D&D 3E/3.5 Does 4e sound more D&Dish to you than 3e did?

[Gentlegamer]

One of my earliest D&D memories is the old Return to Brookmere "Choose Your Own Adventure", where you're an elf going back to your old stomping grounds that has been overrun by gnolls, kobolds and other beasties. And YES, there is a scene with Green Slime that to this day has made me scared of it. It was definitely glossed over in 3e in favor of flashier dungeon evils.

Heed the warning of the Mouth of Mim!

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

Most of the fluff and attitude I've seen so far say, "Hey, we've moved beyond you in terms of stories you can tell because we want a new generation to be able to tell this stories of farm boys in dangerous worlds" as opposed to say me running a highly political adventure in Waterdeep with a host of power players and deities involving themselves in things. (Or basically anything other than the 'points of light' campaign which should just be ONE campaign model not the default in my humble opinion.)

It strikes me that a highly political, deific meddling heavy campaign centering on a single high-magic city is in and of itself so far divorced from the core offering of 3.x that this seems like a justification.

 

[frankthedm]

One thing that I really, really like about 4e is how it's going to make groups of orcs the default assumption for encounters with orcs, rather than just a couple.

[IMagel]http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/5963/outnumberedjh2.th.png[/IMaGel] More foes instead of stronger foes is something i too am in favor of. My character is not earning XP for his foes to level up. I Much prefer a system designed to challenge my character with a horde of mooks rather than with a small squad of barbarian suspiciously close to my own level. Bosses and bad ass monsters are one thing, but the rank and file should be cleave bait. Now this CAN be done with 3E, but the default measuring stick for challenges is based on the players outnumbering their foe 4 to 1. 4E's 5 on 5 looks to be much more ready for greater masses of at least semi significant foes.

 

[Exen Trik]

I don't think it is more accurately D&Dish, but I do think it will be more thickly D&Dish; heartier, creamier and with more chunky bits per serving.

...And now I'm hungry.

 

[DragonLancer]

Does 4e sound more D&Dish to you than 3e did?

Sorry, but no. 4E sounds less and less like D&D with every new snippet of information.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

I don't think it is more accurately D&Dish, but I do think it will be more thickly D&Dish; heartier, creamier and with more chunky bits per serving.

...And now I'm hungry.

Wow...that's a perfect sample of what annoys me with the official WotC announcements, too...lots of nice pictures, no real substance as to what it's supposed to mean. Is marketing speak contagious?

 

[Aeolius]

No. 4e sounds less D&Dish to me than 3e does. Mind you, 2e sounded less D&Dish to me than 1e did, so I skipped 2e. 3e, to me, is closer to 1e than it is 2e.

 

[Exen Trik]

Wow...that's a perfect sample of what annoys me with the official WotC announcements, too...lots of nice pictures, no real substance as to what it's supposed to mean. Is marketing speak contagious?

Possibly, but the bug I caught is more along the lines of just being a silly bastage.

I find the entire premise of the thread silly, to be honest - I mean, "more D&D"? The game will be what it always was: what you make of it. And it will probably be just a bit better at it than it was before, with just a little more balance, a little more speed, and a little more potential to be shaped to your design.

And just because the substantial information isn't coming out as quickly as you like, doesn't mean they are being disingenuous or evasive. We still have months until the game comes out, even if they spoiled everything between now and then (hint: they won't) it wouldn't be much faster than this. If you want to call that marketing speak then fine, but I'm not about to call it reasonable.


Anyways, I didn't mean to rant on with this. I've just come to point out the absurd, and my job here is done!

*flies away*

 

[Imaro]

Possibly, but the bug I caught is more along the lines of just being a silly bastage.

I find the entire premise of the thread silly, to be honest - I mean, "more D&D"? The game will be what it always was: what you make of it. And it will probably be just a bit better at it than it was before, with just a little more balance, a little more speed, and a little more potential to be shaped to your design.

And just because the substantial information isn't coming out as quickly as you like, doesn't mean they are being disingenuous or evasive. We still have months until the game comes out, even if they spoiled everything between now and then (hint: they won't) it wouldn't be much faster than this. If you want to call that marketing speak then fine, but I'm not about to call it reasonable.


Anyways, I didn't mean to rant on with this. I've just come to point out the absurd, and my job here is done!

*flies away*

Emphasis mine,

With all the promises of 20 goblins vs. a party of PC's it better be substantially quicker than "a little". This is what worries me. The designers are making alot of promises about this and I haven't seen one mechanic that actually addresses the speed of play or running combats. Yet I continue to see people throw this out there like they have hard solid facts that prove this game is easier to run.

 

[Mercule]

Yes and no.

A lot of the atmosphere (the planes, points of light, eladrins, warlocks) seem much more D&Dish -- even if they changed the name for real elves and started calling some poseurs "elf". I am very excited about this.

On the other hand, tieflings in the PHB are decidedly un-D&Dish and foul the mix. I don't think there's enough cheap whiskey in the world to get me to think that's a good idea.

I've never cared for the Asmodeus fettish that some people seem to have and strongly dislike him being elevated to a different category than Demogorgon, Orcus, Grazzt, Mephistopheles, Dispater, etc. If Asmodeus is a god, then so are the rest of the Dukes of Hell and Demon Princes. If they aren't then neither is he. Period and not open to discussion, IMO.

I am skeptical, though warming, to the "per encounter" resources. They aren't traditionally D&D, but that doesn't mean they won't enhance the D&D feel of the game. I just didn't care for their implementation in Tome of Battle.

Likewise, I like the idea of combat styles and martial maneuvers. Hearing that they're decended from ToB maneuvers, though, gives me a bit of pause. Diamond Mind and Iron Heart are D&Dish enough, but Desert Wind certainly is not.