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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steenan" data-source="post: 5983803" data-attributes="member: 23240">I play a lot of different styles. I use different games for them. So, while I have no single preferred playstyle, there is a style I hope D&D can support.The basic characteristics of this style are:1. Strong system I want rules, not guidelines. They may (and should) be abstract and reasonably simple - I don't want hundreds of pages of detailed rules. But I want to be able to resolve each significant conflict or challenge using mechanics, without modifying the rules on the fly.I also want each roll to matter. If the result is obvious, or it is unimportant, don't waste my time with rolling for it. Optimally, there should be only one roll per significant decision point. 2. Tactics during, not before the gameI want player tactical choices to matter during the game. Optimal choices should depend on circumstances, with no single tactics dominating majority of situations. This applies to combat, but also to social interactions and travel/exploration. There should be big difference in efficiency between a character played well and a character played poorly.On the other hand, I don't want "tactics" in character creation. I don't want "builds". No character should be better or worse in play just because of how it was created. If it requires restricting character creation process and limiting the amount of customization, let it be so.3. Fantastic world with strong themesI don't need tons of races, classes and monsters. A few is enough, as long as each one is distinctive and colorful. Give me a world of wonder, not a kitchen sink.This includes something I call "mythical ecology". I don't care how it is biologically possible for dragons to fly and breathe fire, or how much they need to eat - but I need to know how they fit in the game world and the story.4. Exploration through actionI want to focus on exploring an in-game situation. This includes interesting cultures and NPCs, interesting terrain features, weather conditions and wilderness dangers, interesting dungeons and traps. I need cultural hooks that will make negotiating with a goblin tribe funny and disturbing at the same time. I need rules that make encountering a tornado a fun challenge. I need a clear idea of how alerts propagate in a big lair or fortress and how inhabitants react. It would be nice if the game gave me tools like these.5. Varied paceIn my games, the pace changes significantly during game - and it would change more, if game mechanics was more flexible in this aspect. I'd like to have a three-week journey with one combat, one natural disaster and two or three difficult terrain features to overcome - followed by a single day with some investigation, some negotiations, two chases, one infiltration and three or four combats. Very few games support that without heavy houseruling.</blockquote>

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