So far, I am intrigued by what I have read.
First, there seems to be a focus on ease of play, and having distinctive characters. As I have been playing Dungeons and Dragons in one incarnation or another since 1980, I think that having each level matter to the character is a good incentive for players to keep on developing their characters. Also, as someone who at one time extensively played spell casters, it is good to hear that a spell caster will never entirely run out of magic. (Ah the memories of a 1st edition, 1st level magic user who shot off his sleep spell and is trying to be useful to his party.) Resource management is something I want to learn more about, as sometimes it is more dramatic for the party to move on to the next encounter than just camp out for the night because "we are out of spells, low on hit points, and we really want to stop the villain, but we will have to wait till morning."
Secondly, I am glad from reading ashockney's report on the front page that we will see WoTC drawing on the rich mythology and legends of the real world. Sometimes, as a DM and player, I felt that the rules tried to shoehorn a few things in that might not work with each world. (I have tended to use real world mythologies and cultures as inspirations in games. I would also hope that we see some rules where culture, in addition to race, can influence character development. So, perhaps a fighter from one human culture could be a bit different from another (perhaps by emphasizing some weapon/fighting styles) and an elven wizard from one elven culture could be very different from another elven wizard from a different culture. Hopefully, we will see 4th Edition being about options so that DMs can make the worlds that they wish, players can make the characters that they want, and all can have FUN. FUN should be the byword of a game.)
Also, I hope that the streamlining will allow some flexibility for players and DMS. So, if I want to have a character who is slightly different from the base assumptions, I can create one. Similarly, if I am running a game, I want to spend less prep time. (DMs will likely have more prep time, but a little less prep time is probably something that most DMs would love.)
Also, I am GLAD that it looks like epic level play is fixed. I consider the Epic Level Handbook a very mixed bag. Some parts were great, but a lot of it seemed to belong to another rule system. The spell system did not seem to flow logically from the rest of the magic system.
My hope is that the Digital Intiative will serve as a way to augment the rule books, and I want to hear more about it. I hope that it will have some labor saving tools for DMs and players.
Also, I think that keeping the OGL and SRD are good ideas. I have seen many great D20 products, and even run some games using Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved (I would love to see a 4th Edition version of this) and the Dungeons and Dragons core rules at EN World Game Days. I already combined the Hide and Move Silently Skills for the D&D characters, as Arcana Evolved did. Also, there are some great PDF publishers, like Creative Mountain Games, that offer good products to its customers.
It is my hope that WotC will communicate with its customers, and keep people informed. I have not gamed much in the last year or so, but I find myself wanting to learn more about 4th Edition. So far, I am cautiously optimistic. I just hope that we keep an open mind, and talk to each other, both as board members, as players and DMs, and as customers of game companies and game designers.
Okay, time to read more 4E threads. Thanks to everyoen who has contributed information, and their insights.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
