D&D 4E 4e Island

[quindia]

My group met for our regular weekly game tonight. Three of the players participated in the XP weekend. One is still on the fence, but the other two did not like the game. I have to say from what I've read, I don't think I'm going to like it either.

I still intend to buy the first three books and give it a try. However, I've been running games in my own campaign world for over twenty-five years. The place has a history that has evolved far beyond anything I sat down to write on purpose. Each new game or campaign arc filled in a little more as time passed. I know I am not the only one with such a campaign and I'd be interested to hear from others about how they plan to completely revamp such worlds to accommodate all of the new 4e strangeness.

I've decided to drop a decent-sized island in a remote but reachable stretch of ocean west of my main continent. I am going to give 4e a try there before worrying about where all of the dragonborn and tiefling suddenly came from and what happened to the druids (which once played a major role in one campaign arc... hmmm... maybe that could be a campaign: The Quest for the Lost Druids).

I will give WotC three books to convince me they haven't ruined a game that I have enjoyed for more than two decades. Maybe we will enjoy the rules more around our own game table and the action will eventually move to the mainland, but if not the Old Gods can rise up and drown the whole island, 4e and all...

 

[spunky_mutters]

I'm going on 20 years of use from my homebrew, and I'm looking forward to trying 4e out with it. I've never really been happy with how bog-standard D&D played out in it, so I've been forever fiddling, trying to find the right feeling. I'm not worried about the races (partially because I've got slots for Tiefling and Eladrin, and partially because I've never really had good spots for gnomes or halflings), and class serves largely a metagame function.

So while I feel where you're coming from, I wouldn't be concerned about specifics that aren't covered by the new rules (just have them be the same as always, but stay out of the current plot until you're happy with how they'll be represented). I would work on getting a style and feel to the gameplay that you're comfortable with.

I'm happy that fly isn't showing up until later, and that I can players will have a lot more goodies at lower levels. In previous campaigns, the mid to high level magic came up a lot faster than I had hoped, and it really changed the complexion of play. That's fine, but it means you need to have tighter story arcs if they rely on certain elements.

3e was the worst for this, as I was constantly rebuilding threats that the party would ignore for a couple of levels. If they weren't dealt with right away, they would be a cakewalk unless I went back and rethought the build. I'm already excited about the implications of the stat blocks that I'm seeing.

Even if I hate many, many things about 4e (and I'm sure I will. I always feel that way with any system), I still feel confident that I will be able to use it for a few campaigns, and that it will give us all new challenges and new play experiences.

 

[AZRogue]

To the OP, I think your plan has a lot of merit. The island idea allows you to introduce the non-standard elements easily and you can, indeed, pull an Atlantis if it doesn't make the cut.

I have to give you some props, too, for deciding to give it a try even though you haven't liked what you've seen. I hope you have fun.

 

[EvolutionKB]

My world won't need too much revamping. At the end of the last campaign I ran, there was Dragon Purge(Ala DL), where hugely powerful dragons returned to take over the world. In 4E, the dragon lords are gone,(though their draconic servants, the dragonborn remain). A certain part of the world called upon fiendish(and otherworldly power) to get help to destroy the dragon that inhabited their part of the world(the tieflings rise there). Halflings(ironically) were always the water-faring tradesmen, and gnomes(in my world were barbarians, isolated on a volcanic island), won't be missed too much. Eladrin, which amount to one of the elven subraces in my world will go planar hopping and the dragons don't fear them because they are a relatively small number. The recovery from the Dragons taking over fits the PoL concept. Other than that I don't think much else needs to be changed.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I've decided to drop a decent-sized island in a remote but reachable stretch of ocean west of my main continent. I am going to give 4e a try there before worrying about where all of the dragonborn and tiefling suddenly came from and what happened to the druids (which once played a major role in one campaign arc... hmmm... maybe that could be a campaign: The Quest for the Lost Druids).

Just because dragonborn and tiefling are in the PHB doesn't mean you have to use them. Leave 'em out if it suits you.

I will give WotC three books to convince me they haven't ruined a game that I have enjoyed for more than two decades.

Ruined? Are you serious? As far as I can tell your only real complaint is that they're not supporting the classes you wanted right out of the gate. Was there anything else?

 

[hong]

I was visualising an island where all the 4E lovers go, which is then towed out to sea and exploded.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Well, my campaign isn't so old or storied. Or rather the world for the campaign isn't.

My basic strategy has been similar to FR's. It's a good long time in the future. Two Empires have fallen since I last detailed the setting. Technology and education have changed a great deal.

The setting has gone more PoL though there are areas where the lights are more closely gathered and culturally homogenous and other areas where the lights are few and far between or more diverse and colorful in tone.

Dragonborn weren't an issue there was already a dragonish race.

Elves and Eladrin had to be introduced, but there was already a Fae race they could replace.

Dwarves were retconned as always present but unnoticed heretofore.

As, to a certain extent, were halflings.

I said the most recent empire, the one that arose and fell in the space between campaigns in the setting, was human and that the three human races: humans, half-elves, and Tieflings came from the manner of the fall.

That seems to have set me up nicely. I'm pleased with it so far, but I haven't gotten to the point where I have to adjust magic. That may prove more difficult, but the intervening cataclysms would have had to have been drastic enough that I should be able to accomodate any changes.

 

[quindia]

Just because dragonborn and tiefling are in the PHB doesn't mean you have to use them. Leave 'em out if it suits you.

Obviously I can do that, but then I'm down to six core races. I know gnomes and the like are in the MM, but they certainly won't be presented with the all of the advanced racial powers that we've heard about - at least not in the detail of those in the PHB. I also understand that druids and bards will be out eventually, but I was really only planning on buying the first three books this time. The lack of chromatic dragons, frost giants, and certain other things from the MM has me annoyed for the same reason. I know I can create them or house rule or whatever, but I don't expect to have to do such things with iconic creatures with a shiny new set right out of the box.

Ruined? Are you serious? As far as I can tell your only real complaint is that they're not supporting the classes you wanted right out of the gate. Was there anything else?

Ruined for me is a better phrase. I have lots of complaints about the things I've seen so far, but they have mostly been addressed by others on the the forum and I really didn't want to start them in this thread. I am more interested in how some of the more radical changes will be handled by people who have long running campaigns. Honestly, I don't want to bash 4e and the "ruined" comment wasn't fair.

The fact that two players that have been in my games for twenty plus years went to XP and flat out did not like the game has an influence. I have been excited about 4e, but the more I learn, the less I like and that is disappointing. As I said, we will give it a try. If it doesn't work, I will happily go back to 3.5 and wish 4ers well.

 

[quindia]

I was visualising an island where all the 4E lovers go, which is then towed out to sea and exploded.

Ooooo... lured out by promises of more previews and then BLAM!!!!!

I hadn't thought of that...

 

[Cyronax]

I was visualising an island where all the 4E lovers go, which is then towed out to sea and exploded.

Why does that remind me of the prehistoric cataclysm that Scientology's Xenu concocted using hydrogen bombs and volcanoes?

Hong, have you been watching Tom Cruise clips on Youtube again?

Back on topic. I think that its an interesting way to demo 4e .... an island on a grand old campaign world. I have a slightly younger, but no less cherished world as well, as well as an ongoing campaign. For 4e's arrival, I'll probably just have an unnamed village in a wild region of an unnamed world. If we end up liking 4e, that unnamed area simply merges with my own world and most 4e's gods will be 'revealed' to be the gods of my homebrew pantheon.


C.I.D.