For the first time... apprehension

[Orius]

My mother in law plays WOW for pete's sake.

Heh. You know, this sounds like it could be the beginning of a new trend. If people hate their in-laws, and everyone's a bunch of WoW players, all you have to do to deal with the stress of dealing with them is log on and gank them.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Possibly. Do any of us know how popular gnomes were in AD&D? In my experience, this isn't the case. I've encountered one gnome PC in 28 years of D&D gaming. I don't know what other's experiences show. I've never seen so much gnomophilia as on the ENWorld forums.

Agreed; I'm continuously surprised by the amount of people who actually like them.

 

[Najo]

Go buy Races and Classes. It will remove your apprehension.

 

[Dormammu]

Go buy Races and Classes. It will remove your apprehension.

Possibly. I looked at Races and Classes and decided not to buy it (just tonight, in fact). My reading of it at the bookstore implied that they are going very much toward the wargaming aspect which is in fact much more like WoW than I would have preferred. I'm still interested because I don't have a lot of attachment to 3E, but they seem to only care about combat in 4E.

 

[Counterspin]

But I like my mother in law.

 

[VirgilCaine]

For what it's worth, "I've only read a few..." isn't very solid ground to base your all-caps "FAIL" assessment on, I would say.

I feel pretty confident about the extreme lack of spellcasters, spells, and magic items in the Conan stories I've read being very different from D&D.

 

[Satori]

I'm WAY behind the times here...

...Anyways, I'll stop now, I just wanted to get some weight behind my feelings. Maybe some of you can ease my fears, I'm sure I'll get a flame or two. Maybe I'm just overreacting... but I've never been hesitant about a new edition before... those issues just jumped out at me.

Sometimes I feel like eating Italian food, and so my wife and I pack up and go to this little hole in the wall place that we've frequented for 10 years or so.

The food is consistently decent, the prices are ok, we know the menu by heart, and all the staff know us by name. However, it takes a long time to get service and the menu options haven't changed in over a decade.

On occasion, though, I want quick, cheap Mexican food. When I want a burrito, I go to this tiny, authentic Mexican food place down the street. The prices are super cheap, I get my food within minutes, and the food is ok. However, the quality isn't as good as the Italian place, people are kind of rude, and the menu changes all the time.

---

My point? (aside from making myself hungry)

Just because something new comes out does NOT mean you have to throw away all your old books.

When you want a good, old fashioned 70's style game, pull out the ODnD and squash those critters while plunging those dungeons.

When you want a fluffy, crunch-lite game of flavor, pull out the 90's 2nd Edition ADnD and attempt to overthrow the lazy government of X city while defining your chosen deity's portfolio as their chosen.

When you want a flavorful, tactically combative and crunch heavy game with a new, fresh feel...pull out 3.x Edition and destroy some continents with your Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berzerker/Blackguard.

When you want a 3.x Edition game with quicker combat, simpler mechanics, and a fresh new flavor...pull out 4th Edition!

So don't stress. If anything, WotC is just giving us even MORE toys and options with which to spend our disposable income and enrich our lives.

 

[Rechan]

My reading of it at the bookstore implied that they are going very much toward the wargaming aspect which is in fact much more like WoW than I would have preferred. I'm still interested because I don't have a lot of attachment to 3E, but they seem to only care about combat in 4E.

... Wha?

Since when has D&D not been about combat and wargaming? It came out of Chainmail, a war game for crying out loud! In 1e you got XP for killing things and taking its money. That's combat focused. With 3e's emphasis on spell durations, facing, positioning on a map, et al, it is a wargame.

 

[BadMojo]

... Wha?

Since when has D&D not been about combat and wargaming? It came out of Chainmail, a war game for crying out loud! In 1e you got XP for killing things and taking its money. That's combat focused. With 3e's emphasis on spell durations, facing, positioning on a map, et al, it is a wargame.

I will add that the whole "kill things and take their stuff" approach to adventuring is much more REH than Tolkien. There wasn't much "save the world" stuff going on in OD&D or 1st Ed. for that matter. Conan and Co. didn't adventure to save kingdoms, worlds, etc. They adventured for money and power.

The bits I've heard about the adventures coming out for 4E make them sound more along the lines of 1E classics. I don't think it's coincidence that Goodman has been doing great business selling these types of adventures.

Edit: That was a rambling way of saying that I think 4E will focus much more on a sword and sorcery style of play, which is just as much a part of D&D history as Lord of the Rings. For the record, I'm also in my 30's and have never played WoW or any other MMORPG.

 

[Rechan]

On the contrary, BadMojo, I think there indeed will be saving the world stuff in there.

Heroic tier, I suspect, will be more S&S. But Paragon and Epic sound more like "Saving the Day" type stuff, to me.