Dragon Con: A Sight of the Schism in action

[Dice4Hire]

If those people were mentioning they would prefer to play 3.x and not 4E, for future reference, that is not very rude. Of course it depends on tone of voice and how many times they stated that.

How about other venues? I visit several online game advertisement sites and have yet to see Pathfinder (Though there were some Bets games a long time ago) I do see a lot of 3E, 3.x and 4E games though. FOr gamers who go to the (admittedly small) sites I game on, all three versions of d&d seem viable, and Pathfinder is not yet.

What was Gencon like?

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

If those people were mentioning they would prefer to play 3.x and not 4E, for future reference, that is not very rude. Of course it depends on tone of voice and how many times they stated that.

From my experience, the tone of these people is never nice. See below.

What was Gencon like?

I spent almost all my time in the RPGA room at GenCon. We had over a hundred tables of 4e RPGA games going. And since there was no non-4e gaming happening in the room, there wasn't that many negative comments or people around. I never got to see the numbers of people playing Pathfinder or 3e, since they were in other rooms.

On the other hand, over the course of the weekend, about 3 or 4 times people did wander past tables I was playing at and mutter insults at 4e and people who played it.

One time someone wandered past me and asked me what edition we were playing and I answered "4th". They said something to the effect of "Oh, I can't believe they destroyed D&D like that. Is there any 3rd edition games here?" and I said "No, this is the RPGA room, they only support the current edition of D&D." and they said "Looks like I'll have to come back next year when 5e comes out." and wandered away.

 

[Thanlis]

There were 20 or more different DND type adventures going on throughout the con, but guess how many 4e ones there were?

That's right, a big zero.

Now I had checked the roster last year and hadn't seen 4e games then either. But I chalked that up to the fact that the game was new. The game now had another year under its belt, but once again I could still see it being the new kid on the block.

Except that Pathfinder, the game that had literally just released its finished rules, had 4 adventures going on at the Con.

All that said, there could be a number of reasons behind it, so I still might not have thought too much about it.

However, there was one 4e event going on (though not a true adventure), and that was the Cheese Grinder. I'm a big fan of the Grinder, its a few hours where I throw off the roleplaying side of my soul and just dive into pure mechanical powergaming goodness.

There were 50 or so 4e events listed on the event list. If you searched for 4e, you'd only see the Cheese Grinder, which threw me off as well; however, if you searched under Living Forgotten Realms, you'd have seen a ton of 4e.

I've been tracking fall con D&D games of various editions for my own amusement and edification. Right now I'm seeing around a 3:1 split between 4e and 3.X/Pathfinder. When the Pathfinder Society shows up at a con it's usually about 2:1 in favor of 4e events, but we've seen a couple of big cons (DexCon, PAX) with no Pathfinder presence at all.

This strikes me as a wild success for Paizo, and a comfortable margin for WotC, if they were actually competing.

 

[Dice4Hire]

and they said "Looks like I'll have to come back next year when 5e comes out." and wandered away.

I usually consider violence against those kind of people.

 

[Phaezen]

I usually consider violence against those kind of people.

I just ignore then and carry on having fun

 

[Perram]

I don't quite understand why you would walk up to an event and bash someone elses fun.

I have my own reasons and internal struggles when it comes to which system I prefer (Pathfinder), but I think going out of your way to attack someone over their choice of game is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Palladium Fantasy isn't my cup of tea, either, for example. But I don't go around telling people how much I don't like the game. (I don't dislike the game, by the way, I just don't prefer it.) Especially at a convention.

And if one of my friends invites me to a 4e game of his, I'll gladly play, just like they play in Pathfinder with me, or Savage Worlds, or Mutants & Masterminds or Earthdawn 1e, or whatever game we happen to be playing this time around. It isn't like our hobby is so large and healthily growing that we can really afford to keep fracturing ourselves off like this.

 

[Midknightsun]

If that is indeed the attitude that was given, then yes, bashing someone's 4e game (or any game) is just plain unnecessary. Show what you like by playing in those games and the rest would take care of itself. Discussing what you like and don't like is one thing, but nerdage elitism is just sad. Its a game, for the love.

 

[diaglo]

For good or ill, it seems to me that the edition war is alive and well, and will continue for a good while longer.

don't blame me.

i live in hotlanta. but i never attend Dragon Con.

 

[Mark]

It's weird because it isn't that bad of a game and has a good following but I've not seen a mainstream RPG, and certainly not a current D&D edition, take as much flak online and off as this. I can understand people not wanting to play a game, especially when a new edition is made so different from the previous editions, but it doesn't require taking it out on those fans that remain or are drawn to the new game. It might just be that WotC is going to have to go out and be more active in sponsoring RPGA events themselves like at Gencon if they are going to get a bigger showing at the mid-sized conventions. Surely, Atlanta has a large enough population to turn out RPGA gamers for such events. There's a smaller/midsize con coming up in a couple weeks here in the Chicago area that I attend. I'll see what sort of turn out it engenders and maybe pop back in this thread with some info if it seems pertinent.

 

[Crothian]

That is really weird. Origins had a good mix of D&D from many editions and I never heard anything like this happening. Are you sure it is not being exaggerated?