Call it what you like, but you've got to admit that 2E had a bewildering array of choices for character creation from the core rules to supplemental "guide" books with their myriad broken kits to "Tome of Magic" to the much-discussed "Player's Option" books.
When you have six characters at the table, and each was built using a different set of rules, all of which are legal, IMHO that means that you've got one crazy-ass complex system (and very broken one).
3E fixed that by distilling what worked in 2E, and combined it with some inspired game design that I happily admit yielded a huge diversity of characters. But each of those characters could come to the table and still *work* because the rules they were based on were part of a coherent whole.
Finally, my point in comparing the 3E and 4E transitions is not to say that they were equally radical changes -- they weren't -- but that each had its major upheavals. 4E's may be an order of magnitude larger, but 3E's were still pretty damn big.
[[shrug]] Honestly, the thing that frustrates me most about 4E is arguing about it. I'm going to be very happy to finally turn the page on the whole thing and move on to something else.
Sat, 08/30/2008 - 6:42pm
Call it what you like, but you've got to admit that 2E had a bewildering array of choices for character creation from the core rules to supplemental "guide" books with their myriad broken kits to "Tome of Magic" to the much-discussed "Player's Option" books.
When you have six characters at the table, and each was built using a different set of rules, all of which are legal, IMHO that means that you've got one crazy-ass complex system (and very broken one).
3E fixed that by distilling what worked in 2E, and combined it with some inspired game design that I happily admit yielded a huge diversity of characters. But each of those characters could come to the table and still *work* because the rules they were based on were part of a coherent whole.
Finally, my point in comparing the 3E and 4E transitions is not to say that they were equally radical changes -- they weren't -- but that each had its major upheavals. 4E's may be an order of magnitude larger, but 3E's were still pretty damn big.
[[shrug]] Honestly, the thing that frustrates me most about 4E is arguing about it. I'm going to be very happy to finally turn the page on the whole thing and move on to something else.
»