D&D 4E How do you feel about 4E right *now*? (week of 1/21/08)

[Reynard]

I was thinking mostly of wandering monsters, and also the benefits of looting without having to fight - in my experience gold XP sufficiently swamped monster XP that if you could get the gold without fighting that was a good thing.

Also, fighting is a good way to get to dying.

 

[Dragonblade]

Thumbs way up from me. If I wasn't committed to my current game, I'd quit running 3.5 in a heart beat.

In fact, I have been burned out on 3.5 for a while. Although I don't mind playing, DMing has become a chore for me. 4e has really revitalized my interest in the game, and really has me interested in DMing my own material again. Something I haven't done in about 5 years.

 

[Chuangel]

Thumbs up!

D&D 3.5 was cool before I was married and had time to play for 8 hours at a time, but when you reduce that down to a three or four hour period, you can only get like three or four encounters in. When you're only playing once a month or so, a campaign can take years because each quest is like three to four sessions long. I'm finishing up a campaign now (as DM) that has been going on for a year and a half and each quest they gained a level from fighting three different battles (yeah, I had to like triple the experience, pretty lame).

I was a little skeptical at first, when they claimed to be increasing the amount of customization your character had while making the actual gameplay simpler... then I played SAGA Edition. Now I have faith in them. Now you can go through a whole big adventure in about half the time it took before. You spend more time playing a less time bookkeeping, and I think that is key. It just makes it more fun. I understand you need to have a robust rules system, but SAGA proved that it doesn't have to be complex. You want complex? Play a computer game, then the computer takes care of the bookkeeping.

Sorry, pretty longwinded, but as a person who absolutely loves the game but doesn't have much time to play at a time, I'm all for streamlined gameplay, and the added character customization you can do between sessions.

 

[Desdichado]

Thumbs up. Looks cool. I still won't buy it, though.

 

[Donovan Morningfire]

Thumbs up. I like the little bits and pieces that we're seeing, as well as the pre-4e material that's been released like Bo9S (my favorite 3.5e supplement by a mile) and SW Saga Edition (which could be seen as 4e beta).

Only reason my initial purchasing of 4e material will be limited to the PHB is I prefer to run modern/sci-fi/space opera games as opposed to fantasy-types, and thus have limited (if really any) need for the DMG or MM1. That may change, particularly if I can scavenge material from those two for SECR.

 

[Steely Dan]

Thumbs up. Looks cool. I still won't buy it, though.

Why not?

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Well, I could always go back to Vampire and Mage, like I did after being turned off by 2e.

NWOD.
Mucking around with Disciplines? Completely changing Mages' conception and flavor? I might as well be playing D&D!

 

[Stormtower]

Thumbs down, but...

1. I am signed up for the two "4e Living Forgotten Realms Preview" games at DDXP this year. A good friend, who's involved in LFR for the RPGA asked me to try it, and why not? If the game is smashing fun to play, I can still be convinced to play.

2. I still feel that I have much to do with my 3.5 material that will last many, many years. Honestly as a DM, I will probably never need another FRPG system than D&D 3.5. I won't invest in 4e DDI, splatbooks, etc.

Come this summer, I expect to be playing 3.5, running 3.5, and possibly playing 4e, depending on how the preview games go at DDXP. As a DM I've made my lifetime $$ investment in 3.5 and I'm happy with my (lightly houseruled) D&D 3.5.

 

[Tiberius]

NWOD.
Mucking around with Disciplines? Completely changing Mages' conception and flavor? I might as well be playing D&D!

nMage can burn. I'd go with MRev crunch with M2nd fluff.

I do prefer oVampire, but I'd be willing to give Requiem a go.

 

[Stormtalon]

I take your point. There will be other sorts of challenges than combat - that's pretty clear, I think. But I don't think there will be quest/goal XP of the sort you're talking about.

It might be possible to easily jack on such a system, but I think you'd want to make sure that it still rewarded detailed exploration, by players in play, of their various character abilities - which will be mostly combat focused. A variant on this would be awarding XP only for challenges that are motivated in a certain way (by goals/quests) - this might require very little change to the mechanics but reduce the pressure to grind.

Actually, they've stated that there are going to be explicit quest rules, and that the DM can even hand out quest cards as reminders for the players.

If I recall correctly, that caused a bit of consternation and cries "Ack -- they're going to require you to buy collectible quest cards" and other unwarranted conclusions. There's a thread around here regarding it somewhere....