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<blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6658042" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I'm going to take a crack at this if you don't mind.&nbsp; There are a few things at work here:1)&nbsp; 4d Skill Challenges do have a sort of analogue to MHRP's Doom Pool and Plot Points.&nbsp; Respectively, they are:a)&nbsp; the Hard DCs in a Skill Challenge that the GM can deploy to escalate the conflict and up the stakesand b)&nbsp; the Advantages the PCs can deploy to either proactively dictate the fiction (eg step down a medium DC to an easy DC) or to mitigate the GM &quot;move&quot; of using a hard DC (and step that down to a medium DC).The feedback isn't dynamic (there is no interchange/economy of doom dice and plot points) but the premise is the same.&nbsp; It is just sort of a &quot;steady state&quot; meta currency.2)&nbsp; Healing Surges and Gold are meta currency as well.&nbsp; You can expend them for Skill Challenge boons/successes or you can expend them on Martial Practices/Rituals for boons or to outright transition scenes.3)&nbsp; 4e gives more than just tools to calibrate threats.&nbsp; The fundamental ethos of 4e is &quot;skip the gate guards and get to the fun.&quot;&nbsp; This is an obfuscating, D&amp;Difying of Vincent Baker's indie principle of &quot;at every moment, drive play towards conflict.&quot;&nbsp; 4e is all about the conflict-charged scene (in D&amp;D terms, the &quot;encounter&quot;).&nbsp; Whether it be a combat action scene or a noncombat action scene, something must be on the line, the stakes must be high, and the action must be full throttle.&nbsp; Play should naturally snowball from this formula and feel like Indiana Jones meets Die Hard meets mythic fantasy.&nbsp; High stakes, intense action, fast-paced, climax city.If the stakes are low and there is no conflict, you skip it outright or transition to the next conflict-charged scene with a montage or expository dialogue.&nbsp; The reason why 4e's subjective DCs, and of-level challenges, are relevant to this ethos is because they fuel the resolution mechanics machinery in achieving the sense of always being in a high stakes, conflict-charged scene.The predicate of objective DCs and below appropriate challenge level encounters is to confirm the existence of the conflict-neutral/benign components of the world to the PCs.&nbsp; The ethos here being &quot;you're exploring a living, breathing world&quot; so look at all of this &quot;stuff&quot; that should exist right along beside this other conflict-charged stuff.&nbsp; We have to give these mundane moments their due of on-screen time to suspend your disbelief and maximize your versimilitude.&nbsp; Therefore we need to talk to these gate guards.&nbsp; We need to haggle these merchants.&nbsp; We need to potentially involve ourselves with caravan guarding and bandit routing even though it is well below &quot;level-appropriate&quot; because that stuff wouldn't just cease to exist.&nbsp; Hence, we need an objective, world-centered DC spread to reflect so you can engage with that stuff.&nbsp; 4e doesn't engage with that stuff.&nbsp; It still exists, but it is all off-screen, zoomed-out, or transitioned via synopsis/montage.&nbsp; The only thing we spend on-screen time on that conflict-charged (hence level-appropriate) stuff.Hopefully that helps.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Manbearcat, post: 6658042, member: 6696971"] I'm going to take a crack at this if you don't mind. There are a few things at work here: 1) 4d Skill Challenges do have a sort of analogue to MHRP's Doom Pool and Plot Points. Respectively, they are: a) the Hard DCs in a Skill Challenge that the GM can deploy to escalate the conflict and up the stakes and b) the Advantages the PCs can deploy to either proactively dictate the fiction (eg step down a medium DC to an easy DC) or to mitigate the GM "move" of using a hard DC (and step that down to a medium DC). The feedback isn't dynamic (there is no interchange/economy of doom dice and plot points) but the premise is the same. It is just sort of a "steady state" meta currency. 2) Healing Surges and Gold are meta currency as well. You can expend them for Skill Challenge boons/successes or you can expend them on Martial Practices/Rituals for boons or to outright transition scenes. 3) 4e gives more than just tools to calibrate threats. The fundamental ethos of 4e is "skip the gate guards and get to the fun." This is an obfuscating, D&Difying of Vincent Baker's indie principle of "at every moment, drive play towards conflict." 4e is all about the conflict-charged scene (in D&D terms, the "encounter"). Whether it be a combat action scene or a noncombat action scene, something must be on the line, the stakes must be high, and the action must be full throttle. Play should naturally snowball from this formula and feel like Indiana Jones meets Die Hard meets mythic fantasy. High stakes, intense action, fast-paced, climax city. If the stakes are low and there is no conflict, you skip it outright or transition to the next conflict-charged scene with a montage or expository dialogue. The reason why 4e's subjective DCs, and of-level challenges, are relevant to this ethos is because they fuel the resolution mechanics machinery in achieving the sense of always being in a high stakes, conflict-charged scene. The predicate of objective DCs and below appropriate challenge level encounters is to confirm the existence of the conflict-neutral/benign components of the world to the PCs. The ethos here being "you're exploring a living, breathing world" so look at all of this "stuff" that should exist right along beside this other conflict-charged stuff. We have to give these mundane moments their due of on-screen time to suspend your disbelief and maximize your versimilitude. Therefore we need to talk to these gate guards. We need to haggle these merchants. We need to potentially involve ourselves with caravan guarding and bandit routing even though it is well below "level-appropriate" because that stuff wouldn't just cease to exist. Hence, we need an objective, world-centered DC spread to reflect so you can engage with that stuff. 4e doesn't engage with that stuff. It still exists, but it is all off-screen, zoomed-out, or transitioned via synopsis/montage. The only thing we spend on-screen time on that conflict-charged (hence level-appropriate) stuff. Hopefully that helps. [/QUOTE]

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