I know I said that I'd be taking a break from writing Legend4ry D&D stuff for awhile, but having the past month off from really thinking of D&D stuff outside of my home game I DM and my bi-weekly game that I play in, has been a boon to my creative juices.
I've had a busy month or so, followed by some down time recently. With this down time I've been playing DC Universe Online. Last year in November it dropped from subscription-based to Free2Play. I was interested in it when the game first came out, but I was also wary as I've never been a fan of MMOs. I've tried many MMOs but they've just never hit that spot for me, even WoW. 4e's detractors may find this ironic, since their main claim is that 4e feels like an MMO, which clearly it doesn't!
I think my biggest issue with MMOs, specifically WoW, is that there really isn't much of a story unless you do the research independently. Sure, I get a quest to kill 10 boars or collect 10 talismans, but really you don't get that sense of conflict. Even in the end-game, it is just hack n' slash your way through dungeon X or instance Y. Where is the story? I love the Warcraft mythos, I've been playing the Warcraft games for a long time, but that mythos seemed like an afterthought in WoW. This isn't the case with DCUO, however. Every mission and quest from levels 1 to 30 are packed full of story. I've been a comic book geek since birth, so this hits the spot for me. Even the end-game feels epic. Sure the end-game is fighting your way from A to B, but there is an actually attempt at story, and it's great!
But what does any of that have to do with D&D?
As much as I love DCUO, it isn't without its problems. Granted, this statement is true of any game, either video or table-top. In 4e, conditions like Dazed, Dominated, Unconscious and so on are annoying, sure. In DCUO, there are countless times that your character is taken out of battle as well, either by being "encased" in something you have to break out of, by being stunned, panicked, etc. This happens rather frequently, not often in trash battles, but with bosses and the like.
How does this apply to 4e and what lessons can be learned from it? Frankly, I am annoyed every time my DCUO character gets taken out of combat. Being made completely ineffective for even a handful of seconds sucks. I am not able to contribute to the story, my group, or anything. It effectively removes you and your character from the game. What I took away from this was taking the character out of the game temporarily is fine, but don't take the player out of the game.
Effects like Stun, Daze, Sleep, etc are great and should be used. They are fun to work around. Yes it can be annoying as a player, but as a DM, it is simply a tool used to challenge. That's fine and it doesn't need to be changed. However, it is important to realize that these effects take both the player and character out of the game. In many ways, this is embracing the DM mentality of old of DM vs Player, and let's be honest here, this is something that needs to go away and die.
So how can we still utilize these admittedly awesome effects and take only the character out of the game? This is a tough question, and one I posit to you, dear readers. I have a few ideas myself, and I honestly think that this idea of taking only the characters out of the conflict at hand will improve any game, regardless of edition.
- Give the player something to do on their turn other than make a Saving Throw for Save Ends effects. Don't make them feel like their turn is being wasted.
- Have the affected player play an NPC or even monster in the triggering conflict. Allow the player to still interact with the game even while their character is currently indisposed. And really, if you are worried about a player knowing Special Ability X or HP total, given a few rounds on the player side, they've likely figured it out anyways. This doesn't effect that battle in any way. If you are still worried, have them play a less important monster or NPC.
- Make all Save Ends effects last until the end of the affect character's next turn. Take the character out of combat or conflict for only one round. This option is likely controversial. I will state that if this idea is used to make sure it is used evenly on both sides of the table, meaning it affects both monsters and characters.
- If a character is Dominated, for example, collaborate with that character's player as to how best use this to the monster's advantage. It is surprising how cutthroat players will be when collaborating against their fellow crew members. It's also a lot of fun! This can be done secretly or publicly depending on the circumstance and group.
Those are just a few of the ideas I currently have. It is by no means a complete list of solutions, nor should each solution be used at the same time. Figure out a method that works best for your table. Regardless of edition, it absolutely sucks as a player to do nothing on your turn for something that is completely out of your control.
I'd love to hear what the community has to say about it and thinks about it. Regardless of edition, there has to be some good insights to this out there.
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As something random, I've noticed more than a few 4e "retro-clone" (for lack of a better phrase) threads on various forums out there. Mostly being "What would you fix in a 4e clone and what would you want in it?" The reason for bringing this up s an idea I saw in there that made a lot of sense, and something that I see in DCUO.
This particularly thread, that I cannot seem to find through Google-fu, said that they would get rid of the Striker role. The reason for it was that each class already has the innate potential to put out damage just by fighting on the battlefield, so why do we need a dedicated role for something that each class has the potential to do? It is definitely an interesting idea, and it definitely has some merit to it. I'm not sure how one would implement it with things like the Rogue, for example, but the idea is sound.
This ties to DCUO, as it is the center-piece of my post today. In DCUO you have three actual roles. You have Tanks, which pull aggro and try to lock down bosses and the like. They are hearty and can take lots of punishment. Basically well-built Defenders. There are Healers, which do as stated. And finally Controllers which do crowd control and provide the other characters on a team with power when their power bar runs dry to help them pull off combos and utilize their chosen powers from whatever source they have chosen. But where is the damage option, you are probably asking yourselves.
Depending on the power source, you are slotted for a specific role. Fire and Ice are Tanks, Hard Light and Gadgets is Control, Nature and Electricity are Healers. Each role/source has the potential to either build for their source's designated role or for damage. You can have a DPS build of Fire or Hard Light or even Nature. You do this through power selection and by mechanically declaring a specific role. It is important to note that you can switch roles through one of the many screens. They also balance this (but as it is an MMO, no matter what there will be players crying "Nerf!" and players crying "Over-powered!" so take that as you will) mechanically. For example, if you are a Fire Tank, you take a penalty to damage output. If you are a Nature Healer you also take a penalty to damage. Controllers don't take a penalty, but as they have powers specifically selected for being a Controller, they can still put out damage, but generally not a lot. If the aforementioned Fire Tank or Nature Healer switches to DPS, the penalty drops, but they instead get a penalty to heals or aggro, for instance. It's a neat concept.
I can see this working for a 4e "clone" as well. I've yet to fully flesh it out, but the ideas are there. Just something off the top of my head works with Clerics and healing with allowing a Cleric to switch between roles on a Short Rest or Extended Rest. Basically, if they chose the Striker Cleric role, they would do 1d6 less damage per Tier, which would nerf their Healing Word's extra heals potential and instead do an extra 1d6 damage per Tier. Again, it isn't a perfect mechanic, but it sure is an interesting one.
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Anyways, that's what's been going on with me and D&D and other stuff lately. Having a month away from the D&D world has been good as it allowed those creative juices to circulate once more. I'm not certain when my next post will be, as I'm only going to post now when I have a good idea or two, but as always...
Until next time,
-blob
You can follow me on Twitter @Sorcerer_Blob or via the hash-tag #legend4ry. You can also find my blog and others at the Fourthcore Hub and at the RPG Blog Alliance.
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