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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nagol" data-source="post: 5994914" data-attributes="member: 23935">I agree; most of D&D is small-step results-sim.  The players don't get to walk through the process of the small flurry of blows that result in a single hit.  We get to determine the result of a round of combat.  Contrast this with games like Hero where every blow, block, dodge, and hit is tracked.There are process sims -- the hiring of henchmen in 1e as you point out and the pummel/grapple/overbear in both 1e and 3e are multi-step in-depth modeling of process and generally shunned for their complexities.I say small-step result sims as to the simulation is broken down into generally very small chunks to avoid post-hoc narration and separation of mental vision/expectation between the participants.Hero has the same basic premise -- powers work like this -- all expressions of a powers have the same basic structure.  What Hero has that makes the system work better for me is an extra step where the character designer associates the power with in-world fiction and that association can then consistently be used to adjudicate interactions with the rest of the universe.Power is through a device?  Then it can be stolen, potentially broken, or otherwise incapaitated.  Power is gravitic? Then an invisible object between the origin and the target is likely to get affected as well.  Power is held in an arcane tattoo?  A specific wound or magical suppression is necessary to stop the power (and thus the power costs more than the glove).I find this association more tolerable than the pragmatic reskinning of powers to suit any situation that people talk about happening in 4e.  This seems to be the best expression of my power this round, this is what I'll use.  They've moved into a formation that invalidates that expression?  I'll use this one instead.This moves the power away from the character (he can do X because of Y) into a resource for the player (this is an ability you can always call on when playing this character; please attach it to the game world when you use it).</blockquote>

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