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<blockquote data-quote="giant.robot" data-source="post: 5421659" data-attributes="member: 93119">Now the practice is:(1) Find out what the players want to do(2) Break up those actions into one or more ability or skill checks(3) Assess the likelihood of success and assign a difficulty to the checksThis is no different to what RPGs have been doing forever. The DM doesn't have to pre-plan all the actions (and resolutions) in 4E any more than they need to in any previous edition. just because &quot;encounter&quot; are highly structured doesn't mean they need to be planned in excruciating detail and without any involvementbof the players and their actions. In fact I think 4E's encounter and treasure building mechanisms make for great tools in building off-the-cuff encounters. The updated monster rules from MM3 go even further giving the DM a nice tool for creating whatever challenge she needs on the fly. Another nice feature of 4E is when you model that complex action or series of actions the players want to do as a skill challenge the rules make it easy to make the rolls fair and to provide an adequate XP reward. This is especially useful for new DMs. Us old hats know how and when to dole out XP and other rewards. The players' creativity may have let them avoid a combat encounter you had planned. A DM has an easy way to reward them without making them go through combat. A new DM that has previously only played D&amp;D Encounters or some badly written modules may not immediately catc on that combat isn't the only avenue for characters to advance or be rewarded.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="giant.robot, post: 5421659, member: 93119"] Now the practice is: (1) Find out what the players want to do (2) Break up those actions into one or more ability or skill checks (3) Assess the likelihood of success and assign a difficulty to the checks This is no different to what RPGs have been doing forever. The DM doesn't have to pre-plan all the actions (and resolutions) in 4E any more than they need to in any previous edition. just because "encounter" are highly structured doesn't mean they need to be planned in excruciating detail and without any involvementbof the players and their actions. In fact I think 4E's encounter and treasure building mechanisms make for great tools in building off-the-cuff encounters. The updated monster rules from MM3 go even further giving the DM a nice tool for creating whatever challenge she needs on the fly. Another nice feature of 4E is when you model that complex action or series of actions the players want to do as a skill challenge the rules make it easy to make the rolls fair and to provide an adequate XP reward. This is especially useful for new DMs. Us old hats know how and when to dole out XP and other rewards. The players' creativity may have let them avoid a combat encounter you had planned. A DM has an easy way to reward them without making them go through combat. A new DM that has previously only played D&D Encounters or some badly written modules may not immediately catc on that combat isn't the only avenue for characters to advance or be rewarded. [/QUOTE]

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