Saturday, January 14, 2012

Legends & Lore Redux - A Different Way to Slice a Pie

A Different Way to Slice a Pie

Now we're seeing similarity between what DnD Next might be, and what Pathfinder is, With the beginner box release, we're seeing which rules can be easily stripped from play for new and/or younger players. We have seen this in other games such as Dragon Age, where they split the various rule sets into levels 1-5, 6-10, etc. However, this isn't a new concept in reality, as OD&D originally came in sets of varying complexity, Basic, Companion, Expert, Immortals and Master sets.  When AD&D came out, the main rules were covered in the Player's Handbook, and Dungeon Master's Guide, but as the game advanced new rules were introduced in new optional books, such as the Wilderness Survival Guide or Unearthed Arcana. In 3.0 and later rules, this became gluttonous, with so many splat books, that the rules became unwieldy, but they were optional.

Unfortunately this sounds like a step backwards though, Monte is discussing breaking Attacks of Opportunity back into individual rules based upon situations. I feel they should keep it as it is, the complexity would be which parts you want to be in there, moving away and ranged attacks only. More complex might add spellcasting and scroll use. Continue adding complexity as needed, not removing the words like Attack of Opportunity.

Many games have sidebars for optional rules (3rd edition Earthdawn is one of these with lots of optionals). I see the rules for D&D Next having checklists.  Whether this will work or not again, remains to be seen . 

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