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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Darrin Drader" data-source="post: 4550682" data-attributes="member: 7394">Actually I agree with him. People on both sides of the argument pretty frequently delve into ad-hominem and hyperbole. I'll even admit that my own comments haven't always been fair to the other side.The reason I think D&D is like that is because of the very nature of the thing. People don't simply consume it like most media, but they have to have a thorough understanding of it in order to play. People play any given edition for years at a time, and the way they interact with it leads to the way they define their experience with it. It isn't just something you do, it's something people are passionate about. For many in the over-30 crowd, it's something that we feel extremely connected with due to the persecution of the hobby back in the late '70s and '80s. A lot of us knew people who held uninformed negative opinions of it and either managed to straighten them out through reasoned debate, or at least had the courage to tell these people that we weren't going to change the things we enjoy and to keep their opinions to themselves.For many of us, this isn't just a thing we do every week or so over pizza and Mountain Dew, it's one of the things we use to define ourselves by. It's a subculture. Of course people are going to get bent when something comes along that attempts to make drastic changes. It isn't a matter of just buying a new product, it's a matter of changing the way we interface with this culture we belong to. Some people like the change, other people don't and they feel like they've been abandoned by this thing they've invested so much of themselves into.It's this feeling of personal investment that leads many, including me, to not like the more gamist nature of 4E while being more than willing to enjoy a strategy game along similar lines as Descent. One is something I've been invested with for over 20 years and the other is a game with some familiar elements that I've recently been introduced to. If 4th edition were released with a name other than D&D, would the reaction of some people be different? Would those who can't accept that this is the new form of D&D be able to enjoy it? Would those who love it and have defended it still pay any more attention to it than they do any other 3rd party release? The pro-4E people need to realize that the anti-4E side is just as invested with D&D as they are, that they've been handed something that they can't get behind, and that their opinions are just as valid.The anti-4E people need to realize that the existence of a new edition of the game doesn't suddenly make the previous editions suddenly cease to exist, nor does it change the fact that there's a lot of excellent companies made up entirely of gamers, just like them, who are still supporting the game they love.In all honesty, my personal dislike for 4E has led to one very positive thing for me - the rediscovery of old school play. While I love the way 3rd edition was structured, I'm finding myself more free to follow where my imagination wants to lead because it's a less rigid system with fewer constraints. It's easier to design for, it's easier to wing-it, and the simple black and white line art actually stimulates the imagination just as well as full color masterfully crafted paintings. I've been compiling notes and coming up with plots, sub-plots, challenges, maps, and all the other fun stuff for my Ancient World: Minoans campaign.  Right now it looks like the system I'll be using will be Castles and Crusades, mainly because its so ridiculously easy to port material from any edition over to it without a lot of headache. In D&D, ideas are king. I also love what they did with OSRIC, Labyrinth Lord, and Mutant Future, but you can only play one game at a time, so makes sense to pick the one that matches what you want to accomplish for a given game, and so I did.The bottom line is that looking at this as a war is the wrong approach. It's a choice that each group has to make. I've made my choice, other people have made theirs and no matter where you end up, we still belong to the same subculture. Want to play 4E? Go do it. Want to play 3E? Go do it. Want to play FATAL? Well, you may be one of the most interesting individuals ever, but by all means, go do it.</blockquote>

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