On Jan 1, 2009, at 7:51 PM, Zan Lynx wrote:
On Thu, 2009-01-01 at 18:36 -0600, Bret Indrelee wrote:
I ask mostly because several die-hard DnD gamers I know have a strong
dislike of 4th edition DnD. Having read through the rules, I don't
blame them. It takes most of the role play and story fun out of the
game.
I have to disagree here. The system *never* made the role playing or
the story. It's just as good using Fudge or MERP or GURPS or D&D 2, 3
or 4th edition.
The story and the roleplaying depend on the game master and the
players.
The system can get in the way of role playing. In 4th edition D&D, you
have discontinuities in the character abilities. At a certain level,
they are no longer able to do something that they were doing for
several levels. This gets in the way of my suspension of belief and
story.
They also got rid of the idea of crafting / professional skills. No
more game mechanics to determine how good you are at something outside
battle.
I agree that a good GM can work around all of this. Why should they
have to?
GURPS does help by giving players disadvantages and quirks as hints to
roleplaying their character, but honestly, its just as much fun
roleplaying a haughty elf or a greedy dwarf with a fake Scottish
accent,
a big axe and a bigger attitude.
I've always disliked D&D. It is the levels. The game enforces an idea
that there are 'quantums of learning' and that at those points
(levels), all of the sudden you get better at everything.
Why can't the character start to learn to swim between levels?
Why can't the character learn to craft items or become a shrewd
business man?
That said, I've had a lot of fun in D&D campaigns where there was a
good story. The amount of house rules varied with the edition and the
game master, but still you could weave a reasonable story.
It isn't so much about advantages and disadvantages as continuous
growth that makes sense without what feel like arbitrary and
artificial limitations.
-Bret
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