![]() ![]() But you know what? I'm OK with that - 4E combat is a blast (as long as the grind doesn't get out of hand and I am willing to reduce monster HP as necessary). Now I'm sure that the experiences of 4E groups varies widely but I think my experience is far from rare in fact, I think it is the norm. But no one ever uses it if they are out of daily and encounter powers they'll either just use an at-will or a basic attack. ![]() I have tried to encourage my players to be creative and improvise combat actions, saying that they all have a "stunt power" which is an improvised standard action that will give them various bonuses depending upon how clever their description and action is. One or two of them do, but it actually stands out a bit in an awkward way, like "Why is he saying that? Just use the power and get to the next combatant in the initiative order." Most of my players don't even describe their combat actions, they just tell what power they are going to use. I play and enjoy 4E, but I sometimes feel that the power system takes away from imaginative play and that the majority of powers are just slight variations on a few basic things, yet at the same time lack the flavor of, say, the wide number of spells of previous editions. To get a bit more specific, Fabled Lands exacerbated the ongoing mild-to-moderate, and usually suppressed, irritation I have with the endless rules modifications of modern D&D. In some ways Fabled Lands is what I think a retro-clone should look like - it is simple, elegant, inspires improvisation and narrative, but also includes a basic, core engine that allows some degree of modifications, a core engine that was lacking in all versions of D&D prior 3E. I have since learned to believe that more options does not necessarily mean a better game, especially when the differences between most of those options is rather minimal. Don't get me wrong, I loved when the d20 3E came out in 2000 and still prefer modern D&D to the older, clunkier versions, but I also tend to get a bit of the "Splat Glut Blues" and miss the days of a simpler game. ![]() As I read through the rules it irritated that suppressed feeling that something has been lost (for me) in the modern iterations of Dungeons & Dragons (meaning, 3E and beyond) with their weight of endless feats, powers, and modifications. ![]() There are one or two other rules (like certain items increase your ability scores, and your ability scores cannot surpass 12), but the entire rule set takes all of eight pages, and it took me just a couple short paragraphs to summarize the majority of it.įabled Lands is the definition of rules lite and is just about as elegant and flexible of a system as you can find. A Rogue, for instance, will start with a 6 in Thievery, 5 in Charisma, 4 in Combat and Magic, 2 in Scouting, and 1 in Sanctity.įor a fight you roll 2d6 and add that to your Combat score, which must be higher than your opponent's Defence the amount that it surpasses their Defence is how many Stamina points they lose. Each of the six professions specializes in one of the abilities: Troubadour, Warrior, Mage, Priest, Wayfarer, and Rogue, respectively. There are six main abilities that are gestalts of attributes and skills: Charisma, Combat, Magic, Sanctity, Scouting, and Thievery. If you aren't familiar with it, the core rule is 2d6 + ability vs. I haven't played through it yet, but was very impressed by its simple game system. The thread on RA Salvatore got me going again on a line of pondering that has been percolating for some time now and was previously exacerbated a few days ago by a recent purchase, the first Fabled Lands book by Dave Morris, author of the better-known Dragon Warriors game. Powerslove"?).īear with me as this is long and rambly but hopefully will be of some interest to someone. A quick note: I was tempted to subtitle this post "or I how I learned to love the Grind," but couldn't figure out a suitably clever main title ("Dr. ![]()
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