4E or 3.5 or something else - what's in your future?

[Sphyre]

No, system mastery actually breaks 3.5... and thats just wrong.

I tried playing 3.5 two weeks ago, and i was disgusted...

I will not stay with 3.5. Play experience with system masters who use their mastery is pretty bad. Not beeing able to make use of your mastery is also bad.

Actually, that does a good job of illustrating the large variance in power dependent on how you build your character.

I don't use system mastery to break the game, but rather to build the character concept I want - and I'm never dead weight. My golden rule of DMing was "Don't be a douche, which means don't try to break the game." As such, I do the same thing when I'm a player, otherwise that would make me a hypocrite.

A character design concept of 4e is that battle powers are a separate resource than other resources (utility and rituals are different than attack powers) means that system mastery isn't needed, but the options are still there.

 

[seskis281]

I have already switched to C&C and will stick - my own group has now really come to love it (actually the only complaint has been about the way the haste spell works from my Wizard)...

Naturally I will always look at new material just so I can know how to play, and for potential resource. I have B/X, AD&D 1e, 2e and 3e on my shelf, and I still pick up non C&C products just because I'm an insatiable geek for gaming material - (heh, just bought "Scourge of the Howling Horde" - actually looks like a decent beginner mod, although I'm not sure why WotC is releasing new 3.5 material just before switching). I'll most likely buy the PHB so I can be familiar enough to play should I be asked to do so in some circumstance, but I'll stick with C&C to run my games.

And to everyone I will always invoke the mantra of EGG - always remember it's just a game to invigorate the imagination of the mind! Have fun no matter what!



Edit: Heh, never mind... "Scourge" was 2006 - just never saw it anywhere before now lol.

 

[FalcWP]

Personally...

1) I'll be picking up the 4th Edition books, and my group is going to give it a shot. Personally, I don't buy into judging a system as bad just because its new, or because of someone else's impressions... I'd rather take a look at it and play it myself before I dismiss it. From what I *have* seen and heard so far... there's a lot in 4E I'll like. There are some things I won't. Luckily, I'm not afraid to house rule things.

2) If 4E is mostly good with a few house rules, that becomes my new default. If it would take too much house ruling to be worth it, its back to 3.75, with some of my current house rules and undoubtedly some stuff from 4E.

3) However, I still want to run a Star Wars game, I've been taking a look at systems like Savage Worlds and 7th Sea... and those are all options for future games, no matter which version of D&D is my standard.

4) In addition, I've got one friend who is currently running a homebrewed D&D 3.75 E6... well, he's mish-mashed a lot of things together, and he just got the Book of Experimental Might, so its probably going to change again soon. Unless 4E is the ultimate be-all, end-all, I doubt he's going to switch soon, though he'll steal from it. So I'll be playing in something else, at least.

5) I have other friends who DM... one likes Shadowrun, another has done some d20 Modern games, and quite a few do core 3.5 games, some of which may go to core 4E, others will stay. I don't play in their games as much, but I can imagine I'll play in at least a few of them after 4E comes out.

Basically, I can't say at all until I see 4th Edition for myself. And even then, I'm not going to be playing just one system... at least two, between my set of house rules and my friend's E6 3.75 thing. And possibly many, many more.