wide target audience) precludes too much sophistication.But my complaint about Bastion of Broken Souls is that, despite a promising thematic premise, it is utterly shallow in its resolution of that premise. 4e monster and power design, by instantiating thematic content, automatically precludes the thematic shallowness of Bastion of Broken Souls.A corrollary of this is that good 4e adventures can't be built until the right monsters are available, where &quot;right&quot; means &quot;having powers that capture the appropriate thematic content&quot;. But my first quick skim through the MM shows that there is a pretty wide range of content there already (relative to the sorts of themes that one might want to explore using a high fantasy RPG as the vehicle).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 4283066, member: 42582"] 4e is precluded from a certain sort of shallowness, just because the mechanics of 4e monsters mean a certain sort of thematic content is unavoidably present in the game. For example, whether or not anyone at the table asserts that Kobolds are small, shifty critters the mechanics reveal to all the players that Kobolds are like that. This doesn't protect against shallow plots - at least in my experience nearly all RPGs have shallow plots, because the spontaneous nature of plot generation in RPGing (or, in the case of pre-packaged adventures, the need for pretty generic plots to suit a wide target audience) precludes too much sophistication. But my complaint about Bastion of Broken Souls is that, despite a promising thematic premise, it is utterly shallow in its resolution of that premise. 4e monster and power design, by instantiating thematic content, automatically precludes the thematic shallowness of Bastion of Broken Souls. A corrollary of this is that good 4e adventures can't be built until the right monsters are available, where "right" means "having powers that capture the appropriate thematic content". But my first quick skim through the MM shows that there is a pretty wide range of content there already (relative to the sorts of themes that one might want to explore using a high fantasy RPG as the vehicle). [/QUOTE]

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