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<blockquote data-quote="Argyle King" data-source="post: 5902560" data-attributes="member: 58416"><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">A jumbled collection of thoughts...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">I appreciated the clarity of 4E, but I would agree the books could be dry. Oddly, when <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">Essentials</span> came out, one of the stated design goals of<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'"> 4.E</span> was to be an easier entry point into the game. I say 'oddly' because I personally have <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS'">a really hard time finding the information I need when looking through Essentials. I'd go so far as to say (IMO) <em>The Heroes of _____ </em> books presented information in a way which was harder</span> for me to grok than even some of the most obtuse 3rd Edition books I own. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">I don't find 3rd Edition to be nearly as hard to understand as (most?) other people seem to. Maybe that is because I have more than one mode of reading I use? What I mean by that is that there is normal reading mode in which I sit and just read; doing so was rather enjoyable throughout most of my 3rd Edition library. During game time, what I do is more of a quick scan. I know the information I am looking for, so I briefly scan the text and pick out what I need. If something is particularly troublesome for me to remember (Turn Undead rules, I'm looking at you,) I write them down. Did I mention that books have an index? While the cross-referencing and indexing of the 3rd Edition books do not (in my opinion) reach the quality of such things found in the GURPS books I own (not to name drop -but they do a really good job of book layout,) I feel 3rd Edition did a pretty good job of making it easy to find the pages I needed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">I never played 2nd Edition; however, I highly enjoy reading the 2nd Edition Monster Manual. I've read the book (and others) via friends of mine who have the material. I can't speak to the quality of the rules, but something about the way the book is written makes me feel like I want to play the game -in spite of how horrible I'm told Thac0 was. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">I am not familiar enough with 1st edition to comment on it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">If I can get back to 3rd for a moment, I really hated the monster layout they shifted to for MM4 and 5. Much like 4th Edition's Essentials, I remember the later 3rd Edition format being touted as easier to read. Personally, the 'new' 3rd Edition format was difficult for me. I had a hard time finding some of the information which came up during play -in spite of me finding many of the creatures very interesting. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Book Antiqua'">I'm currently a new Pathfinder player. I felt the Beginner's Box was excellent. The information was clearly presented, and it was presented in a way which flowed smoothly. Moving to the full game, it was much like 3rd Edition. However, there are a few minor changes to layout. In a few instances, those minor changes made accessing the crunch information faster and easier for me.</span></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium'">Overall, if I had to choose an ideal D&D layout for me, I'd choose something between 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition; leaning more toward 3rd. I'd also suggest that WoTC look at the Pathfinder Beginner's Box and GURPS* Dungeon Fantasy </span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow'">*I mention it because it's a product line for a modular/toolkit game which is intended to produce games in a vein similar to D&D, Pathfinder, etc. Despite being a game which includes more options and things to choose from, I feel that DF sometimes presents the information in a way which is easier to access than 4th Edition Essentials. Being that 5th Edition is supposed to be a more modular approach, I feel looking at a game which is currently a <em>dungeon fantasy</em> style with a modular approach would be a good idea. </span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Argyle King, post: 5902560, member: 58416"] [FONT=Book Antiqua]A jumbled collection of thoughts... I appreciated the clarity of 4E, but I would agree the books could be dry. Oddly, when [FONT=Comic Sans MS]Essentials[/FONT] came out, one of the stated design goals of[FONT=Comic Sans MS] 4.E[/FONT] was to be an easier entry point into the game. I say 'oddly' because I personally have [FONT=Comic Sans MS]a really hard time finding the information I need when looking through Essentials. I'd go so far as to say (IMO) [I]The Heroes of _____ [/I] books presented information in a way which was harder[/FONT] for me to grok than even some of the most obtuse 3rd Edition books I own. I don't find 3rd Edition to be nearly as hard to understand as (most?) other people seem to. Maybe that is because I have more than one mode of reading I use? What I mean by that is that there is normal reading mode in which I sit and just read; doing so was rather enjoyable throughout most of my 3rd Edition library. During game time, what I do is more of a quick scan. I know the information I am looking for, so I briefly scan the text and pick out what I need. If something is particularly troublesome for me to remember (Turn Undead rules, I'm looking at you,) I write them down. Did I mention that books have an index? While the cross-referencing and indexing of the 3rd Edition books do not (in my opinion) reach the quality of such things found in the GURPS books I own (not to name drop -but they do a really good job of book layout,) I feel 3rd Edition did a pretty good job of making it easy to find the pages I needed. I never played 2nd Edition; however, I highly enjoy reading the 2nd Edition Monster Manual. I've read the book (and others) via friends of mine who have the material. I can't speak to the quality of the rules, but something about the way the book is written makes me feel like I want to play the game -in spite of how horrible I'm told Thac0 was. I am not familiar enough with 1st edition to comment on it. If I can get back to 3rd for a moment, I really hated the monster layout they shifted to for MM4 and 5. Much like 4th Edition's Essentials, I remember the later 3rd Edition format being touted as easier to read. Personally, the 'new' 3rd Edition format was difficult for me. I had a hard time finding some of the information which came up during play -in spite of me finding many of the creatures very interesting. I'm currently a new Pathfinder player. I felt the Beginner's Box was excellent. The information was clearly presented, and it was presented in a way which flowed smoothly. Moving to the full game, it was much like 3rd Edition. However, there are a few minor changes to layout. In a few instances, those minor changes made accessing the crunch information faster and easier for me.[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]Overall, if I had to choose an ideal D&D layout for me, I'd choose something between 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition; leaning more toward 3rd. I'd also suggest that WoTC look at the Pathfinder Beginner's Box and GURPS* Dungeon Fantasy [/FONT] [FONT=Arial Narrow]*I mention it because it's a product line for a modular/toolkit game which is intended to produce games in a vein similar to D&D, Pathfinder, etc. Despite being a game which includes more options and things to choose from, I feel that DF sometimes presents the information in a way which is easier to access than 4th Edition Essentials. Being that 5th Edition is supposed to be a more modular approach, I feel looking at a game which is currently a [I]dungeon fantasy[/I] style with a modular approach would be a good idea. [/FONT] [/QUOTE]
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