D&D 3E/3.5 Fond Memories of ENWorld and the 3E Launch

[Wik]

The real funny thing about EN World is that I visited a bunch of times, saw the "3e" logo, and still had no idea it was a rumours site about third edition. I used it as a mining source for D&D monsters.

My best friend had the internet (I didnt' get the 'net until 2000 or so!), and so I'd go over to his place and mine it for D&D stuff. So I avoided forumboards and all that jazz.

Kinda funny.

As for 4e... the more I think about it, the less interested I get. It's not that I think it'll be bad, or anything like that. It's just that it doesn't psyche me out.

 

[Soel]

Hopefully Winter's Tomb can be a similar gateway to 4E. We plan to provide the same stuff--pregens and a story hook all in a package that you can print and run within 15 minutes. To me, that first night should be immersive right away. You want to pass out pregens and start playing right away. Heck, if you want to run your own campaign later, great; or make your own characters later, great. But lets get playing NOW!!!
Clark

I think this is exactly how I wan't to check out 4e. Sounds like a lot of fun and a really easy way to playtest the new rules-set.

Thank you in advance!

 

[EricNoah]

Yes, there was quite a tad more of positivity about the new edition back then.

Maybe here (or at my old site), but not necessarily fandom at large. I attracted only a subset of players, those who were excited about the change. It it might have looked like all excitement all the time. There were those who hated it -- and hated Hasbro -- and hated me! I think there was an "I Hate Eric Noah" website, and someone very evil set up some kind of autoforwarding e-mail account, filled in my e-mail address, and then subscribed to every porn spam on the planet. It was miserable.

So I guess I'm saying ... you might be viewing the past through a distorted lens. If I had been running a successful 2E site and then the 3E announcement had come, it surely would have been a different beast.

 

[Doc_Klueless]

Yep. I went through the same thing (well, except birthing Necromancer Games) and share your enthusiasm for the new edition.

I'm compulsively visiting this site again as well, just like Eric Noahs 3rd Edition news site so many years ago.

Good times.

I am one of YOU! Solidarity, Brother!

 

[Jack99]

Maybe here (or at my old site), but not necessarily fandom at large. I attracted only a subset of players, those who were excited about the change. It it might have looked like all excitement all the time. There were those who hated it -- and hated Hasbro -- and hated me! I think there was an "I Hate Eric Noah" website, and someone very evil set up some kind of autoforwarding e-mail account, filled in my e-mail address, and then subscribed to every porn spam on the planet. It was miserable.

So I guess I'm saying ... you might be viewing the past through a distorted lens. If I had been running a successful 2E site and then the 3E announcement had come, it surely would have been a different beast.

Aye, I was refering to your old site. And I guess I do have a slightly distorted view of it, since I had frequented the web for gaming info before I stumbled over your site, a few days after the 3e announcement. So I cant speak of how the rest of the AD&D community was reacting to 3e, which was why my comment was about your site.

And yes, with this new info, its clear that we have a whole new situation this time around.

That said, I want to stress that my comment was just a statement of fact (as I saw them), not a jab at anyone expressing negative feelings towards 4e. While I do think that some people seem to hate 4e merely for the sake of hating it, and some people base their whining on wild suppositions, but I frankly couldnt care less. The only opinion (concerning wheever they like 4e or not) that matters, is the one of my players, and they dont post here... At least, not to my knowledge

Cheers

 

[JoeGKushner]

Sounds like the first chapter in the Iron Tower Orcus was talking about some time ago when contemplating an Adventure Path.

If so, huge friggin' thumbs up.

Huge!

 

[TavernBrawler]

Hints? I posted this on the Paizo boards...

Looks like a lot of fun. I've read Wizard's Amulet, but never run it. Maybe things will be different this edition.

 

[AllisterH]

Maybe here (or at my old site), but not necessarily fandom at large. I attracted only a subset of players, those who were excited about the change. It it might have looked like all excitement all the time. There were those who hated it -- and hated Hasbro -- and hated me! I think there was an "I Hate Eric Noah" website, and someone very evil set up some kind of autoforwarding e-mail account, filled in my e-mail address, and then subscribed to every porn spam on the planet. It was miserable.

So I guess I'm saying ... you might be viewing the past through a distorted lens. If I had been running a successful 2E site and then the 3E announcement had come, it surely would have been a different beast.

I remember the flamewars that erupted on rec.games.frp.dnd and that is to say how passionate things got given the slow as molasses nature of usenet yesteryear compared to the immediate nature of messageboards today.


I'm kind of wondering, who exactly is still around from those days?

 

[Baron Opal]

I remember, it was ugly. Things got so ugly, in fact, I stopped even going to usenet.

Come to think of it, I don't even know how I would access it these days. I guess do a google search to find a portal.

 

[Intrope]

I remember, it was ugly. Things got so ugly, in fact, I stopped even going to usenet.

Come to think of it, I don't even know how I would access it these days. I guess do a google search to find a portal.

Actually, google *is* a portal (news.google.com) for usenet.

And I do go back to rec.games.frp.dnd (not that I've ever been an active poster on any board ever). There's always been people who's immediate reaction to a given change is 'I won't ever do that!', 'Broken!', 'Ruining the Game!', etc.

Al this wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments is pretty much the same as it was for 1->2 (pre rec.games.frp.dnd!), 2->3, 3->3.5, and it'll repeat for 4->5, etc. Heck, it's pretty much the same for basically every rules system revision for every game. On the whole, I expect that most of the people who are getting upset right now would be best served by *not* following the 4e news, and waiting to evaluate it in May: Most complaints are about issues you can't see the whole picture of now probably won't be issues when the full picture is revealed.

Consider Succubi as an example: Everyone's been assuming that the Succubi as Devils means that Succubi are now Lawful Evil. The big picture may reveal that Devils are no longer defined by abstract Law and Evil, but rather by a more concrete story of Deicide, Punishment, and attempts to escape/subvert that punishment. In which case Succubi may fit in with the rest of the Devils extremely smoothly! (And the backstory for Devils may have better plot hook generators built into it than right now, too).

Worrying over things where you can't see the whole story, and won't know the truth of it for months is a bad plan; you'll upset yourself to no purpose. (Note that I'm not saying that 4e will be perfect, or even playable! We'll all have plenty of time to go ballistic about it in May if it sucks)