Easilly assembled encounters, more character driven adventures?

[Patlin]

I'm hoping that 4e will be (as promised) significantly easier to DM than 3e was. While I could DM just about anything I could imagine in 3e, the process was simply too time consuming to maintain for long while working a full time job and raising a familly. Largely, I resorted to using Dungeon magazine. This saved a lot of time, but my campaigns as a result became less character driven -- the module writers over at Dungeon are good, but they couldn't know about the backstories of each of my individual characters and intertwine them into the plot.

I'm hoping that 4e will help me return to the DMing style I used in AD&D.... if your character is the son of a duke who's position was usurped by his brother, the new duke will at some point take note of the character's rise to power and seek to have him eliminated before he becomes a threat. Reclaiming the Dutchy may eventually become the central thread of the campaign. If you've noted specific enemies on your character sheet, you better be on the look out for them because they're going to be on the look out for you.

A lot of this is lost when relying on published modules. I plan to swear off using published modules for my first 4e campaign, and I'm really looking forward to the idea. I just hope encounter design is as painless as advertised.

 

[Sojorn]

The touted "easier to DM" feature got my attention as well.

But in my case it's because I want to trade off DMing and no one else in my group feels up to the job with the current batch of systems. So I can point at that and at least get someone else to *try* running it.

 

[Patlin]

I am spoiled in that respect, just about everyone in my group takes a turn in the DM spot.

 

[Irda Ranger]

I'm hoping that 4e will help me return to the DMing style I used in AD&D....

This is my hope as well. I like a very free form, story driven, character driven campaign. The world is a sandbox wherein the PCs can choose their own priorities and quests.

This only works though when you can improvise NPCs, encounters and monsters on the fly (or read them right out of a book). Since I don't know where the quest will go before we sit down (any more than the PCs do at any rate) there's no way I can have NPCs designed ahead of time.

As you can imagine, 3E was not my cup of tea. There's a reason I got into C&C and Burning Wheel. I really hope I can return to D&D without sacrificing the kind of play I and my group enjoy.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I believe it will deliver as promised.

 

[Dragonblade]

The seed of my dissatisfaction of 3e was my realization a couple years ago that running homebrew became more effort than it was worth past level 6 or so. If it wasn't for the Dungeon Adventure Paths, my group would have probably quit playing D&D altogether.

But even Adventure Paths are ultimately unsatisfying since you are pretty much railroaded. If you deviate from the railroad the campaign dies because the DM is now running homebrew again. This happened several times in our group, until the players and DM effectively decided that we would accept the railroad if we wanted to play.

I had sort of resigned myself that my D&D gaming was destined to slowly die as we got tired of premade adventures. 4e has completely changed all that. Talk of new 4e homebrew games has revitalized my group's interest in playing.

When I DMed 2e, I often ran multi-session story arcs off nothing more than a paragraph on a sheet of notebook paper. I never had to spend time prepping anything, reviewing monster stats, spell buffs, etc. If combat broke out, I could literally run monsters out of the MM with nothing more than a quick couple minute read through the stat block.

I expect 4e to give that gaming style back to me.

 

[Stalker0]

I think the big thing will be it will be easier for a DM to improvise encounters on the fly at higher levels.

Currently in high level, dms often have to do a lot of planning, both in creating monsters, running them, but also taking into account the menagerie of things high level characters can do to bypass standard dm tactics.

If this has in fact been streamlined in 4e, then it will be much easier for a dm to take a few monsters, throw something together, and have it be a good encounter as opposed to just a waste of time.

Further, if 4e's xp system is superior in accuracy to 3e's CR system, dms will have an easier time eyeballing difficulty.

 

[Lizard]

When I DMed 2e, I often ran multi-session story arcs off nothing more than a paragraph on a sheet of notebook paper. I never had to spend time prepping anything, reviewing monster stats, spell buffs, etc. If combat broke out, I could literally run monsters out of the MM with nothing more than a quick couple minute read through the stat block.

I expect 4e to give that gaming style back to me.

Last night's game (3x): About ten minutes of prep==3 hours of game.
Picked monsters from the book (MM and TOH2); ran them as is. Came up with the next arc of the adventure when specifiying treasure. (First I wanted a ring with a sigil...then I decided to add in some more items with the same sign...then I created the royal family to which they belonged, tossed a few plot hooks into them, and presto! Next game is planned.)

Granted, it's still low level -- 6-7 -- but I just don't have this whole "I need six hours to prep!" meme going. In 8 years of running 3x, it's very rare I ever have anything done more than 2 hours before go time. (If a fight seems too easy or too hard, wing it. Have another monster come in and make it look like you planned it all along. Or decide that someone had 20 fewer hit points than you originally noted. This is DM 101.)

Fights in 4e seem like MORE work to me, because everything has to be the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny with exploding terrain, hordes of minions, and giant whirlygigs of doom. You can't just run into an ettin thug who's the mind controlled pawn of a bloodsucking tree anymore.

 

[The Little Raven]

You can't just run into an ettin thug who's the mind controlled pawn of a bloodsucking tree anymore.

Sounds like a personal limitation to me.

 

[Lizard]

Sounds like a personal limitation to me.

Might be, but that's not how it's being spun....