Mercurius
Legend
(Mods, I intend on discussing more than just 4E, so I'd prefer if this stay in General as it is really a discussion of D&D as a whole).
OK, my thread title is partially facetious. I've played and enjoyed 4E for years now, but like many "moderates" I had some solid complaints about various well-known aspects of the game: the grind, un-magicky magic items, homogeneity across classes, mini-reliance, etc. But a few factors recently combined to bring new appreciation for the game:
1) D&D Next.
2) Playing my first PC after DMing for a few years.
3) DMing again after a longish hiatus.
4) Running the Fourthcore adventure, Revenge of the Iron Lich.
Let's go in order.
D&D Next - the Holy Grail of editions? Maybe not
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the next version of the game. But I've also noticed that, as more and more info has been revealed, D&D Next quickly lost its early messiah-like stature, at least in my mind. First of all, I stopped paying attention - I just didn't have the time, interest, or energy to pick over every new rules tidbit like many are doing and decided I'd wait until more information was available (at least character creation playtesting).
Secondly, seeing the new edition "in the flesh" made me realize that there's a kind of "Edition Anticipation" that leads to inevitable disappointment by leading one to think (or convince oneself) that the next edition will be the Holy Grail of editions, the perfect version of the game (This, of course, is a psychological dynamic not confined to RPGs, but I'm going to stay within context).
I like what I've heard and seen so far about D&D Next, but until I hold the 5th Edition Players Handbook in my grubby hands I'm not going to be able to really get a sense of the game, so I'll reserve judgement until then. But so far, I'm neither psyched nor disappointed - it simply seems like another version of the game, not necessarily "better" than previous editions, at least not vastly so, although seemingly a developmental outgrowth from them.
So, in short, D&D Next has helped me realize that the version of the game I'm currently playing is actually rather fun and works just fine. My current plan is to convert when 5E comes out, but I no longer feel rushed or like that day can't come soon enough.
Playing a 4E Character (Or how I learned to love powers)
Having only been behind the screen for the first few years of 4E, I only got a chance to really play a character a bit over half a year ago and frankly, it is a blast - and not in spite of the much-maligned powers, but because of them (or partially so). As being slightly more simulationist than gamist, I have complained about the power system due to a kind of aesthetic allegiance to realism. To put it another way, I'm fine with bastard swords and greatswords, but when we get to Exalted-esque fullblades wielded by halfling ninjas, my eyes glaze over and I start wondering if I'm just getting too old for this stuff.
The bottom line, however, is that powers are fun. Playing a 4E character is enjoyable, more so (in my opinion) than a 3.5 character, at least with regards to martial characters (I still prefer pre-4E spell lists to powers, and hope that 5E has the best of both worlds with at-will powers and old fashioned spell lists).
Back Behind the Screen
Our game was lagging a bit and I was thinking that we were burning out on 4E. But when I took over, the game ramped up again. But this has less to do with 4E and more to do with my (comparative) experience with DMing (the interim DM was very inexperienced) and the adventure that we are playing (see below). When I took the helm again, the game ran smoothly. I was able to "Fiat out" some of the factors that made the grind happen - massive HP totals for monsters, lowish damage output, etc. I realized that 4E is actually a very smooth game, especially when you iron (or fiat) out the kinks.
Revenge of the Iron Lich
Due to busy summer schedules, I have only been DMing for one session, the first half of a modified version of Revenge of the Iron Lich. We haven't played in about a month but we all enjoyed the first session tremendously and I feel reinspired to start a new campaign, with some of the "old school" qualities in mind that Revenge does so well. Running it made me realize that 4E works perfectly well for "old school" gaming, for some of the qualities that I've missed in recent sessions: magic & mystery, exploration and lost histories, traps and puzzles, monsters that are actually threatening, and so forth.
Four Years Later
So here I am, four years into 4th edition and finally enjoying it as not simply "What we'll play until something better comes along" but a fun, vibrant iteration of the greatest game in the world. Again, I look forward to 5E, I hope that it improves upon some of the problems with 4E (see first paragraph), but I feel as if I'm discovering 4E for the first time, really understanding why some of the design decisions were made and, consequently, how I feel that its negative rap is at least partially undeserved, and probably more to do with factors that don't actually have to do with game play itself.
Final Word: A New Golden Age?
I would also like to put other there that it is my opinion that we're in the early years of a new Golden Age of D&D. Now it is very unlikely that the game will every achieve the popularity of the early 80s, or that we'll see the diversity and depth of product of the OGL days of the 00s, and we'll probably never see the campaign setting wealth of the 90s, and, quite frankly, the "Good Old Days" of the 70s are gone for good, no matter how many publishers commission Erol Otus to do their art. But I would argue that because of the wealth of different iterations of D&D available ("D&D" in the broadest sense of the word)--from Dungeon Crawl Classics to OSRIC to Pathfinder to 4E to D&D Next to 13th Age--and because the official version of the game is moving towards greater inclusiveness and adaptability, we're in the early phases of another Golden Age, different - but of a kind - of the boom days of early d20 and other "peak phases" of the games cycles. I think this will gather steam until the actual release of D&D Next and hopefully stay with us for a couple years, until we, again, fall into stagnation and the process continues: birth, growth, stagnation, decay, death, re-birth and renewal. Etc etc etc.
So it is good to be in a birth/renewal phase, with only growth ahead for the foreseeable future. No edition of D&D will ever stop this cycle - it is universal, of the very fabric of the universe. But what can occur, what the true "Holy Grail of Editions" would be, I would argue, is one that is designed to evolve and grow, to adapt and change, to remake itself continually and to find renewal in ways that aren't simply starting all over again, but dive into new waters of creativity and imagination.
But all this is a tale not yet told...
OK, my thread title is partially facetious. I've played and enjoyed 4E for years now, but like many "moderates" I had some solid complaints about various well-known aspects of the game: the grind, un-magicky magic items, homogeneity across classes, mini-reliance, etc. But a few factors recently combined to bring new appreciation for the game:
1) D&D Next.
2) Playing my first PC after DMing for a few years.
3) DMing again after a longish hiatus.
4) Running the Fourthcore adventure, Revenge of the Iron Lich.
Let's go in order.
D&D Next - the Holy Grail of editions? Maybe not
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about the next version of the game. But I've also noticed that, as more and more info has been revealed, D&D Next quickly lost its early messiah-like stature, at least in my mind. First of all, I stopped paying attention - I just didn't have the time, interest, or energy to pick over every new rules tidbit like many are doing and decided I'd wait until more information was available (at least character creation playtesting).
Secondly, seeing the new edition "in the flesh" made me realize that there's a kind of "Edition Anticipation" that leads to inevitable disappointment by leading one to think (or convince oneself) that the next edition will be the Holy Grail of editions, the perfect version of the game (This, of course, is a psychological dynamic not confined to RPGs, but I'm going to stay within context).
I like what I've heard and seen so far about D&D Next, but until I hold the 5th Edition Players Handbook in my grubby hands I'm not going to be able to really get a sense of the game, so I'll reserve judgement until then. But so far, I'm neither psyched nor disappointed - it simply seems like another version of the game, not necessarily "better" than previous editions, at least not vastly so, although seemingly a developmental outgrowth from them.
So, in short, D&D Next has helped me realize that the version of the game I'm currently playing is actually rather fun and works just fine. My current plan is to convert when 5E comes out, but I no longer feel rushed or like that day can't come soon enough.
Playing a 4E Character (Or how I learned to love powers)
Having only been behind the screen for the first few years of 4E, I only got a chance to really play a character a bit over half a year ago and frankly, it is a blast - and not in spite of the much-maligned powers, but because of them (or partially so). As being slightly more simulationist than gamist, I have complained about the power system due to a kind of aesthetic allegiance to realism. To put it another way, I'm fine with bastard swords and greatswords, but when we get to Exalted-esque fullblades wielded by halfling ninjas, my eyes glaze over and I start wondering if I'm just getting too old for this stuff.
The bottom line, however, is that powers are fun. Playing a 4E character is enjoyable, more so (in my opinion) than a 3.5 character, at least with regards to martial characters (I still prefer pre-4E spell lists to powers, and hope that 5E has the best of both worlds with at-will powers and old fashioned spell lists).
Back Behind the Screen
Our game was lagging a bit and I was thinking that we were burning out on 4E. But when I took over, the game ramped up again. But this has less to do with 4E and more to do with my (comparative) experience with DMing (the interim DM was very inexperienced) and the adventure that we are playing (see below). When I took the helm again, the game ran smoothly. I was able to "Fiat out" some of the factors that made the grind happen - massive HP totals for monsters, lowish damage output, etc. I realized that 4E is actually a very smooth game, especially when you iron (or fiat) out the kinks.
Revenge of the Iron Lich
Due to busy summer schedules, I have only been DMing for one session, the first half of a modified version of Revenge of the Iron Lich. We haven't played in about a month but we all enjoyed the first session tremendously and I feel reinspired to start a new campaign, with some of the "old school" qualities in mind that Revenge does so well. Running it made me realize that 4E works perfectly well for "old school" gaming, for some of the qualities that I've missed in recent sessions: magic & mystery, exploration and lost histories, traps and puzzles, monsters that are actually threatening, and so forth.
Four Years Later
So here I am, four years into 4th edition and finally enjoying it as not simply "What we'll play until something better comes along" but a fun, vibrant iteration of the greatest game in the world. Again, I look forward to 5E, I hope that it improves upon some of the problems with 4E (see first paragraph), but I feel as if I'm discovering 4E for the first time, really understanding why some of the design decisions were made and, consequently, how I feel that its negative rap is at least partially undeserved, and probably more to do with factors that don't actually have to do with game play itself.
Final Word: A New Golden Age?
I would also like to put other there that it is my opinion that we're in the early years of a new Golden Age of D&D. Now it is very unlikely that the game will every achieve the popularity of the early 80s, or that we'll see the diversity and depth of product of the OGL days of the 00s, and we'll probably never see the campaign setting wealth of the 90s, and, quite frankly, the "Good Old Days" of the 70s are gone for good, no matter how many publishers commission Erol Otus to do their art. But I would argue that because of the wealth of different iterations of D&D available ("D&D" in the broadest sense of the word)--from Dungeon Crawl Classics to OSRIC to Pathfinder to 4E to D&D Next to 13th Age--and because the official version of the game is moving towards greater inclusiveness and adaptability, we're in the early phases of another Golden Age, different - but of a kind - of the boom days of early d20 and other "peak phases" of the games cycles. I think this will gather steam until the actual release of D&D Next and hopefully stay with us for a couple years, until we, again, fall into stagnation and the process continues: birth, growth, stagnation, decay, death, re-birth and renewal. Etc etc etc.
So it is good to be in a birth/renewal phase, with only growth ahead for the foreseeable future. No edition of D&D will ever stop this cycle - it is universal, of the very fabric of the universe. But what can occur, what the true "Holy Grail of Editions" would be, I would argue, is one that is designed to evolve and grow, to adapt and change, to remake itself continually and to find renewal in ways that aren't simply starting all over again, but dive into new waters of creativity and imagination.
But all this is a tale not yet told...
