I make no big secret about the fact that 4e was the first RPG I truly loved. It has a lot of warts, but the core gameplay of managing the resources of Surges, Encounter and Daily Powers, and Item abilities can create some truly incredible moments in gaming. But eventually I left, because I wanted a more character-centric game. I found Burning Wheel, and got a whole lot more than I ever could have imagined. Burning Wheel is much more than a character-centric game, it is holistic: everything feeds into everything else. Little changes make ripples, and big changes can completely change the game for a player. Had they focused on making their system holistically focused upon this core of resource management I don't think I would have left the game. But it wasn't, and I did.
Now, this isn't a series of blog posts where I provide you with tested content. This just me sitting down, looking at my first love, and commenting on what could have probably gotten me to stay, had I known. Is this a bit of a wish fulfillment fantasy? Absolutely. Whose benefit am I doing it for? Mine, but hopefully you'll find it interesting as well? Far as I'm concerned, if you're along for the ride, cool! If not, well, oh well.
So what do I mean by holistic? In this case I mean a mechanical system that is so interconnected that if something happens in the mechanics the other subsystems react and change the mechanical (and thus fictional) landscape. You reincorporate already existing elements of the design as answers to the questions that other elements have. You are aiming for a larger vision, something is more than the sum of its parts. 4e manages this by seeming accident. They do add up, but they don't seem to add up on their own, without a discerning GM. That doesn't really count. I should be able to hand the system to even a half-awake GM and have sparks fly, even if it's being bungled. And 4e has that potential.
4e is a game about resource management: Surges (which dictate health), At-Will/Encounter/Daily powers (class special abilities), and Item abilities (unclassed special abilities).
Yes, I would cut out feats.
No, that's not a stupid idea. Feats are dumb and undermine the other three systems. But that's its own blog post.
Anyway.
While the class and unclass special abilities are minorly linked to health management in some of the abilities, none of these systems are really all that linked. I want to link these three systems so that way players would have something a bit more substantial than what's in 4e vanilla. Part of doing that is making sure the d20 mechanic fits the three systems a bit better, pulling them to the forefront.
Part of this thought experiment is going to reference the d20 game par excellence, Miseries and Misfortunes, because there are subsystems in that game that can be ported over to this thought experiment to allow for a greater variety in gameplay, as well as modifying a few systems to behave better.
So yeah, no real actual impact or stakes. I'm wanting to just sorta work out in my head what would have gotten me to stay with the game and what I think would have been good for an actual iteration on 4th edition DnD, as opposed to the retcon we got with 5th. I've got a number of general ideas of where to go with this series, and hopefully that'll be enough to have everyone stick around see where we wind up!
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