4th Edition Anger Spills onto the Table

[takasi]

A few weeks ago a new guy joined our group and played at one of our tables on Sunday. He wasn't in the table I ran, but the players at his table said he was a little strange but overall a fun player and nice addition to the group.

Last week he asked if he could DM a game at our Wednesday night sessions. As luck would have it, our Wednesday night Shackled City DM had a table of 8 players and wanted to trim his group down while a few other players were looking for a Wednesday game. A new table was born, and last night he ran the first session of Pathfinder.

It was his last session, unfortunately.

OK, I wish I had more drama to give you, but he said he's being deployed to Iraq. And though a little quirky, he was a very enthusiastic DM and demonstrated a decent level of rules knowledge.

Now on to the topic of the thread.

After the session was over, the guy went into a full on rant about 4th edition. He seemed to hate Wizards of the Coast with a passion. Then he went on to say things like "Wizards of the Co$t" was plagurizing his work. I had done a little research on this guy and found out that he made the same claim about some book he's working on.

Anyway, I was shocked at how vehemently against 4th edition this guy is. We have one grognard in our group who's the biggest "say no to 4e" guy, but even he's open minded enough to try a few sessions when it comes out. This new guy though went on and on about how horrible WotC is and how they killed Dragon and Dungeon. He also went off on "robots" in D&D, despite the fact that he heavily favors psionics, anime and wuxia influences in his games. (Personally, I think warforged are less sci-fi.)

Is anyone else already seeing the hate spill over from the world of message board rants into face to face games? It's over seven months away from launch, and I was really surprised to see this. We have about 16 people who regularly attend our games, and this was the first time someone was so angry about 4th edition and Wizards.

 

[Wormwood]

edit: oh duh. online play. nevermind.

 

[The Little Raven]

So how is "Co$t" pronounced?

Probably with the classic, cash register "cha-ching."

 

[takasi]

edit: oh duh. online play. nevermind.

This was a face-to-face game, not related to the OnlineDnD.com site. But yeah, he didn't pronounce it in person like that. I saw a post from him on the Paizo boards where he wrote it that way though. His behavior inspired me to do a little "research" about him today.

 

[Glyfair]

Is anyone else already seeing the hate spill over from the world of message board rants into face to face games? It's over seven months away from launch, and I was really surprised to see this. We have about 16 people who regularly attend our games, and this was the first time someone was so angry about 4th edition and Wizards.

Given the ranting on "WotC plagiarizing my work," I wouldn't put too much weight on this incidence. It really sounds like one of those gamers who you are better off just avoiding in the future. I don't want to see what happens when he disagrees with a DMs call.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

After the session was over, the guy went into a full on rant about 4th edition. He seemed to hate Wizards of the Coast with a passion. Then he went on to say things like "Wizards of the Co$t" was plagurizing his work. I had done a little research on this guy and found out that he made the same claim about some book he's working on.

Anyway, I was shocked at how vehemently against 4th edition this guy is. We have one grognard in our group who's the biggest "say no to 4e" guy, but even he's open minded enough to try a few sessions when it comes out. This new guy though went on and on about how horrible WotC is and how they killed Dragon and Dungeon. He also went off on "robots" in D&D, despite the fact that he heavily favors psionics, anime and wuxia influences in his games. (Personally, I think warforged are less sci-fi.)

Is anyone else already seeing the hate spill over from the world of message board rants into face to face games? It's over seven months away from launch, and I was really surprised to see this. We have about 16 people who regularly attend our games, and this was the first time someone was so angry about 4th edition and Wizards.

Yeah, I'm guessing this guy gets angry about all sorts of stuff. It has less to do with 4E than what the radio stations he was picking up with his fillings at that moment.

 

[Cadfan]

My area has a local guy who's convinced that gaming companies are always plagiarizing his stuff.

I just nod when he talks about it. He's got no case whatsoever, but ranting makes him happy.

Of the people I know, all the ones who are rules junkies are happy about 4e. That's about a dozen guys. The only people who are upset are 1) one guy who's mad about forgotten realms changing, 2) the resident conspiracy theorist who's always convinced that WOTC is trying to mug him in an alley and take his money, and 3) an old grognard who hates everything. He hated 3rd edition, he hated 3.5, he doesn't really like 2nd, and he doesn't like fourth. His ideal world of D&D is basically metagame-Paranoia with swords, where instead of Friend Computer you have to combat Friend DM. I don't care about his opinions much.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I occasionally discuss 4e with real flesh-and-blood people rather than the crude people simulators one encounters online. I'm probably the most enthused about it, I've never encountered any negativity. Last week Chris and me agreed it would ruin D&D but I think we were being ironic.

 

[Doug McCrae]

an old grognard who hates everything. He hated 3rd edition, he hated 3.5, he doesn't really like 2nd, and he doesn't like fourth. His ideal world of D&D is basically metagame-Paranoia with swords, where instead of Friend Computer you have to combat Friend DM.

So what does Gentlegamer look like in real life?

 

[Festivus]

Well, if he's being deployed to Iraq he will have an outlet for his 4E anger. Perhaps it's just that stress of knowing where he was heading that caused him to be a bit short fused about something I consider to be rather trivial.

4E really is trivial... there is nobody out there saying you cannot play 3.5 until you die. Ask any of the 1E grognards here about that, they will tell you. If anything, your games would improve because there won't be rules modifications that break stuff anymore. Just houserule it once and be done.

It is just a game. Sometimes it seems people forget that.