Ironically, I found the exact opposite of 4e. I found it refreshing that there were no rules restricting RP and that exploration was left to the GM. I don't need balance, rules and limitations for my RP, just for my combat. In fact, the RP descriptions of abilities allowed my normally hack and slash players to get more naturally into their characters, starting to describe the fight scenes in a way they never did when an attack was "Roll a d20, then roll damage" which has resulted in deeper, more...
View full commentIronically, I found the exact opposite of 4e. I found it refreshing that there were no rules restricting RP and that exploration was left to the GM. I don't need balance, rules and limitations for my RP, just for my combat. In fact, the RP descriptions of abilities allowed my normally hack and slash players to get more naturally into their characters, starting to describe the fight scenes in a way they never did when an attack was "Roll a d20, then roll damage" which has resulted in deeper, more interesting and enjoyable characters. All I had to do to get them into it a bit more was pull each of them aside and ask them about their character's personalities, background, goals, reason for adventuring, random hobbies. Just random details about their characters. As for skills, well, skills only go as far as the GM allows them to.
Yes, you certainly can roleplay in 4e, but the problem with the system is that in the event the game turns to combat, which is inevitable, they last two hours or more. This is due to the fact that players have to sift through too many powers, keep track of multiple stacking effects, and roll multiple damage dice. Now I have instituted some measures to speed up combat such as preparing damage rolls and save rolls ahead of time, but this trims minutes only. Our game has characters that are...
View full commentYes, you certainly can roleplay in 4e, but the problem with the system is that in the event the game turns to combat, which is inevitable, they last two hours or more. This is due to the fact that players have to sift through too many powers, keep track of multiple stacking effects, and roll multiple damage dice. Now I have instituted some measures to speed up combat such as preparing damage rolls and save rolls ahead of time, but this trims minutes only. Our game has characters that are currently 17th level, so I've been playing in a campaign with this system for quite some time. If you play one session for six hours and spend two and a half hours on a single combat, that leaves about three and a half hours for roleplaying. The problem is, especially in the case of pregenerated modules, most games have more than one combat encounter in close proximity to another in a game session; I don't care what system you play. So in the event you have, God forbid, two combats in a session, about five hours are spent on combats out of the six hours you play! It is a matter of time consumption. In contrast 2e and even 3e have faster combats which allow for more free time to roleplay. I should know, I run a 2e campaign and a Star Wars campaign as well and we don't have these issues in the other games.
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