D&D 4E Where was 4e headed before it was canned?

[Garthanos]

How good at jumping should a guy be who can beat the crap out of sentient house sized beast armored like a tank... oh well a human IRL who can standing broad jump over 10 feet is rare... 15 feet is nearly impossible right?

 

[Parmandur]

Not intrinsically. The game encourages a functional totalitarian environment ... The king might be awesome or he might be the North Korean who claims superpowers and enforces with fear.

Or he might be just plain crappy at ruling on the fly without examples or guidelines to put it back in game context

Yes, that's what I just said? If the DM creates a toxic play enviroment, they are a bad DM.

 

[Garthanos]

they are a bad DM.

Or they are a bad DM because they are without examples or guidelines... and were left floating in the wind by the game.

 

[Parmandur]

Or they are a bad DM because they are without examples or guidelines... and were left floating in the wind by the game.

I make no claims to being a particularly good DM: "anything worth doing is worth doing poorly." You do not have to be a genius to be a passable DM.

Being a toxic and abusive personality is not something that the rules can prevent, and makes one a bad DM. A mediocre DM of goodwill having fun with his friends can muddle through with any rules: some styles will be more supportive to certain people. Most people will do better with an ad hoc and free-flowing system.

 

[Garthanos]

oh well a human IRL who can standing broad jump over 10 feet is rare... 15 feet is nearly impossible right?

I mean not entirely wrong... but this is fantasy game.

 

[Garthanos]

Most people will do better with an ad hoc and free-flowing system.

Anecdotes duelling AD&D had that I seen the opposite and saw a ninth level fighter feel like the wizards henchman in adventure context... shrug

 

[Parmandur]

Anecdotes duelling AD&D had that I seen the opposite and saw a ninth level fighter feel like the wizards henchman in adventure context... shrug

The proof is in the pudding: the more ad hoc approach is what has worked for people in practice, and facilitated a broader amount of play.

 

[Garthanos]

The proof is in the pudding: the more ad hoc approach is what has worked for people in practice, and facilitated a broader amount of play.

AD&D didnt even have baseline numbers for how far you could jump... let alone ones that wouldn't allow a world record leap without exceeding 20 on an attribute.

 

[Garthanos]

d20 (3.x) wasnt particularly adhoc about tons of things nor was PF... I bet there is more to it.

 

[Parmandur]

AD&D didnt even have baseline numbers for how far you could jump... let alone ones that wouldn't allow a world record leap without exceeding 20 on an attribute.

Indeed, that might be the better approach.