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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psychotron" data-source="post: 3711258" data-attributes="member: 52908">Hi.  My name is Chris, and I figured I'd post something regarding the Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons.First things first.  I'm not a "purist."  I got into Dungeons and Dragons later than most, starting with AD&D Second Edition.  I didn't necessarily mind the rules, but when D&D 3rd Edition came out, I jumped on the bandwagon, and was happy to join D&D with a clean slate, so to speak.  And I did enjoy 3rd edition, even with the quirks that were corrected in D&D 3.5.  I grumbled when 3.5 came out, honestly, but I did pick it up, and even enjoyed it.While I'm sure D&D Fourth Edition will be nice, the problem I'm having with a new edition is primarily one of perception.  For instance, when D&D 3e was released, it had been a while since the rules had been tweaked.  Not only that, Wizards of the Coast did a great job with helping people convert their characters over to Third Edition.  There were a few people that complained, but the overall feeling I got from game stores and gamers was that this was a great thing, a wonderful leap forward.3.5 changed that perception somewhat.  While quite a few people bought the books, a lot more people grumbled about it being a sales tactic.  While I personally love buying sourcebooks, buying the revised Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual soured me a bit.  After all, that was 60 dollars or three other gaming books that I could have bought.This leads me to my central point.  I think there's a polite fiction that exists between the makers of an RPG and those of us who buy it, that being that while they are making money, they also want us to have a better gaming experience.  So when we buy the Complete Fighter, for instance, we're making fighters more cool in our games.  When we buy the Spell Compendium, we're giving our wizards more options.  You see my point.When gamers have to buy a new edition though, the polite fiction gets shattered.  I appreciate the reasoning behind launching another edition, that they're trying to make a better game, but I don't know a gamer who seriously believes ANY RPG can be perfect.  As I'm typing this, I'm looking over my selection of 3.0/3.5 sourcebooks, and wondering how many of them are going to be rendered obsolete by the new edition.  Can I convert them over?  Probably.  Of course, if this new game is similar enough to Star Wars Saga Edition, that's going to be a huge drain on my time, time that I could better spend, say, actually gaming.While Dungeons and Dragons 3.x series wasn't perfect, a ton of variant rules came out for them.  Swift and Immediate actions were introduced.  New core classes were designed, feats aplenty came up for every occasion, and alternate classes were created.  I bought a lot of books with these new rules in them, and I didn't feel that Wizards of the Coast was ripping me off at all.  Fourth Edition, though...I'm getting the same feeling that I got when 3.5 came out.  I don't want to have to buy three more core rulebooks.  I don't want to have to buy another Psionics Handbook, Planar Handbook, Fighters Handbook, Forgotten Realms Sourcebook, or any of that stuff.  On the other hand, I want to keep up with the latest cool stuff coming out, so I'm in a quandry.That's my take on Fourth Edition.  Please understand, I am not, NOT trying to be mean to any of the Wizards of the Coast employees.  I think they are trying to do the best job wtih Dungeons and Dragons they possibly can, and I do applaud them for that.  If anyone has another view, aka why Dungeons and Dragons really needed to be given another edition, feel free to post something.  I'd like to hear an alternate opinion.</blockquote>

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