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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 3757052" data-attributes="member: 54877">My late 2 cents:  I have always run D&D with a major focus on the per day resource management aspect.  It seemed integral to the flow of the game.  I will continue to do so with 4E, even if it switches to 80% effectiveness tied up into at will and per encounter abilities.  Nevertheless, I support this attempted change in 4E.  I have seen this same discussion on several gaming boards.  It is really a discussion about pacing.  I have come to the conclusion that people that understand how to do pacing using "operational" adventuring do so because of how they structure the adventure, not because of the game system they use.  (I ran Fantasy Hero with "operational" pacing for years, and I guarantee that was a lot tougher than using 4E will be.)  OTOH, people that do not fully understand how to use "operational" pacing (for whatever reasons, including being disinclined to pay attention to it), have a really hard time coping with built-in support for such pacing in a game system.No player in one of my games would ever remotely consider resting at 9:00 AM without first considering what could go wrong.  For one thing, they know that I'm perfectly happy to sic something on them, if that fits the story, even if that fight does take the rest of the session.  (The fight will be interesting--merely a different kind of interesting than what we thought we were doing.)  Moreover, they know that I have a lot more tools in my arsenal than, "Ninjas attack!".  It may not be obvious that they are on a time limit, but time is always a precious resource for real people, and I try to reflect that.  However, it's both a skill and a preference to set up your campaign world that way, and surely not required for some groups to have fun.1. So, pacing is primarily a GM adventure design issue, not a game system issue.  Some amount of per encounter abilities supports a common style of play, without significantly impeding the operational style of play.2. In addition, it is easier to mechancially change a per encounter system (with house rules) to emphasize operational play than vice versa.  For example, it is annoying to change 3E to per encounter, because anything simple you do tends to ramp up power level, which you will then need to cope with.  House ruling some 4E per encounter abilities to be per day (or per session, or whatever pacing you want) is easier.  Sure, you decreased power level, but you did so with a group that presumably wants the operational challenge--and you can always compensate for decreased power with some items, NPCs, etc., if you don't want to jazz up the abilities themselves.</blockquote>

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