But this baby will take you from 1-30 in half the time!

[JahellTheBard]

Besides, i understand 4 ed. will mean they have to give up present adventure and most of their classes and PC ... many players became fond of their PC and doesn' t like to loose them .. if they are playing a campaing since 2001, like my players, i think they will not be happy to give it up ... you might alternate the old and ( if they like) a new campaing ...

I'm afraid that your Bard playing friend will miss a lot his PC ... i have the same kind of female player in my group, and i think she will HATE ME if i should ever tell she can't play his PC, a very, very, very hight carisma female sorcerer ..

I do not know enough 4 Ed. to say if you can find a class she can like .. a class with hight carisma made for interaction and not for fight ... maybe in PH2 .. just wait and see.

I think you should propose just a try in 4 ed. using a new short adventure, just for a few nights ... they should not object so much to a limited time try ... so they will know better if they like it or not ... if someone like it and someone not, you should propose to alternate their belodev 3.5 ed. campaing and a new 4 ed. for a few month.

In this time, maybe they will start to love the new PC and will miss less the old ones ...

 

[Zinovia]

So, my question, is how do you even know you _want_ to switch to 4E? Wouldn't it be wise to see the rules themselves first?

If the rules are good, you'll have more ammunition for getting your group to switch.

If the rules aren't good, you won't want to switch anyway.

So, why not wait until you can read the PHB?

What? Reading the rules before I decide if I like them? Why would I want to do that? I want to leap on the bandwagon waving my banner that says "4E FTW! Woot!"

/em places hand over heart
I pledge allegiance to 4E, and to the points of light in the darkness,
And to the demographic for which it aims,
One vision, under Mearls, rules more playable,
With roleplaying and combat for all.

Or perhaps not. I'm not 100% convinced that 4E will be the way for us to go, especially given the difficulty we'll have trying to shoehorn 4E races into an existing campaign world. We'd prefer to have some reason why there are suddenly eladrin, tieflings and (maybe) dragonborn around. And why dragonborn babes buy bras for their bouncing bosoms. I made a point of looking underneath the last dragon we fought, but couldn't really tell if it was a dude or a chick. It's so awkward having to ask in those situations, especially while I was diving behind the paladin to avoid the lightning breath attack.

I am very optimistic about some of the changes to streamline combat, which may help our group to get through combat encounters both more quickly and with more fun. I'm interested in what we've heard so far about traps, and terrain challenges as well. Sounds fun, and I think that our players will enjoy that if they give it a shot. On the other hand, having played Rolemaster for years, I am comfortable with skillpoint based systems and am worried that they may have oversimplified that aspect. I like the fact that each character has a unique set of skills, and that Rogue A isn't the same as Rogue B. Perhaps they've preserved the uniqueness while streamlining skills, but I'll have to wait and see.

So what I'm looking for is a playtest of the new ruleset using Keep on the Shadowfell and the pre-gen characters. If I can persuade people to test that with an open mind, and not ruin the game by quibbling about rules they don't like until the session is over, then we can make a decision as to which ruleset we'll be using when our current campaign winds down to it's natural conclusion, which will be within 6-8 months or so.

Given that we plan our D&D sessions 1-2 months out, and that I am eager to try this game as soon as we can make time for a playtest, I need to marshal my arguments in advance. Our Paladin is the sticking point of this; he's married to the Bard, so she will likely agree with whatever he decides. They are great people and the core of our gaming group, so I do want to convince them to try it - not just write it off having never cracked open a rulebook. An objective playtest, not a pre-rules conversion to 4E is what I'm aiming for. We're starting a new campaign when this one winds down either way, and I'll be happy enough to retire this character. "I'm checking for traps". Again. Yawn.

 

[Zinovia]

Besides, i understand 4 ed. will mean they have to give up present adventure and most of their classes and PC ... many players became fond of their PC and doesn' t like to loose them .. if they are playing a campaing since 2001, like my players, i think they will not be happy to give it up ... you might alternate the old and ( if they like) a new campaing ...

This campaign has been running for probably 4 years with about a 6 month hiatus at one point. It's the highest level we've ever played to, and at 15th level, I think we're hitting the outer edge of "where the math works" in 3.5. Regardless of 4E, we were going to be starting a new campaign at level 1 as soon as we finish up with the current one. I look forward to playing a new character, as much as I like my current one. Or else I'd be happy to GM, which I haven't done since we were playing Rolemaster many years ago.

It will be hard for our bard to give up her first character in any P&P RPG. For our next campain, she and her husband (the Paladin) were talking about playing a brother-sister pair, with one being a wizard and one a sorcerer. I haven't tried telling them yet that sorcerers aren't in the initial release of the 4E rules. Their concept would work well for a wizard and warlock though, if I can persuade them to try it.

I'll have to see if we can squeeze our playtesting in with the conclusion of the main 3.5 campaign, as I'd like to give it a try sooner, rather than waiting another 8 months or a year. But that may not be in the cards.

 

[Gundark]

• The Dungeon Master - He's big on improvisation and short on planning, but given that he won the improvisational and extemporaneous categories on his college speech and debate team, he's *very* good at it. In fact the other players usually think he has a plan. I'm married to him, so I know better. Telling him how much easier it is for the DM to prep encounters in 4E might be a good selling point, but he spends maybe 5 minutes doing prep while the rest of us are opening the tray of vegetables and dip, so cutting his prep time in half won't exactly amount to a lot. I might be able to sell him on the chance to play a character himself for the first time in 4 years. I'm interested in DM'ing for 4E, and plan to run the playtest myself, if I can convince the others to participate. [...]

Anyone have any ideas on how to convince people to give it a shot?

Emphasis mine

Hello...there is you answer there...tell him to convert or he's cut off

(This thread has the humour tag, so I responded in a humorous way)

 

[S'mon]

Third, you're not REALLY selling 4E. You're simply interested in trying it yourself - yes? Which means you sort of need the rest of your group to try it as well so that you can ALL find out if you like it or not. That doesn't just mean try it for one session, it means try it for 6 months to a year to UNDERSTAND how and why it does things...

Whatever you do, for the love of Pelor DON'T tell your group "OK, we just need to playtest 4e for 6 months to a year to see if we like it"!

I think 2 sessions is good for a playtest. Anything more and resistance will stiffen.

 

[Festivus]

I have myself, who is on the fence. One person (who also runs the other game) who seems very against the new edition, mainly from a financial standpoint, and the other three whom I have a hard time reading. We are all going to get the 4E PHB, and likely we will run a core only game to try it out (at least they are willing).

Most of us enjoyed Living Greyhawk at conventions and stores, and will likely continue this with Living Forgotten Realms.

I get the feeling our homegame is going to be some sort of fusion between 4E and 3E.

 

[Ciaran]

Given that we plan our D&D sessions 1-2 months out, and that I am eager to try this game as soon as we can make time for a playtest, I need to marshal my arguments in advance. Our Paladin is the sticking point of this; he's married to the Bard, so she will likely agree with whatever he decides. They are great people and the core of our gaming group, so I do want to convince them to try it - not just write it off having never cracked open a rulebook. An objective playtest, not a pre-rules conversion to 4E is what I'm aiming for. We're starting a new campaign when this one winds down either way, and I'll be happy enough to retire this character. "I'm checking for traps". Again. Yawn.

Again, I'd suggest running the initial playtest without them. Do it concurrently with your current 3E game so they don't feel left out. If the other players like 4E, their enthusiasm will do far more to persuade the Paladin and the Bard than anything you could say.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Emphasis mine

Hello...there is you answer there...tell him to convert or he's cut off

(This thread has the humour tag, so I responded in a humorous way)

When I read the initial post I also thought that was the perfect way to get the DM/husband to convert!

I can see the confused look on the marriage counsellor's face now! "So let me get this straight, your wife refuses to put out because you won't convert to 4E? Is this some kind of new religion? "

Olaf the Stout

 

[smetzger]

Given that I'll probably be DM'ing it, I'll make sure I have a sturdy GM screen to protect me from hurled dice, but poison in the onion dip might be an issue.

Why not just say...

Why don't you run a 4e game? I assume you play weekly. You could alternate weeks between the two games.

 

[Darkwolf71]

Just tell them, "Look I spent the money on this one adventure. Give it a shot. If everyone still wants to stick woth 3.x after that, fine. All I'm asking for is a couple sessions to give this a shot because I think it might be cool neat."