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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Barastrondo" data-source="post: 4861973" data-attributes="member: 3820">The way I see it, if the rules and merits of a game are tools in a toolbox, then it becomes relevant to ask how you're using them. How good is the new electric screwdriver if you're trying to use it to drive a nail, for instance. Level 2 kobold slingers aren't tools to show how tough 9th-level characters are (while minions would be). They're more critters that are specialized in the 1-5 level bracket. I should probably call it a fusion of narrative mechanics and the desire to deliver a "play" experience. Things like minions and healing surges aren't there to deliberately simulate a narrative, but at the same time they're great tools for achieving one while still having the rolling dice part of the game be fun as well. I don't think that 3/3.5 went very far into the idea of the narrative at all. It could do both, but it had a very limited feel for the narrative — as anyone who  wanted to create an NPC with about 50 skill points and 4 hit points found out. It went for mechanical consistency above all — the sage has many levels in Expert not because the mechanics of levels are the most excellent pick for how you should represent him, but because skill points are intrinsically tied to level gain. The minotaur has strong Reflex and Will saves not because minotaurs are naturally more agile and strong-willed than bullish-tough, but because it's a monstrous humanoid and they're all like that. Now, again I recognize that such mechanical consistency is absolutely a selling point for other people. It wasn't my cup of tea, though. For the amount of handwaving I tended to do, the system's strengths outweighed its drawbacks by enough that I would still run it at the time, but not so much that I'd run it again now.(Also my wife is having at least as much fun as me with the new edition, if not more. I realize I'm being a Big Girl when I say that her enjoyment compounds my own, but... well, that's the way it is.) Mostly it's actual play experiences talking. I have a good chemistry with the system. The way I work in plotting out a game system, I always start with a narrative in mind, and then I check out the tools available to me. If I have some aspect of a story in mind, I generally have the freedom to put together almost anything I want. Once I have that in mind, it's time to add the game aspects, and well, that's how I see it working.Some system particulars? Well, I do like role-based mechanics for opponents. Some self-analysis reveals I like to use brutes, skirmishers and minions above all, and tend to move only toward controllers as mid-bosses or end-bosses. Now, that may not be the most mechanically ingenious way for me to set up encounters, but like I said, I start with an idea of what the fight might be like first and then build stats to fine-tune it. (Reskinning monsters is probably just a subset of role-based mechanics, but I love the implementation so much it deserves a separate mention.)Skill challenges I also like a lot. They allow for some variable definition of what a "scene" is. For instance, take the infiltration of a fort. You can play out the "evading patrols, ambushing sentries, working the locks, and finding your way to the inner sanctum" part as a series of separate encounters... or you can make it a skill challenge, compressing that part of the evening into one intense "encounter" and then getting to the next part. Skill challenges are a way to play with narrative pacing, something I find quite useful.And for that matter, I also favor the "encounter" structure to more detailed timekeeping. It's another way to play with pacing. I've seen some interesting things happen when several encounters back-to-back are treated as one long running encounter, for instance. Do I think 4e would teach a strong narrative style to newcomers? No, probably not (though I'd rank it pretty high among versions of D&D that could encourage it). Does it play nicely with a DM who's already got a strong interest in narrative play? Oh heck yes.</blockquote>

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