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Epic Laundry Basket: After the Rule of Cool and the Rule of Fun…

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From a Gtalk discussion earlier with Dave the Game about a game he played in over the weekend.

Dave:

But I think (the DM) also hit on a new rule of DMing in a later part of the adventure

We arrived in a new town, snuck through it, etc.  Basically (this) gave us a new set of missions, one of which was to get explosives out of a warehouse.

Of course, that’s the mission we went after right away.

I think the rule could be that players are happier if an adventure involves explosives.

Chatty DM:

The Rule of C4

Dave:

Yes!

103 words.

Comments

  1. On further reflection, The Rule of C4 is probably a corollary to the Rule of Cool (and of course explosives have their own tropes.) Another corollary is stated in Gamers 2: “Everything is better with pirates.”

  5. Interesting; I’d always heard the corollary as “Everything’s better with ninjas.” I suppose you can substitute either half of the Great Iconic War just as cleanly…

    One has to be careful though. As the number of explosives increases, the likelihood that the game becomes about the explosives to the exclusion of everything else, which works for some game groups but not for others. I haven’t had quite enough time to observe to give a mathematical progression… perhaps someone with more experience in the field could assist?

    Ravyns last blog post..The Uses of Body Language

  6. Everything could be better with both Pirates and Ninjas too, certainly. (The scene in question in the movie featured both.)

    Maybe the Rule of C4 could be stated thusly: “Adventures with explosives are better than adventures without explosives.” That way, there’s no implication that more explosives are better.

    Dave T. Games last blog post..Inquisition of the Week: Upcoming 4e Options

  7. Players are happier if an adventure involves explosives.

    What’s wrong with the original wording?

    I think the original wording is better and anybody that dares change it are troublemakers… or shameless game designers.

    🙂

  10. Heretic!

    Here’s a gift then!

    C4 Brick
    Alchemy, (Cost and attack bonus to be checked in Adventurer’s Vault tonight)
    Burst 5

    Hit: Target suffers 3d10+4 damage, is pushed 3 squares from point of burst and falls prone. Additionally target is deafened and blinded (save ends both)

    Miss: Target takes Half-damage, is pushed 3 squares and deafened (Save ends).

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