D&D 4e: Story-driven campaigns

Ever since the introduction of fourth edition, I’ve been defending the system against claims that it doesn’t allow for real role-playing. These criticisms have comes from multiple types of RPGers: hard-core story gamers, D&D 3.5 power gamers, and everyone in between. My argument is simply that the rule set does not dictate the gaming experience (although certainly it sets the tone: a hundred pages of combat rules means the game designers expect your characters to fight). There’s nothing in fourth edition, I argue, that makes the game more or less conducive to role playing than D&D 3.5 or Shadowrun or World of Darkness or any other game with an elaborate combat system. In fact, I think that the fourth edition DMG is written with an emphasis on building an enjoyable story that was notably absent from its 3.5 counterpart.

The game has been out for long enough now where I’ve played and DMed more than a few published adventures. Unfortunately, most of these adventures give credence to the assertion that fourth edition D&D is nothing more than a glorified combat system or miniatures game. I’ve played all of the 1-1 RPGA modules and they range from appallingly boring to merely uninteresting. They are uniformly a mishmash of combats and gratuitous skill challenges. The few that add some role-playing bits into the mix tend to run long, so the role-playing part gets blown by in order to finish the module on time. Keep on the Shadowfell, as written, was a whole lot of combat grind and not much else. Yawn.

Now I’m starting a homebrew campaign and it’s time to put my gold pieces where my mouth is. I’m a seasoned gamer who’s played my share of storytelling games and rules-heavy RPG’s. I’m totally rules-agnostic and prone to using DM Fiat. I’m much more worried about creating an engaging narrative for my players than about following the letter of the rules. since this is my first homebrew campaign under fourth edition D&D, however, I’m intrigued: can I create and run an ongoing fourth edition D&D campaign that isn’t hack and slash using the techniques outlined in the Dungeon Master’s Guide? If I can’t, why not? What needs to be tweaked or changed in order to make it work? Most importantly, are those changes so fundamental that I’ll be forced to admit that the rule set does not in fact support a story driven role-playing experience?