Farewell to thee D&D

[Brennin Magalus]

I find it more astonishing that someone would come onto a discussion forum and post yet another "I feel the need to tell you all that I'm parting ways with D&D because of 4e" thread with the disclaimer that he only wants yes-men responding to it. The internet is a horrible place to post your opinion when you want no dissenting responses, and a discussion forum is the absolute worst place to do that.

I also find it astonishing that people think that saying "I've been playing D&D for X years" means something significant. The amount of time you've spent in a hobby does nothing to make your opinions any more or less valid than anyone else. It strikes me as pretentious, just like those music fans that claim they're so much cooler because they only listen to a band's poorly produced garage demos, y'know from before they sold out.

This isn't difficult. He posted his opinion and said he was not interested in arguing about it. He did not write that dissenters were not welcome to post in the thread.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Maybe EN World can ban the word "hate" or have it replaced by "dislike" or a bunch of smileys.

I think that opinion is Fair and though it differes from my own it deserves a hug. and the one who posted it is just swell.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

I've just been listening to the latest 2d6 Feet podcast where they make note of a (obviously commentable) number of people heading back and trying out 1E again. Has anyone else noticed such a trend?

Yeah, I've noticed more new people showing up in the old school forums (e.g. Dragonsfoot, et cetera). I think there's been a small resurgence of interest in the TSR editions. Traffic on my site has definitely increased, and there are a lot more blogs and old-school forums than there used to be (e.g. Grognardia). There is also more publishing activity. Labyrinth Lord is going into retail distribution. There's an old school magazine (Fight On!) available, and another one (Knockspell) on its way. The Original D&D Discussion Forums have taken off pretty solidly. There are 1e modules available from companies like Pied Piper Publishing, Expeditious Retreat Press, and Goodman Games. In addition to 1e (OSRIC) and B/X (Labyrinth Lord), there'll soon be a 0e/white box clone, too: Swords & Wizardy: White Box is in the works. There's a pretty cool Chainmail + 0e variant ruleset out called Spellcraft & Swordplay (it uses Chainmail style combat with 6-siders). I've seen more discussion of 1e and TSR-era D&D on sites like rpg.net, too.

 

[Mistwell]

I found this prior post from the OP that I found interesting in retrospect:

Well ladies and gents,

I'm out of this thread. Thank you for the nice discussion. I'm giving 4th edition a try with some friends that like it. It isn't my idea version of DnD (or should I say a fantasy role-playing game), but if it can be fun to do with my buddies, it will serve its purpose. It at least got them all to read the books, whereas they were too put off by the numerous of books of 3.5 to read them. Made my time gaming with them a bit of a bore as I had to answer all their rule questions. Now I can sit back and play.

Though I don't like the 4th edition spell system, I like some of what they did with monsters. Should make certain encounters more challenging.

Good day to all. Have fun gaming no matter what edition or game you choose. Let's face it, the main reason to game is to get together with a bunch of friends and pretend you're heroes (or whatever suits you) going on some great adventures you will never get to do in real life.

 

[Vocenoctum]

See to me casting a ritual using incense, circles drawn in chalk and mystic runes in order to summon a demon (or yes even magically summon a mystic disk) is very fun for me. It screams magic and behaves just like magic I've seen in movies and tv for years. The flick of the wrist magic stuff is one type of magic (and 4e still has that) but there is a whole other kind. You may not find the second magic fun but don't discount it for the rest of us.

I like rituals, but some of the costs and times are a bit off kilter, Tensers Disc seems a bit pricey, and taking ten minutes to craft it from the ether seems a bit much. Gates, Ressurection, Demon Summoning, all those I can see costs/ times being higher.

 

[Aristotle]

I get it. I mean, I love 4e and I can't be one of the folks who commiserates with you regarding that whole deal, but I get that something you liked changed and your unhappy with the result. As someone who has advised those who condemn before they try to give it a shot; I would like to thank you for at least giving it a fair shake.

It's a shame that you are so morally against it that you can't find a way to have fun with it for the sake of keeping your group intact. But it would be an equal shame in my eyes if they all spent their precious game time playing something other than 4e just to make you happy. There is no winning in that situations.

I do hope that you find the experience you are looking for. It sounds like some publishers intend to keep publishing 3.5e compatible (or based) products. Some very talented freelancers have voiced they intend to continue developing for the previous edition. I would have to think that, if your intent is to not make the switch, you'll have product and a community of gamers at your disposal.

It makes me sad that we won't all be gaming together, or that my game won't benefit from the talent that has decided not to come to the new edition... but so long as everyone is playing games they enjoy, I guess we all get what we want so long as we acknowledge that sacrifices were made on all sides.

 

[Lord Xtheth]

DO you have all the 3.5 books? There were an awful lot of them. Plus there's hundreds more from third party publishers. I reckon there's enough out there to keep you buying for years to come!

...
>.>
<.<
I do

 

[Wyrmshadows]

Don't abandon the old girl

D&D is truly a painted harlot that reeks of cheap perfume and the stench of one too many lovers. She has plied her trade for many years and shows the signs of a life ill spent. Now, crisscrossed with the lines of age, bone sore from the ministrations of one too many suitors she dresses herself as though a new woman even though she is an old whore. Standing on the corner, she attempts to compete with the flashy young strumpets even going so far as to turn aside those who once sought her services. She cannot compete with the buxom young things in their sheer dress and gaudy jewely and in doing so fails to play to her strength becoming instead a parody of herself.



Seriously though, to the OP, if you love D&D 3.5e go to paizo.com and download the new Pathfinder RPG Beta. Pathfinder is going to be the successor of 3.5e for those of us who still love the old girl.



Wyrmshadows

 

[BronzeDragon]

I think his point was that he doesn't need rules to determine what happens when NPCs are fighting NPCs. I'd assume his characters care about what goes on outside of their party just like yours do. But, for instance, if I need a dragon to mow down an army of Orcs and the PCs aren't taking any part in it... Well, I can just say it happens.

-O

And my point was that consistency is what makes a good game world good.

If my players witness a dragon breathing on an army of orcs or humans it will have the exact same breath attack as the one that was used on the players.

Immersion feeds a lot from these small, and apparently insignificant, consistencies that a DM has to present his players with. If the game world is as loose as "anything goes" then this makes it more difficult for me to enjoy it and my players lose some sense of what is "real" or not, which in turn makes it more difficult for them to properly focus on representing their characters.

It's the same reason why Einstein was miffed by Quantum Mechanics. It messed up his sense of what the Cosmos was like, and interfered indirectly with his science.

Just to clarify another point, I usually make very arbitrary decisions regarding my game worlds, specifically dealing with magic (when I played D&D). But they tend to be consistent and as such tend to improve immersion.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Pathfinder is going to be the successor of 3.5e for those of us who still love the old girl.

Pathfinder is like her twin sister who moves in and might seem to act nicer in quantifiable ways, she doesn't remember how you liek your eggs and its freaking creepy she's replacing her twin sister and wearing all her clothes and assuming her identity.