4e Has Less Raw Content: Fact!

[justanobody]

Fact- I may be "getting less" but I'm having loads more fun with what I got -since I actually have a desire to play D&D again

Is that because of 4th edition, yourself, or those you game with?

If it is due to yourself, then you just got out of your rut to want to play again.

If it is due to others, then those you were playing with maybe weren't the people you enjoy playing with.

If it is 4th edition, then maybe the less material is what compels you to play again, and again when more comes out it will overwhelm you with stuff to where you do not wish to play with it all....which comes back to yourself and those you play with.

If the previous amount of material for any edition was a problem you could easily try to NOT use every published book in a game.

Some would also say that you may like 4th becuase it is so different than previous D&D meaning you might have just grown to not like D&D and the new system with the D&D name lets you still play D&D without having to use the old game, but the new one instead.

I think with most things it will be the result of you got tired of playing and just wanted to try it again and the lesser content allows you to play quicker without overflowing with information, but as more content comes out you will end up in the same place as before.

Of course, this goes for everyone including myself.

I agree there is less currently in 4th edition core than anything else, but that was to simplify the core game. Each year there will be more to add to it, which could be a bane or boon to the system with new PHB DMG and MMs. Only time will tell.

 

[Rel]

Well, tough. Even in 4E, my otyughs speak common!

-Hyp.

It's not RAW but it would make a fine house rule.

 

[jdrakeh]

But Raw =/= Usable.

That's a good point.

After a few months of play, the only thing I ever used a 3x DMG for was the XP table when balancing encounters. So, while it's true that the 3x DMG was bigger than the 4e DMG, only one page of the whole book proved consistently useful for me (and I know that I am not the only person who feels this way).

So far, the 4e DMG seems to have more useful material between its covers than the 3x DMG did, so that makes it a 'win' for me, even with the reduced page count. I'm not even running D&D 4e currently, yet find myself using the advice from the DMG in other games that I play. Overall, I think that the quality of the content blows the 3x DMG stuff out of the water.

That said, I do wish that the 4e MM had been larger.

 

[JeffB]

snipped.

Or how about something as simple as -I hate running 3E and therefore quit.

I've no real qualms about running any edition, save 3E. I liike 4E/2E/1E/B/XOD&D/C&C, etc etc.

 

[Andor]

Just one:

"If I feel I must win the edition wars, I'll be looking at a long vacation from the boards."

Someone who has been around as long as you have clearly knows the rules. If you've forgotten, go into the announcement at the top of the forum again.

The hell? It just looked like an amusing post that was getting the trite responses ot of the way so the discussion cold have real merit.

I've been noticing lately that all the mods seem awfully quick on the trigger. What gives? Was there some meeting where you guys decided to get all 'Dirty Harry' on us?

 

[jdrakeh]

The hell? It just looked like an amusing post that was getting the trite responses ot of the way so the discussion cold have real merit.

I've been noticing lately that all the mods seem awfully quick on the trigger. What gives? Was there some meeting where you guys decided to get all 'Dirty Harry' on us?

Just a friendly warning. . . I believe that calling a mod out in public is also worth a mod warning.

 

[Umbran]

Now if I'm wrong and it can be proven I'm wrong, I'll admit it. Having done some page comparrissions between the two FR books though... unless there is some real layout magic going on elsewhere, I'm not wrong.

Well, I am not sure that page count or word count translates directly into "content", because that term is not well defined. The only content worth worrying about (imho) is ideas. Have you counted the number of ideas in the books?

Go read the unabridged Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Then go read "Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury. Though Hugo outdoes Bradbury by many hundreds of pages, I'd be hard pressed to say he has more actual content.

Then, as others have noted, there's a simple question - how much of the material in the 3.x books did you actually use? It is possible to put out a new set of books with less page count, but with all the stuff most of us didn't use cut out. It is possible that the new books have more useful content than the old - but that's something only time will tell.

I think in pointing this out, you're missing the point (as are the ones who deny your conclusion). Whether or not the new books have as much content is not the real issue - the issue is whether it has enough content to justify the purchase price. And that canh only be judged on a gamer-by-gamer basis.

 

[Umbran]

Ladies and gentlemen,

I refer you to The Rules.

Specifically:
"2) If you really, really disagree with a moderator's position on a [moderating] issue, please don't argue about it on the boards. That means no calling out of moderators, no challenging their decisions in the thread..."

Every single poster agreed to these rules on signing up to post here. We expect you to abide by them.

If you have a problem or complaint about moderation, please e-mail a moderator. Our addresses are in a post stickied to the top of the Meta forum. Thank you.

 

[justanobody]

Or how about something as simple as -I hate running 3E and therefore quit.

I've no real qualms about running any edition, save 3E. I liike 4E/2E/1E/B/XOD&D/C&C, etc etc.

I blame you not there from stories I have heard. But how did you feel about PLAYING 3rd?

Some may enjoy running 4th, but may not like playing it as you may have liked playing 3rd as others do/did, but despise running it.

 

[Khuxan]

I'm not sure about 4E MM having less monsters all up, but it certainly has less low-level monsters, and I agree that's a big problem. Half the monsters in the 3.0 MM are level 5 or lower, while less than a quarter are in the 4E MM. They could easily have trimmed the paragon tier, which seems to be over-represented.

Having said that, I understand why they included so many high-level heroic and paragon monsters. A level 1 monster can be adjusted up to a maximum of level six, while a level 6 monster can be adjusted down to level 1 or up to level 11 - making it, overall, more usable.