D&D 4E 4E Playtest (with screenshots!)

[tintagel]

Ok, I know that there have been many posts of people playing the 4E pre-gens and going through Return of the Burning Plague and such. I'm adding mine to the general experience, but this one has screenshots!

We played using a Virtual Tabletop software that I've had for a couple of years called d20pro. It's not very widely known, but it does the job pretty well for me. Now, keep in mind that it's designed for 3.5, so we had to fudge a few things here and there to make it work for 4E, but it didn't do too badly. While d20pro supports online play, we played at my house, using a DM and a player computer with a monitor attached for better viewing.

Anyways, the map was created by Eugee at the Dundjinni forums (nab it here). The character and monster images were shamelessly ripped by me from a variety of sources.

The thumbnail below will open up a Picasa Slideshow. If you haven't navigated one before, just know that it defaults to 4 seconds per slide but that you can control the show by using the icons that appear near the bottom. Just move your mouse and you will see them. Each picture has a caption, which appears just above the navigation icons. The captions can sometimes cover the image a bit, so if you would rather not see it as a full-screen slideshow, try this gallery view.

Edit: I should add that most of the screenshots are from the DM client (except where prefaced with Player Screenshot) so you will see things through the Fog of War and such.

Without further ado...

 

[Colmarr]

Looks like you had a blast tintagel.

And d20Pro looks like a great system. My online group is currently using Battlegrounds in the leadup to WotC's VTT, but if d20 Pro has that much functionality it's mighty tempting...

 

[keterys]

d20pro looks real good. Glad you had a fun game, too

 

[tintagel]

If anyone is going to Origins this year, I will be running 8 D&D sessions on d20pro. I'm going to try and get them converted to 4th Edition before th Con, where possible.

I'll be running:

The Ghost of Mistmoor (from an old 1E Dungeon Magazine) - in 3.5 Ed now, but might get a 4th makeover.

The Ruins of the Moathouse - easily converted to 4th.

And Heroes Were Made - a quirky 3.5 module of my own design, where you play six villagers each (a total of 30 PCs) who are mostly lvl 1 NPC classes who go to take on an orcish outpost. Many casualties, and nearly impossible with traditional miniatures.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, Chapter 1 - just for some zombie bashing goodness. Will probably make this 4th Ed.

 

[TarionzCousin]

We played using a Virtual Tabletop software that I've had for a couple of years called d20pro. It's not very widely known, but it does the job pretty well for me. Now, keep in mind that it's designed for 3.5, so we had to fudge a few things here and there to make it work for 4E, but it didn't do too badly. While d20pro supports online play, we played at my house, using a DM and a player computer with a monitor attached for better viewing.

Have you played using d20pro online very much? Where on the d20pro website can one buy the product?

Thanks for the screenshots and descriptions. Very entertaining.

 

[tintagel]

Have you played using d20pro online very much? Where on the d20pro website can one buy the product?

Thanks for the screenshots and descriptions. Very entertaining.

I've hosted 2 full games with it online, and occasionally one of my players (who has to drive a long way) cannot make it to the table - so he logs in remotely while the rest of us play at the table. We use Skype for voice chat. I could host a demo game if anyone is interested.

You can register for a free trial of the program at www.d20pro.com. Click on the download link and sign up. Once you sign in, you can download a free 14 day trial or buy a full version. Note that my full version supports 1 DM (me) plus 1 player computer logged in. That's enough for us to play at the table, since the party gives one player the "driver's seat" and we use a projector to show the battle on the wall. You don't need a projector though - you can actually play with just 1 laptop and a basic monitor, running both the DM and player client off the same machine (just using extended desktop to show the player client on the monitor).

As always, your mileage may vary!