New player asking for some advice/help, please. 3e vs 4e. Which one is for me?

[Kask]

Yeah, I can scarcely imagine what would happen if my entire crew was like you...

You would probably have players who play rather than flip madly through the PHB trying to figure out what BAB is?

 

[billd91]

I find it odd when people who've been playing for years tell someone "if you are new to the game, you should start using X", where X is a game different to the one they started with. It's like saying "I don't think you're smart enough to enjoy the old games".

I dunno. If you've been playing long enough, the game you started with is long out of print and harder to find (particularly with previous edition PDF sales being withdrawn).

I started with Basic D&D (Holmes edition) and prefer 3.5. To make a recommendation based on that and for an edition in print, I would recommend Pathfinder.

 

[Mournblade94]

A new player does not have to start with the 'simplest game'.

I would suggest to choose a genre you wish to play in, then explore game systems. Just accept that your first game session is going to be bumpy with the new system. Usually you can knock out the kinks in the first couple of combats. I am experienced with d20 and still have some bumpy sessions with Mutants and Masterminds, as I only ran 2 sessions. PArt of the problem is d20 assumptions that do not fit in M&M.

What I do before running a new system is a trial for about 3 hours with just myself. I roll up a character or party, and take these characters through some encounters so I can spot potential problems and learn the system from preparation to combat. Basic rules are great for this (like when a system has the watered down rules included).

3rd edition especially at first level is not difficult. You won't be fit to play a werewolf yet but you will get there within a few sessions.

Pathfinder beta is free, complete, and easy. I would suggest starting there.

If you are looking for simplicity I find Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay very simple as well.

 

[freyar]

It's not what you know that matters, it's knowing what you really need to know, versus what you don't need to know until you need it.

That is astoundingly good advice for so much more than RPGs.

 

[Festivus]

I would expect that a DM at that level to know roughly what most of those spells do. But there is a difference between knowing roughly what the spells do and specifically what the spells do.

This has been my experience with it. Yeah, I have a good idea of what a spell might do, and 80% of the time I just make the call and move on, but 20% of the time I am nose in book, looking for the spell or effect. Thank heavens for the compendium books, it really cut down the number of books I needed to lug around.

 

[Obryn]

You would probably have players who play rather than flip madly through the PHB trying to figure out what BAB is?

I think it's more likely he'd have players with communication skills and social graces, and maybe a little bit of honesty and humility.

And, you know, have fun playing D&D.

-O

 

[Belphanior]

You would probably have players who play rather than flip madly through the PHB trying to figure out what BAB is?

Don't you think you're misrepresenting my position just a little? I'm not talking about knowing how attack rolls are made, I'm talking about knowing that the maximum range of Insect Plague cast by a 13th level cleric is 920'. And I stress that I talk about KNOWING that. Looking it up or making an educated guess is, apparently, a sign that one is not competent enough to DM high level games.

Boy oh boy, if all my players were like you...

 

[Kask]

Don't you think you're misrepresenting my position just a little?

I was making a joke. However, a DM that would introduce a Pit Fiend as an encounter and by game time, NOT know how it operated is somewhat less than competent based on my experience. YMMV.

As far as having a player like me, well, if a DM doesn't know what he's doing he may find his NPCs being flattened like Mini that goes up against an M1A1...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I was making a joke. However, a DM that would introduce a Pit Fiend as an encounter and by game time, NOT know how it operated is somewhat less than competent based on my experience. YMMV.

As far as having a player like me, well, if a DM doesn't know what he's doing he may find his NPCs being flattened like Mini that goes up against an M1A1...

A game that requires me to reference several source books to make sense of a monster stat block might also just be a little too demanding if you want to play every week and have a full work schedule and have other hobbies besides RPGs.

 

[Piratecat]

I was making a joke.

Not a funny one. In fact, it was kind of insulting. Scale back the snark and the ego, please.