ForceUser
Explorer
I've been DMing since 1987, and I have enjoyed all the incarnations of D&D I've played since then. I'm running 4E now and I like the smooth modularity of the skill, magic and combat systems. But over the 8 years I DMed 3E, it completely killed my desire to track XP awards, encounter levels, challenge ratings, NPC stats, and most of all, loot awards. It was all so bloody tedious.
Truthfully, I've never been a big fan of the paper doll model of magic item awards because it's always seemed so artificial and video game-y. My players generally accuse me of being stingy with the loots, and that's fair. This is because I'd much rather have them discover the long-lost Sehardine, Sword of Ten Thousand Fables, which allows its wielder to call the Scion of Dreams at grave cost, than to hand them a bag with a +3 flaming longsword, a set of +4 chainmail, a cloak of displacement and assorted potions and scrolls. I mean, come on. Boring. Useful, I grant you, but boring.
So damn boring, in fact, that I don't wanna do it anymore. Since 4E arrived I've found that I vastly prefer to focus on storytelling, role-playing, world development, and running cool encounters. I have almost zero interest in spending time kitting out PCs with gobs of +1 this and +2 that. I've already done away with XP completely, and simply level the group at appropriate times in the tale. I'm loving the minimalist approach to monster-building in 4E, and with DDI it takes little effort to whip up cool monsters and NPCs, which I just eyeball in terms of encounter difficulty. But loot...loot they need.
The game assumes that they are getting gobs of uninspired Diablo-esque crap. And the players want that stuff because it makes them more powerful, and because in 4E it's expected and needed. And that's fine, really. But my issue is this:
---combing through the DDI database for magic gear is tedious
---making sure that I keep feeding them little continuous upgrades is tedious
---even if I break down and do it, I don't necessarily want to flood the game with that all that penny-ante stuff. The Magic Emporium model of magic is one thing about D&D I've never cottoned to.
I'm thinking about going with inherent bonuses instead of the paper doll. I was wondering if anyone's done that, and what the result has been. Any other comments are welcome as well. Thanks.
Truthfully, I've never been a big fan of the paper doll model of magic item awards because it's always seemed so artificial and video game-y. My players generally accuse me of being stingy with the loots, and that's fair. This is because I'd much rather have them discover the long-lost Sehardine, Sword of Ten Thousand Fables, which allows its wielder to call the Scion of Dreams at grave cost, than to hand them a bag with a +3 flaming longsword, a set of +4 chainmail, a cloak of displacement and assorted potions and scrolls. I mean, come on. Boring. Useful, I grant you, but boring.
So damn boring, in fact, that I don't wanna do it anymore. Since 4E arrived I've found that I vastly prefer to focus on storytelling, role-playing, world development, and running cool encounters. I have almost zero interest in spending time kitting out PCs with gobs of +1 this and +2 that. I've already done away with XP completely, and simply level the group at appropriate times in the tale. I'm loving the minimalist approach to monster-building in 4E, and with DDI it takes little effort to whip up cool monsters and NPCs, which I just eyeball in terms of encounter difficulty. But loot...loot they need.
The game assumes that they are getting gobs of uninspired Diablo-esque crap. And the players want that stuff because it makes them more powerful, and because in 4E it's expected and needed. And that's fine, really. But my issue is this:
---combing through the DDI database for magic gear is tedious
---making sure that I keep feeding them little continuous upgrades is tedious
---even if I break down and do it, I don't necessarily want to flood the game with that all that penny-ante stuff. The Magic Emporium model of magic is one thing about D&D I've never cottoned to.
I'm thinking about going with inherent bonuses instead of the paper doll. I was wondering if anyone's done that, and what the result has been. Any other comments are welcome as well. Thanks.