Lackofname
Explorer
4e has some issues that many have complained about. That 1) It's "video gamey". 2) The game is heavily tactical combat focused, but has next to nothing in terms of out-of-combat mechanics or utility or story.
While laying in bed I realized a way to actually utilize these as part of the campaign.
One recent subgenre that has popped up among fantasy literature is "LitRPG", which is a setting where characters are playing a completely immersed VR MMO. Similar to Ready Player One, Sword Art Online, and other media where you log with a headset or pod and feel what the character feels, etc. (And some series, like Rogue Dungeon and Dungeon Lord, have made even more interesting twists to this premise, but that's distracting from the topic).
Also there are JRPGs like Final Fantasy where characters move around a world as normal, with minimal ability to interact with things. There are mini-games yes, but no real mechanics until they trigger a combat. And then they are transported to a battle-arena, and fight in a turn-based fight. Most of these battles are fairly static as movement goes, although FF Tactics had very elaborate tactical movement.
That is where this idea comes into fruition.
Take the basic idea of a VR MMO. Now, players can move around and such, and there are fairly limited mechanics. Skill checks perhaps, triggered events through dialogue or what they interact with, maybe mini-games (maybe this is hwo stealth is handled). But once a combat is triggered, everyone is dropped into a set battlefield and it plays out like a typical 4e combat.
The point here is that everything is artificial and arbitrary by design. Players can't use combat powers outside of combat, because the game doesn't let them, etc. It helps with other areas where the rules chaf against verisimilitude.
"Why play a campaign that's just a video game experience?" That's when different plots come into play. Maybe there's something wrong with the game, things that are scripted are going off script, etc. Or other stories where the game is not what it appears. And, sometimes, it's simply fun to mimic those things. It does help the DM in a sense, with NPCs who have quests signaling that right out of the gate, quest chains that make themselves known, and other really easy "Here be story" elements rather than the "lead a horse to water" that is DMing a group.
While laying in bed I realized a way to actually utilize these as part of the campaign.
One recent subgenre that has popped up among fantasy literature is "LitRPG", which is a setting where characters are playing a completely immersed VR MMO. Similar to Ready Player One, Sword Art Online, and other media where you log with a headset or pod and feel what the character feels, etc. (And some series, like Rogue Dungeon and Dungeon Lord, have made even more interesting twists to this premise, but that's distracting from the topic).
Also there are JRPGs like Final Fantasy where characters move around a world as normal, with minimal ability to interact with things. There are mini-games yes, but no real mechanics until they trigger a combat. And then they are transported to a battle-arena, and fight in a turn-based fight. Most of these battles are fairly static as movement goes, although FF Tactics had very elaborate tactical movement.
That is where this idea comes into fruition.
Take the basic idea of a VR MMO. Now, players can move around and such, and there are fairly limited mechanics. Skill checks perhaps, triggered events through dialogue or what they interact with, maybe mini-games (maybe this is hwo stealth is handled). But once a combat is triggered, everyone is dropped into a set battlefield and it plays out like a typical 4e combat.
The point here is that everything is artificial and arbitrary by design. Players can't use combat powers outside of combat, because the game doesn't let them, etc. It helps with other areas where the rules chaf against verisimilitude.
"Why play a campaign that's just a video game experience?" That's when different plots come into play. Maybe there's something wrong with the game, things that are scripted are going off script, etc. Or other stories where the game is not what it appears. And, sometimes, it's simply fun to mimic those things. It does help the DM in a sense, with NPCs who have quests signaling that right out of the gate, quest chains that make themselves known, and other really easy "Here be story" elements rather than the "lead a horse to water" that is DMing a group.
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