Crash Course in 4th ed.

[Voadam]

I had fun, but could have had a lot more fun if the circumstances were different. There was ZERO role playing which I would look forward to in a full on game. I could see as a DM how things could get out of hand really quick with keeping track of conditions and flanking and such.

Using visual markers or tokens for conditions can help a lot. Our DM uses appropriate sized post its instead of minis, tilts them to the side from his perspecive if they are knocked prone, and uses mini dice to mark conditions like marked, rattled, or ongoing damage.

 

[Piratecat]

I had fun, but could have had a lot more fun if the circumstances were different. There was ZERO role playing which I would look forward to in a full on game.

I ran a dungeon delve style game this weekend for brand new players. We had good roleplaying, but it wasn't mandated by the nature of the adventure itself. The dungeon delve format tends to set up great combat encounters but doesn't often create the opportunity for difficult in-character decisions that have moral repercussions. Not surprising in a fast game, of course, but it means I need to tweak the adventure when I DMing to get the feel I want.

And hey, we have fantastic roleplaying in our 4e games. I think it's a venue/format thing.

 

[awesomeocalypse]

4e as a system can absolutely support great roleplaying, but it is unique among D&D editions in that even without roleplaying, it stands on its own as a fully fleshed out tactical wargame which can keep an entire group occupied and having fun for whole sessions.

I mean, you theoretically could play previous editions without any rp, but you'd probably get bored pretty fast--even 3e's combat engine, which was more advanced than that of prior editions, couldn't really sustain session after session of nothing but combat in a way that was any fun to play. In earlier editions of D&D, roleplaying was a requirement to having fun, because if you weren't engaged in entertaining rp, the combat engine wasn't going to fill that void.

4e is the first system where a "roleplaying optional" playstyle is fully supported from the word go.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It is just so tacticl rich that you forget to roleplay. Just be careful and creative.

 

[WSmith]

4e as a system can absolutely support great roleplaying, but it is unique among D&D editions in that even without roleplaying, it stands on its own as a fully fleshed out tactical wargame which can keep an entire group occupied and having fun for whole sessions.

I will give it that credit of a very good tactical wargame. In the past I tried Warhammer Fantasy but am not a fan "units" (as opposed to man-to-man). So, tried and liked the LOTR game by GW but don't have the money or the time to get involved in that gem. Playing 4e gave a good tactical battle feel. That's the part that reminds me of Heroscape. Everyone has some special thing going for them and certain conditions must occur for those powers to be shine.

Just to clarify, my observation wasn't "I think it would be hard to play the role of your character in 4e cause of the amount of combat focused powers." Roleplaying can really be done in any system. Like Piratecat says the venue is probably the culprit. Let's not sugar coat it... D&D Encounters was designed to help sell D&D. It is meant to be a quick session that gives a taste of the game and generate interest. A one or two hour session of a single encounter is very focused. When I get to play it in a different venue, I am sure the experience will be different.

 

[WSmith]

I am starting to get the hang of it. Note, I am only a player. I was unable to DM due to real life stuff taking my time.

Last week's skill challenges seemed a little weird to me. This week's work. The challenge was to get the imp thing to be friendly. We almost lost out. Once we succeeded the challenge, we were role playing the old fashion way like I was used to to get more info from the creature.

I am kind of missing the mortality of older games. While we have had a few characters fall unconcious, no one even seemed close to dying due to sweeping powers that heal everyone or some people. In fact there has only ever been one of the three death saving throws rolled before something brought them back. While this is good in a way for those of us that don't have lots of time to enjoy the hobby like we used to, it does leave me wanting a little more danger.

 

[Garthanos]

One way of thinking about it is danger is actually under the DMs control ... and not so much random die rolls. ... the DM can still present challenges that are beyond the characters ability to cope with in any sort of direct fashion ;-)... http://www.enworld.org/forum/review...-frazetta-s-death-dealer-shadows-mirahan.html

But in the latest game the DM is actually choosing to make a situation deadly... a lot less oops and blame the system

There are other hard to predict elements like .... how strategic your players are relative to the DM... how well the characters in the party synch is another element which can make a group higher potency than there levels might indicate.

 

[Obryn]

Well, lethality in 4e will never be as high as it is in 1e. I love 1e lethality, too, but I don't know that I'd love it in a 4e game; I like it in 1e. With that said, I've had several PC deaths in my games... One was from falling down a 200' chasm, but the rest have actually been from failing death saves. It can happen, if you challenge the party enough.

-O

 

[Sepp]

Bear in mind that Encounters where designed with new players in mind. As such, they are mostly meant to be more interesting rather then extremely dangerous, and a DM can scale them up for experienced players.

There are reports of TPKs from Encounter Session 1 & 2, and PC deaths in general.

 

[Saracenus]

WSMITH,

D&D Encounters (DDE) is a pretty safe environment for a new 4e DM to get their feet wet. Most of the heavy lifting is done for you in the mod in terms of monsters, tactics, etc.

A lot of the intangibles that make for a good DM have nothing to do with the rules or the rules system. If you are a good OD&D DM, generally speaking once you are comfortable with the conceits of 4e you will be a good 4e DM.

That being said, here are some resources that might make your job easier:

The Robot Chicken D&D Video Podcast:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Videos
The writers from Robot Chicken and WotC's Chris Perkins sit down for some D&D goodness in Undermountain. It will give you a good overview of how a 4e game flows.

The D&D Encounters Community Forums:
DDE Community Forum Page
A good general resource for DDE DMs and there are several threads where the adventure author talks about the mod and gives extra detail. This is an excellent place to ask questions about how to run DDE and commiserate with fellow DMs and organizers after the fact.

Since you are diving straight into 4e as a DM you are going to have a steep learning curve. Hopefully an experienced 4e player will show up to your table (a lot of the folks attracted to DDE are new to 4e and some even to D&D period), if they do, take them aside and make them your rules monkey. However you do it, I usually designate someone at the table to look up rules that I might not be familiar with so I can keep the session going.

About page 42 of the DMG (or what some of us call Rule 42), it is a guideline for when someone does something not covered under a power or a rule.

For instance in Session 1 of DDE Undermountain there is a combat involving a rickety rope bridge. A player (playing a Monk PC) wanted to leap onto the rope bridge with enough force to snap it and land on the bad guy below it. We had him make a jump check to land on the bridge (successful), roll damage to the bridge to break it (successful) and then an attack vs. the bad guy's Reflex defense to hit him with the falling bridge (yes, it was successful and he finished him off). The final attack (and the damage) was generated using page 42. Yes we gave the player of the monk a Moment of Glory Reward Point. The guy treated the whole combat like he was in the Matrix movie and it was awesome.

I hope your initial foray into 4e is a positive one.

Good Luck,