D&D 4E Ben Riggs' "What the Heck Happened with 4th Edition?" seminar at Gen Con 2023

[overgeeked]

So far they are really loving the Omega Tech and Alpha Mutation cards, as well as feeling like competent adventurers at Level 1.
While I've never played MCC, if it's like DCC I think they'd feel a bit underpowered.
Plus (and this is a strange hill to die on for my wife) she's a dice connoisseur ... and the DCC dice really "bother" her. Like, she thinks they're repulsive.

Sure. It’s definitely not for everyone. You might dig some of the modules.

 

[Zardnaar]

AD&D...the 45-some-year-old edition of the game...was the 11th most played game at the recent GenCon. It beat out a lot of more recent games, including every other edition of D&D...except 5E. WEG Star Wars was 14th...the newer Star Wars games were 20th.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/gencon-2023-rpg-tickets-sold-update-with-breakouts-by-edition.699342/

Lol I ran D6 WEG SWRPG earlier in the year.

 

[darjr]

AD&D...the 45-some-year-old edition of the game...was the 11th most played game at the recent GenCon. It beat out a lot of more recent games, including every other edition of D&D...except 5E. WEG Star Wars was 14th...the newer Star Wars games were 20th.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/gencon-2023-rpg-tickets-sold-update-with-breakouts-by-edition.699342/

It's difficult to get the SW funky dice. While I kinda loved em it is a very good argument against them if they are not freely licensed.

 

[Zardnaar]

It's difficult to get the SW funky dice. While I kinda loved em it is a very good argument against them if they are not freely licensed.

It's why I avoided the system. I have the entire run of SWSE and a lot of D6 books.

Funky dice are an automatic/pass turn off.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's why I avoided the system. I have the entire run of SWSE and a lot of D6 books.

Funky dice are an automatic/pass turn off.

Understandable, but the dice were a lot of fun to play with.

 

[overgeeked]

It's why I avoided the system. I have the entire run of SWSE and a lot of D6 books.

Funky dice are an automatic/pass turn off.

I'm fine with funky dice as long as they're 1) not proprietary, and; 2) broadly useful for other things.

Like Star Wars' funky dice vs DCC RPG's funky dice. I hard passed on Star Wars but absolutely love DCC RPG.

Dice with symbols, nope. Dice that are specifically tailored to one game that can't really be used for anything else, nope. Dice with more or fewer faces with numbers, absolutely. I can use my DCC dice to generate numbers for anything I need. Those Star Wars dice...not so much.

 

[payn]

It's why I avoided the system. I have the entire run of SWSE and a lot of D6 books.

Funky dice are an automatic/pass turn off.

Conversion was very simple, and there were many online dice rollers. Though, yes funky die can be gimmicky. The thing I liked least about it was converting numbers to symbols. The rulebook read more like a board game and I just didnt like that in my RPG. YMMV.

 

[Retreater]

Conversion was very simple, and there were many online dice rollers. Though, yes funky die can be gimmicky. The thing I liked least about it was converting numbers to symbols. The rulebook read more like a board game and I just didnt like that in my RPG. YMMV.

I ran one campaign in Fantasy Flight Star Wars' (I think it was Age of Rebellion). I never got the hang of the rules and had to have one of the players interpret the die rolls for me.

Him, looking at the symbols on the dice: "I got two challenges, a threat, and an opportunity..."
Me: "So I guess you fired your last shot before your power pack drained. It missed the Stormtrooper, but it hit a pipe near the enemy's head, spraying out steam. This could fill the whole room, but it's close enough for the Wookie to grab to bend the pipe and blind your opponent."
Him: "No, that would be one challenge, two threats, and a celebration..."
Me: "Alright, you hit the Stormtrooper. As he falls, his blaster fires erratically, causing the Blast Doors to begin closing at the end of the hall. From the other end, you see a squad of 5 more troopers turn the corner, weapons raised. One activates his com: 'Lieutenant, we've found them!'"
Him: "No, that would be a success, a threat, a challenge, and a disaster with three raises."
Me: "Ok, you tell me what is the correct way to read that die roll."

I hated running that system. It codified all the narration, shackled my creativity and descriptions, seemed completely arbitrary in its rules with extremely similar and confusing language to separate different results.

 

[darjr]

I ran one campaign in Fantasy Flight Star Wars' (I think it was Age of Rebellion). I never got the hang of the rules and had to have one of the players interpret the die rolls for me.

Him, looking at the symbols on the dice: "I got two challenges, a threat, and an opportunity..."
Me: "So I guess you fired your last shot before your power pack drained. It missed the Stormtrooper, but it hit a pipe near the enemy's head, spraying out steam. This could fill the whole room, but it's close enough for the Wookie to grab to bend the pipe and blind your opponent."
Him: "No, that would be one challenge, two threats, and a celebration..."
Me: "Alright, you hit the Stormtrooper. As he falls, his blaster fires erratically, causing the Blast Doors to begin closing at the end of the hall. From the other end, you see a squad of 5 more troopers turn the corner, weapons raised. One activates his com: 'Lieutenant, we've found them!'"
Him: "No, that would be a success, a threat, a challenge, and a disaster with three raises."
Me: "Ok, you tell me what is the correct way to read that die roll."

I hated running that system. It codified all the narration, shackled my creativity and descriptions, seemed completely arbitrary in its rules with extremely similar and confusing language to separate different results.

Yea I totally get that.

 

[payn]

I ran one campaign in Fantasy Flight Star Wars' (I think it was Age of Rebellion). I never got the hang of the rules and had to have one of the players interpret the die rolls for me.

Him, looking at the symbols on the dice: "I got two challenges, a threat, and an opportunity..."
Me: "So I guess you fired your last shot before your power pack drained. It missed the Stormtrooper, but it hit a pipe near the enemy's head, spraying out steam. This could fill the whole room, but it's close enough for the Wookie to grab to bend the pipe and blind your opponent."
Him: "No, that would be one challenge, two threats, and a celebration..."
Me: "Alright, you hit the Stormtrooper. As he falls, his blaster fires erratically, causing the Blast Doors to begin closing at the end of the hall. From the other end, you see a squad of 5 more troopers turn the corner, weapons raised. One activates his com: 'Lieutenant, we've found them!'"
Him: "No, that would be a success, a threat, a challenge, and a disaster with three raises."
Me: "Ok, you tell me what is the correct way to read that die roll."

I hated running that system. It codified all the narration, shackled my creativity and descriptions, seemed completely arbitrary in its rules with extremely similar and confusing language to separate different results.

Ha, yeah I only did a couple one shots and it was a bit confusing. So was D&D though first time I played it. Like anything, given time you learn to flow. If you dont like the feel off the start though, its a a hard sale.

I really like Mongoose approach to effect with Traveller. It's a much simpler way to gauge a degree of success and add on any necessary narration as necessary. Doesn't sell funky dice though.