Has anybody else noticed...

[Crosswind]

...that 4E has removed a lot of the barriers to DMing (specifically, encounter creation)? This is not meant to be a 3.5 vs 4 argument - but my friends, and I, found encounter creation, combat, etc, in 3.5 to be prohibitively difficult to set up and balance. As a group, we rarely ran linear modules, and had relatively few combats (0-2) per session. Worse, because of the non-linear nature of the game, the DM never knew what encounters were going to happen before the session started.

With 4E's monster manual (in my opinion, the best book WotC has ever released), we can whip up combats of whatever difficulty we want. This has resulted in one -really notable and admirable- effect:

Everybody wants to DM.

Previously, people avoided it. Now, of the 4 players in the group, 3 have run one-shots in 4E, and the other one wants to.

Has anybody else noticed a pretty dramatic up-swing in "...this seems pretty simple. Anybody mind if I DM a game?"

I think it bodes well for our hobby.

-Cross

 

[Mark]

As a group, we rarely ran linear modules (. . .) because of the non-linear nature of the game, the DM never knew what encounters were going to happen before the session started.

This is often what makes the best games great and being able to handle such games is the mark of the best DMs I know.

 

[Engilbrand]

I only DMed a bit of 3.5, and those were modules. I hated it. I never cared to read about some of that crap, so I didn't. Heck, I haven't even read the combat sections in the 4th edition books, but I've been having a blast DMing it. You're right. It simplified and awesomefied everything.

 

[JeffB]

No doubt the reason I gave up on D&D years ago is because DM'ing 3.x had become work. I don't like that kind of " prep work" when I'm DM'ing. 4E def allows a DM to spend more time on the stuff that really matters (and is the FUN part of the creative side of DM'ing)

If it makes for more DMs thats great, however if new players/DMs get into the mindset of WOTC linear and piss-poor adventures are "the way" to make an adventure, the hobby is in serious trouble

 

[TerraDave]

So far it looks like a promise kept.

Of course, in the early days of 3E, lots of people said how much it helped the DM...

 

[JeffB]

So far it looks like a promise kept.

Of course, in the early days of 3E, lots of people said how much it helped the DM...

I don't know...the release day of 3.0 when I got the books home (still recall it vividly, I called in sick to pick them up at my FLGS, )and cracked them open, I knew 3E was gonna be a major PITA to run by the book.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think it has improved a lot. I have little personal experience with preparing my own adventures in 4E, as I am running the print modules - but I know that running KotS was astoundingly easy. I didn't have to treat the PCs with velvet gloves, and the combat tactics of the monsters where easier to figure out. What is far more noticeable is that the use of special abilities and applying conditions seems also easier. Minions are particularly enjoyable - not having to even write down hit points is a big boon.

I think the entire DMG, the marketing for D&D 4, and the rules itself are all tailored to make life for DMs easier, and make the whole task of DMing less daunting. If the DM doesn't have to worry much about rules application, he can focus more on adventure or world design and the occasional "arbiting"* on rules. And that is usually the part that is most rewarding.

(*from the suggested "Yes, you can, and here's how" over "You know, the rules are unclear on that, here's how we do it" to "Hell, no, even if the rules say so, that's too ridiculous!")

 

[Crosswind]

So far it looks like a promise kept.

Of course, in the early days of 3E, lots of people said how much it helped the DM...

It's definitely true (Though it could be argued that 3E -did- help the DM a lot. 2E was prohibitively difficult to run!). And let's not fool ourselves - every new book that comes out creeps up the power of 4E. It's a good way to make money, but soon, the monsters in the original monster manual are going to be underpowered for their XP value, just like the classes in the original PHB are going to be underpowered for their level.

Which brings up an interesting question. Given that you want to sell books, and given that people buy books with more powerful options in them...how do you create a balanced set of rules while making the rules consistently more powerful?

What if you offered updates over time to the original Monster Manual and PHB that upped the power of monsters, an explicit acknowledgment of Power Creep?

-Cross

 

[ScottS]

...Has anybody else noticed a pretty dramatic up-swing in "...this seems pretty simple. Anybody mind if I DM a game?"

Actually no, it's still pretty much an "everyone wants to pitch, no one wants to catch" situation 'round these parts (major NAm university). We've got one group running RPGA/LFR (which requires almost nothing creatively from the DM, because you're always using canned adventures), but at least two other full groups sitting on their hands because no one else is DMing 4e.

 

[Ander00]

I would gladly play in any version of D&D, but I wouldn't want to go back to DMing 3.5 now.


cheers