Jack7
First Post
I have played D&D since the days of its' first publication.
I played Chainmail and Blackmoor for that matter, and for goodness' sake.
I've probably been gaming longer than many of you have been alive.
As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure of it judging from the comments I read many of you make about what you've seen and how long you've lived.
And I don't really have a dog in this hunt. That is nothing hangs on this for me.
I don't get all emotional and upset by issues about gaming. It isn't an alternate reality or a virtual world to me that consumes all of my waking hours, or even more than few hours a month, if that much.
I don't indulge in the technobabble of the modern gamer, don't care much about it, and truth be told it amuses me more than interests me. I don't get offended when people make statements like that either, though I suspect somebody on the internet right now is about apoplectic over the very thought that anyone would be amused by something so drop dead important as role play gaming. But to me it's just a game. It ain't curing cancer, and it sure ain't going to Mars on the fast boat. Then again neither are most things on the internet, despite the enormous egos of those on the internet who think that by being here, they are just naturally smarter and better than those who aren't.
And I've seen a lot of hammer and tongs about this or that regarding fourth edition. And that's all fine and dandy, every man and woman alive, children too, ought to be able to have their own opinions and oughtta be able to be in agreement with, disagreement with, or just plain ole amused by, the opinions of others. That's real life in the real world.
But I'm gonna be purchasing 4th Edition for one very basic reason. I suspect it will be more useful, in the real world, than was the 3rd Edition. Which to me was a big break with reality.
A very big break indeed.
Yeah, I know it's just a game, no matter what edition or iteration, I probably got that a long time before many, if not most, of you ever even saw the game. And it will never be real life.
But the first edition, and the early precursor editions, were far more like real life, and far more useful for real life, than most of what came after, and that's especially true of the 3rd Edition.
I play games for one reason, and one reason only. They are useful. Useful for something I do in real life.
I know that practically offends many of you judging from some of your comments elsewhere, bewilders others of you, and can't even be imagined by a certain percentage. C'est la vie.
But to me, if I'm gonna spend a certain percentage of my life engaged in any pursuit, it better be good and useful. Though not necessarily in that order.
If I just wanna kill time I can watch Oprah all day, or spend all of my time on the internet talking about the fact that I'm on the internet all day talking about doing things, rather than really doing them.
To me gaming, or any other form of entertainment ought to have some real, practical value, not just gobble up time I'm never (and nobody else is ever) gonna get back, and that I might just have spent far better at some far more valuable and worthwhile pursuit. So if it's gonna consume my living time it better be adding something to the time I'm living. Other than fluff and circumstance. Or I got better things to do.
And I've certainly got nothing against being entertained, or with recreation. Don't get me wrong there. Both are necessary to most sane and productive people, and useful as all get out if pursued in a disciplined and responsible manner. But if entertainment and recreation become things in themselves, obsessions and ends I need to pursue like a smack junkie with a crank overbite, then I got no use for that route of entertainment. I don't need artificial worlds, or virtual worlds, or fantasy worlds so far divorced from reality that you can't tell a lyger from a painted lemur, or a really cool, hyper, tapped-up game skill from something really practical. I got a real world, and I don't feel any need to escape from it into the fairyland of immortal war-forged shadow-prancers with +7 magical toe-tappers. But now, if my entertainments are useful, if I can apply them in the real world to soem real problem or event or project or endeavour instead of just on paper as carved on plastic, then they're good as gold to me.
The original D&D was very useful in that respect. Those of you who have been around long enough to play it probably know what I'm implying.
Maybe some of you younger guys and gals do too.
The later stuff wasn't. Not in my book.
Based on what I've seen and heard about the 4th Edition much of it will be a step back in a far better direction.
Will it be perfect? Doubtless... not. What is?
Will there be a lot of crap I've gotta carve out of it because it is totally useless and won't be much fun either?
Probably so.
But all of that being said, from what I've seen, it looks like a step back in the right direction of actually being useful once again. Or at least can be so modified without completely reinventing the thing. Or completely reverting the thing. And from what I saw of the 3rd Edition that's certainly a step worth taking.
Now I've had my say ladies and gents. I don't expect some of you will be agreeing with me, and that's okay by me. I got nothing to prove, least of all on the internet. And I don't care what your opinion is either, one way or another, just to be honest. That is to say I'm not gonna get all hot and bothered or bent around like an aluminum barbell if you completely disagree, and I'm not gonna think I'm the most brilliant guy on the internet, which probably ain't saying much anyways, if you tend to completely agree that I'm completely agreeable on this matter.
So have your say, if you want to, and it won't offend me one way or another.
But I suspect, the internet being what it is, you will offend somebody, whether you care to or not.
That shouldn't stop you from being honest though.
Speaking of which, and this being my point all along, to me, from what I've seen so far, unless they pull a complete bank shot with side English off the 8 counterclockwise, I'm probably gonna be a lot more satisfied with what's coming down the pike, than what's out there now.
That's just my opinion.
You're welcome to yours.
I played Chainmail and Blackmoor for that matter, and for goodness' sake.
I've probably been gaming longer than many of you have been alive.
As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure of it judging from the comments I read many of you make about what you've seen and how long you've lived.
And I don't really have a dog in this hunt. That is nothing hangs on this for me.
I don't get all emotional and upset by issues about gaming. It isn't an alternate reality or a virtual world to me that consumes all of my waking hours, or even more than few hours a month, if that much.
I don't indulge in the technobabble of the modern gamer, don't care much about it, and truth be told it amuses me more than interests me. I don't get offended when people make statements like that either, though I suspect somebody on the internet right now is about apoplectic over the very thought that anyone would be amused by something so drop dead important as role play gaming. But to me it's just a game. It ain't curing cancer, and it sure ain't going to Mars on the fast boat. Then again neither are most things on the internet, despite the enormous egos of those on the internet who think that by being here, they are just naturally smarter and better than those who aren't.
And I've seen a lot of hammer and tongs about this or that regarding fourth edition. And that's all fine and dandy, every man and woman alive, children too, ought to be able to have their own opinions and oughtta be able to be in agreement with, disagreement with, or just plain ole amused by, the opinions of others. That's real life in the real world.
But I'm gonna be purchasing 4th Edition for one very basic reason. I suspect it will be more useful, in the real world, than was the 3rd Edition. Which to me was a big break with reality.
A very big break indeed.
Yeah, I know it's just a game, no matter what edition or iteration, I probably got that a long time before many, if not most, of you ever even saw the game. And it will never be real life.
But the first edition, and the early precursor editions, were far more like real life, and far more useful for real life, than most of what came after, and that's especially true of the 3rd Edition.
I play games for one reason, and one reason only. They are useful. Useful for something I do in real life.
I know that practically offends many of you judging from some of your comments elsewhere, bewilders others of you, and can't even be imagined by a certain percentage. C'est la vie.
But to me, if I'm gonna spend a certain percentage of my life engaged in any pursuit, it better be good and useful. Though not necessarily in that order.
If I just wanna kill time I can watch Oprah all day, or spend all of my time on the internet talking about the fact that I'm on the internet all day talking about doing things, rather than really doing them.
To me gaming, or any other form of entertainment ought to have some real, practical value, not just gobble up time I'm never (and nobody else is ever) gonna get back, and that I might just have spent far better at some far more valuable and worthwhile pursuit. So if it's gonna consume my living time it better be adding something to the time I'm living. Other than fluff and circumstance. Or I got better things to do.
And I've certainly got nothing against being entertained, or with recreation. Don't get me wrong there. Both are necessary to most sane and productive people, and useful as all get out if pursued in a disciplined and responsible manner. But if entertainment and recreation become things in themselves, obsessions and ends I need to pursue like a smack junkie with a crank overbite, then I got no use for that route of entertainment. I don't need artificial worlds, or virtual worlds, or fantasy worlds so far divorced from reality that you can't tell a lyger from a painted lemur, or a really cool, hyper, tapped-up game skill from something really practical. I got a real world, and I don't feel any need to escape from it into the fairyland of immortal war-forged shadow-prancers with +7 magical toe-tappers. But now, if my entertainments are useful, if I can apply them in the real world to soem real problem or event or project or endeavour instead of just on paper as carved on plastic, then they're good as gold to me.
The original D&D was very useful in that respect. Those of you who have been around long enough to play it probably know what I'm implying.
Maybe some of you younger guys and gals do too.
The later stuff wasn't. Not in my book.
Based on what I've seen and heard about the 4th Edition much of it will be a step back in a far better direction.
Will it be perfect? Doubtless... not. What is?
Will there be a lot of crap I've gotta carve out of it because it is totally useless and won't be much fun either?
Probably so.
But all of that being said, from what I've seen, it looks like a step back in the right direction of actually being useful once again. Or at least can be so modified without completely reinventing the thing. Or completely reverting the thing. And from what I saw of the 3rd Edition that's certainly a step worth taking.
Now I've had my say ladies and gents. I don't expect some of you will be agreeing with me, and that's okay by me. I got nothing to prove, least of all on the internet. And I don't care what your opinion is either, one way or another, just to be honest. That is to say I'm not gonna get all hot and bothered or bent around like an aluminum barbell if you completely disagree, and I'm not gonna think I'm the most brilliant guy on the internet, which probably ain't saying much anyways, if you tend to completely agree that I'm completely agreeable on this matter.
So have your say, if you want to, and it won't offend me one way or another.
But I suspect, the internet being what it is, you will offend somebody, whether you care to or not.
That shouldn't stop you from being honest though.
Speaking of which, and this being my point all along, to me, from what I've seen so far, unless they pull a complete bank shot with side English off the 8 counterclockwise, I'm probably gonna be a lot more satisfied with what's coming down the pike, than what's out there now.
That's just my opinion.
You're welcome to yours.
