Origins is winding down. I am back in my hotel room waiting for my wife to return from visiting friends so that we can go grab some lunch. This break seems an appropriate time to reflect on the convention, specifically the 5E game I played in this morning. For those of you who may be interested, I'll write more about the con in general on my Deviant Art journal (I'm prodigal-gamer there if you are interested).
So, I played in the 5E playtest this morning. We played Defiance in Phlan, the delve-style event that is scheduled to run at GenCon. So, if you are planning to play in said game at a later date, be warned, there are spoilers ahead. During the four hour block, we were able to play through four of the five possible component adventures. As it was a playtest, a lot of emphasis was placed on how long it took us to play through each adventure.
Shawn Merwin (sorry if I botched the spelling), who I believe has been heavily involved in previous iterations of D&D organized play, did an excellent job with the game. He kept us on pace, but also allowed time for role-playing-- especially where that was the emphasis of the adventure. Applause to him.
The party was composed entirely of pre-gens. I played Tikey Clif, halfling ranger. The party also included a half-elf rogue; dwarven fighter; paladin; wizard; and cleric.
In the first adventure, we were dispatched by a Harper to meet with individuals with a dragon egg for sale. We were supposed to buy the egg (with fake diamonds), plant a magical tracking device on the sellers, then return the egg for neutralization (i.e. destruction). We conducted the transaction and planted the magical pin without difficulty (with some planning and pretty average roll by our rogue). After we made the transaction, we were accosted by the local thieves' guild, called the Welcomers. Evidently, these guys mark themselves by cutting of one of their ears. They had a leader type, two rogues with swords, and two other rogues (hiding in the hayloft) with nets and crossbows. We dealt with them in a little under 30 minutes and returned the egg to our Harper contact. The egg turned out to be fake.
As an aside, I think that it is incredibly stupid (but kind of flavorful), for a thieves' guild to mark its members by cutting off ears. I wanted to suggest cutting off the other ear of the one we took alive "as a promotion in the guild," but I didn't think our paladin would have gone for it.
The second adventure was a straight-forward rescue the captured farmers from the goblins. It had more fights than the first adventure (two rather than one), and some time was also given over to finding and disarming traps. Goblins are tricksy buggers. I will also say that they die easily, but do okay damage, so watch out for encountering them in large numbers. At the end of the adventure, we rescued a Zhentarim agent who had also been captured by the goblins (while investigating their lair-- which was rumored to have previously belonged to a now dead dragon).
Okay, here's another aside. I hate the Harpers. It seems they work by contacting novice adventurers to take on important missions. The Zhentarim, in my mind at least, have the balls to send their agents out (alone!) to explore a rumored dragon's lair. If I get a chance to play in this campaign at all, I'm totally going to align my first character with the Zhentarim. Zhents rule, Harpers drool!
The third adventure was heavily focused on role-playing and investigation. We were tasked, by a member of the Emerald Enclave, with finding out which patron of Madame Fionna's Teahhouse was carrying a potentially dangerous magical relic. I'll try to avoid spoilers here because of the nature of the adventure. This particular adventure could go very badly with a passive group.
The fourth adventure involved digging up the body of a long dead noblewoman rumored to have actually been a dragon. It featured a puzzle (two actually) which, again, I'll not spoil, and a couple of fights with monsters that one might expect to fight when digging up bodies of a long dead noblewoman.
In general, I felt like I accomplished, in each scenario, almost what I would have accomplished in a four hour Living Forgotten Realms scenario. That said, the early LFR modules usually included 3-4 combat; here we never had more than two in an hour-long session. Still, I think that's pretty cool that one could play through a 5E version of a typical LFR adventure in about two hours. I am curious to see what kinds of stories will be able to be told during four hour blocks of play.
The base system is simple to learn, especially for someone who has previously played any version of D&D; but with this simplicity comes the simple fact that there won't always be rules to cover a given situation. I think players who have had a lot of experience with 3.X and 4E are going to have to change the way they think about the game. For example, there was a debate between one player and the DM about how many goblins could be included in an area of effect spell. In 3.X and 4E, the answer should be obvious; in 5E, it isn't-- especially to someone with a 3.X/4E mindset. The issue was a little clouded because we were using maps drawn on 1" grids, but no miniatures. The DM pointed out that where in the room the goblins happened to be; and based on this information, the player thought he could blast four of them. The DM, I think, thought it was more reasonable to say that he could only blast three of them. I personally think the DM was in the right; but I can easily see where someone else might side with the player. It would probably not be an issue had there not been a gridded map at all, just a roughly sketched (and smaller scale one). With 5E if you accept the DMs ruling and run with things, you'll get a lot done. If you stop to argue rules (especially where no rules exist to support either side), it could potentially bog down the game.
Now for some random thoughts...
Bless is very powerful. Every cleric should be able to cast it-- and every party should have a cleric. Bless lasts for ten minutes and gives the party members a +d4 to all attack rolls and saves. Nice! We had it up in pretty much every combat. Also, clerics are great for healing. If you don't have a cleric, your party will have a much harder time getting through a given adventure. Paladins can do some healing, but it seems like it is only enough to get a downed cleric back on his feet.
My ranger switched easily from melee to ranged combat. I liked that I could do so without having to spend a lot of feats (any really) to be competent at it.
Magic Missile is also quite powerful-- three missiles at first level; no roll to hit; d4+1 damage; spread between targets as the wizard desires.
5E is a quick, easy, fun game that will hopefully pick up a lot of new, casual players. Hopefully, those players will become lifelong gamers. Unless the new DMG is just packed with good information, I'm not sure that 5E will ever appeal to those players who crave rules mastery. And (and I know I'm not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction) if alternate rules systems are employed, will that hurt the simplicity that attracts those new players? I don't know.
Alright, I'm rambling now.
So, I played in the 5E playtest this morning. We played Defiance in Phlan, the delve-style event that is scheduled to run at GenCon. So, if you are planning to play in said game at a later date, be warned, there are spoilers ahead. During the four hour block, we were able to play through four of the five possible component adventures. As it was a playtest, a lot of emphasis was placed on how long it took us to play through each adventure.
Shawn Merwin (sorry if I botched the spelling), who I believe has been heavily involved in previous iterations of D&D organized play, did an excellent job with the game. He kept us on pace, but also allowed time for role-playing-- especially where that was the emphasis of the adventure. Applause to him.
The party was composed entirely of pre-gens. I played Tikey Clif, halfling ranger. The party also included a half-elf rogue; dwarven fighter; paladin; wizard; and cleric.
In the first adventure, we were dispatched by a Harper to meet with individuals with a dragon egg for sale. We were supposed to buy the egg (with fake diamonds), plant a magical tracking device on the sellers, then return the egg for neutralization (i.e. destruction). We conducted the transaction and planted the magical pin without difficulty (with some planning and pretty average roll by our rogue). After we made the transaction, we were accosted by the local thieves' guild, called the Welcomers. Evidently, these guys mark themselves by cutting of one of their ears. They had a leader type, two rogues with swords, and two other rogues (hiding in the hayloft) with nets and crossbows. We dealt with them in a little under 30 minutes and returned the egg to our Harper contact. The egg turned out to be fake.
As an aside, I think that it is incredibly stupid (but kind of flavorful), for a thieves' guild to mark its members by cutting off ears. I wanted to suggest cutting off the other ear of the one we took alive "as a promotion in the guild," but I didn't think our paladin would have gone for it.
The second adventure was a straight-forward rescue the captured farmers from the goblins. It had more fights than the first adventure (two rather than one), and some time was also given over to finding and disarming traps. Goblins are tricksy buggers. I will also say that they die easily, but do okay damage, so watch out for encountering them in large numbers. At the end of the adventure, we rescued a Zhentarim agent who had also been captured by the goblins (while investigating their lair-- which was rumored to have previously belonged to a now dead dragon).
Okay, here's another aside. I hate the Harpers. It seems they work by contacting novice adventurers to take on important missions. The Zhentarim, in my mind at least, have the balls to send their agents out (alone!) to explore a rumored dragon's lair. If I get a chance to play in this campaign at all, I'm totally going to align my first character with the Zhentarim. Zhents rule, Harpers drool!
The third adventure was heavily focused on role-playing and investigation. We were tasked, by a member of the Emerald Enclave, with finding out which patron of Madame Fionna's Teahhouse was carrying a potentially dangerous magical relic. I'll try to avoid spoilers here because of the nature of the adventure. This particular adventure could go very badly with a passive group.
The fourth adventure involved digging up the body of a long dead noblewoman rumored to have actually been a dragon. It featured a puzzle (two actually) which, again, I'll not spoil, and a couple of fights with monsters that one might expect to fight when digging up bodies of a long dead noblewoman.
In general, I felt like I accomplished, in each scenario, almost what I would have accomplished in a four hour Living Forgotten Realms scenario. That said, the early LFR modules usually included 3-4 combat; here we never had more than two in an hour-long session. Still, I think that's pretty cool that one could play through a 5E version of a typical LFR adventure in about two hours. I am curious to see what kinds of stories will be able to be told during four hour blocks of play.
The base system is simple to learn, especially for someone who has previously played any version of D&D; but with this simplicity comes the simple fact that there won't always be rules to cover a given situation. I think players who have had a lot of experience with 3.X and 4E are going to have to change the way they think about the game. For example, there was a debate between one player and the DM about how many goblins could be included in an area of effect spell. In 3.X and 4E, the answer should be obvious; in 5E, it isn't-- especially to someone with a 3.X/4E mindset. The issue was a little clouded because we were using maps drawn on 1" grids, but no miniatures. The DM pointed out that where in the room the goblins happened to be; and based on this information, the player thought he could blast four of them. The DM, I think, thought it was more reasonable to say that he could only blast three of them. I personally think the DM was in the right; but I can easily see where someone else might side with the player. It would probably not be an issue had there not been a gridded map at all, just a roughly sketched (and smaller scale one). With 5E if you accept the DMs ruling and run with things, you'll get a lot done. If you stop to argue rules (especially where no rules exist to support either side), it could potentially bog down the game.
Now for some random thoughts...
Bless is very powerful. Every cleric should be able to cast it-- and every party should have a cleric. Bless lasts for ten minutes and gives the party members a +d4 to all attack rolls and saves. Nice! We had it up in pretty much every combat. Also, clerics are great for healing. If you don't have a cleric, your party will have a much harder time getting through a given adventure. Paladins can do some healing, but it seems like it is only enough to get a downed cleric back on his feet.
My ranger switched easily from melee to ranged combat. I liked that I could do so without having to spend a lot of feats (any really) to be competent at it.
Magic Missile is also quite powerful-- three missiles at first level; no roll to hit; d4+1 damage; spread between targets as the wizard desires.
5E is a quick, easy, fun game that will hopefully pick up a lot of new, casual players. Hopefully, those players will become lifelong gamers. Unless the new DMG is just packed with good information, I'm not sure that 5E will ever appeal to those players who crave rules mastery. And (and I know I'm not supposed to start a sentence with a conjunction) if alternate rules systems are employed, will that hurt the simplicity that attracts those new players? I don't know.
Alright, I'm rambling now.
