non-4e D&D Players . . .

fjw70 said:

. . . will the new Essentials products get you to try (or retry) 4e?

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Me said:

I am intrigued by the Essentials line, but I probably will not buy it - at least, not yet.

When 4th Edition first came out I purchased the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual and messed around with it for a while. Later on I picked up a DDI subscription and kept that for about one year. I have since defaulted back to playing/running older editions of D&D and some of the various retro-clones.

I am looking for a few things in a game system. First, I would like a system with a limited number of rule books and a lot of adventures and modules. The Essentials line (I believe) will be capped at ten books. That is about the right number for me. When looking at my 1st Edition collection I have exactly ten books though I am missing one or two. My 3rd Edition collection, however, is much, much larger. I no longer desire that.

Second, unlike what another poster up tread said, I actually would like a couple of classes that have limited options. I have read it here (and elsewhere) that older edition fighters were boring - I disagree (sort of). The drawback of older edition fighters is that they had one trick - melee/ranged attack. Occasionally, they would acquire a magic item or two that would give them more options in combat. The benefit of the older edition fighter is that they had one trick - melee/ranged attack. Occasionally, they would acquire a magic item or two that would give them more options in combat. Sometimes I feel like playing a complex character, sometimes I don’t. I would like the option to do so.

Third, I would like to see a faster, more stable combat engine. When I ran 1st Edition combats they were often running less than thirty minutes for a standard, run-of-the-mill encounter and up to an hour for larger "boss" fights. In 3rd Edition low-level (1-6) were often in the thirty minutes or less range for standard encounters and about an hour for "boss" encounters. However, once we got into the midrange (6-12) encounter length for standard and "boss" encounters became unstable. They were either over in a couple of rounds or they dragged out for two-to-three hours. With 4th Edition our encounters often ran pretty consistently at about an hour to an hour-and-fifteen-minutes. I'd like to see encounters go with the speed of 1st and low-level 3rd Editions and the stability of 4th Edition.

If the Essentials line can satisfy my desires for the above or, at least, make sufficient progress towards them I will certainly give the product line a look. However, I think for a lot of folks WotC has already sailed the 4th Edition ship and other companies' product lines have come to claim those who WotC "deserted" - so to speak. Since the release of 4th Edition we have seen Paizo come to satisfy 3rd Edition fans with Pathfinder. Fantasy Flight has released Warhammer. I believe Green Ronin has entered the fantasy RPG market with a game based on A Song of Ice and Fire. Realms of Eternal Epic is coming for fans of 2nd Edition. And there are numerous retro-clones like Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord, and OSRIC for those who prefer OD&D, AD&D 1st Edition, B/X, and BECMI. Not to mention all the other game systems out there based on other genres: Dresden Files, Mutants & Masterminds, Exalted, etc.

I think that many (most?) people are content with their game of choice right now (whether that be 4th Edition, Pathfinder, Labyrinth Lord or whatever) and it will take more than just the D&D brand name and nostalgia for the “Red Box” to get them to switch.

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