D&D 4E Casual DM - 4E made for ME

[Lonely Tylenol]

OP here, thanks for the warm welcomes.

Whew! I thought 2 things when I clicked the Submit button:

1) My thread will be ignored or buried, or
2) Flame wars will ensue.

Thank you for dashing my fears It's great to hear that there are other D&D fans who are just like me, serious about the game, but too busy to run the complexities of higher level 3e games. I had a feeling there were a bunch out there like me, which is why I opened my mouth in the first place.

An additional feature of 4E is the virtual tabletop, which I may be able to use to actually play in the game as a player (zounds!), instead of being forced to be the DM all the time. Being a player is much less work than being a DM, so for those of us crunched for time, being able to locate a DM in need of players halfway across the continent will probably make our lives easier.

 

[DaveMage]

For those who love 3e, as is, it must be frustrating to feel like you're being "left behind", especially when your dedication probably included hundreds of $$ on source books, etc. Unfortunately, WotC must feel that there aren't enough players of that nature to sustain or grow the business where they want it to go. Capitalism? Corporate greed? Or are they simply trying to make a game that more people can enjoy? Perhaps they are one in the same.

Yep.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I'm thinking 4e could be the best of both worlds. There will be easy-to-use monsters and NPCs-as-monsters for the casual gamer but there will still be feats and the capability to slap on class levels and such for the tinkerers. Wonder how they will do templates?

 

[Stormtalon]

I'm a huge fan of "seat-of-the-pants" DM-ing. I often actually draw a dungeon map AS I'm sending the PCs thru it; so, yeah, same for all of the above as far as 4th Ed goes. Of late, I've been using MM V exclusively, as it's got 1) interesting monsters of all ranges, 2) easy-to-read stat blocks and 3) seems to be tailored to "grab monster, drop in, use" along the lines that 4th ed has been hinted at.

My players are loving the stuff I've been throwing at them, I've got a couple different plot threads that have been dropped in here and there (a couple encounters with the Thoon-followers, for one), and the monster prep-work is minimal. Add to that the Magic Item Compendium, and treasure generation is just as easy.

So, my only question is....

Is it June yet?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I also hope that the promise of less prep time required holds true. I am also a casual DM, I get may be 5 or six games a year, no nearby gamers for many years has been the problem. So the reduced prep time and the virtual table are both very attractive.

As for book, I own a lot I like to read up on what can be done.

 

[Cyronax]

FWIW, this may be because they have experience with otherwise pretty good DMs who failed miserably in attempting to do this. I'm sure I'm not unique on that score.

Despite their protestations that I am not planting Small-sized bracers of armor +2 for a halfling monk in an adventure, my judgment has been right so far.

I tend to have less nameless items and more home-run style ones that evoke a history and wonder. You know .... its the same crap that all low magic D&D worlds try to ascribe to. I will fail eventually and then they will say ... 'told you so.'

 

[Cyronax]

I'm thinking 4e could be the best of both worlds. There will be easy-to-use monsters and NPCs-as-monsters for the casual gamer but there will still be feats and the capability to slap on class levels and such for the tinkerers. Wonder how they will do templates?

My hope as well!

I really like the idea of a unified progression and I'm willing to give it all a shot.

My main gripe about 3.5 was just the power creep from the Core Rules. Characters built with Book of Nine Swords or the Complete Scoundrel were so different than the typical core characters I had in most of my campaigns, that I just couldn't introduce them without screwing up a lot of balance issues with the existing characters in my group's party.

Now that 4e is coming along, it will be a nice and balanced baseline to start from again.

I intend to be much more selective in determining what I define as 'core' in my 4e campaign.

Saying, I'll allow almost anything published by WotC grew to be way to problematic.

 

[BryonD]

I'm thinking 4e could be the best of both worlds. There will be easy-to-use monsters and NPCs-as-monsters for the casual gamer but there will still be feats and the capability to slap on class levels and such for the tinkerers. Wonder how they will do templates?

I'm still hoping the same as well. There are many places where a best of both worlds possibility has seemed obvious to me. My hope is that they are only showing the quick and simple side because that is the new shiny part.

For example, it would be awesome if they kept skill points for PCs but said: If you want a 3 min npc (or PC) then use this flat formula.

 

[Drammattex]

I'm selfish.
I want 4e to be easy to DM so I can PLAY again. It sucks to know the rules better than the DM you're playing with. It sucks to watch them try to implement complex rules they haven't grasped by leafing through books in the middle of combat. It sucks to play with a new initiate who just wants to do things "right," when "right" is way more complicated than it first seems. It sucks that my players don't think they could EVER do what I do because they would have to learn so many rules and have so many years of gaming experience.

If somebody could just make up a cool adventure and not worry so much about whether they were doing it right or whether the monster CR stacked up with the group's EL, and if the group's wealth & magic levels were equivalent to the monster challenges... and if that that somebody were encouraged to use a points of light setting where they didn't have to worry about anything but what was right in front of them... that would be awesome. And maybe I could enjoy myself for once.

DMing is a hard job, and it's not for everybody, but I wish it were for more people, and that it was easier for the average joe to achieve.

 

[vagabundo]

I'm selfish.
I want 4e to be easy to DM so I can PLAY again. It sucks to know the rules better than the DM you're playing with. It sucks to watch them try to implement complex rules they haven't grasped by leafing through books in the middle of combat. It sucks to play with a new initiate who just wants to do things "right," when "right" is way more complicated than it first seems. It sucks that my players don't think they could EVER do what I do because they would have to learn so many rules and have so many years of gaming experience.

My god, I haven played DND in more than ten years. I've only ever played in like two games, my players just arnt up for DMin'. I wonder if 4e could be the one.