D&D 4E How is the 4e announcement affecting your game groups?

[Ruin Explorer]

Talk of 4E got my old group back together to play 3.5E recently, and the players seem quite excited generally about 4E, if a little hesitant about learning new rules. Certainly a lot of 3.5E's flaws got shown up lately, and no-one is horrible attached, apart from my brother, who sometimes GMs, but mostly lives in Australia so can't be a regular part of the group.

 

[Remathilis]

The game I DM in has 5 players: one is new (and has no opinion, other than regret on dropping 30 on the PHB), one just played his first 3e game (he left during 2e and just came back) and three older players. One is neutral/ok with it (he just refuses to buy more than the PHB, we'll see if that holds) and the other is excited. One is generally PO'd about it (and his discussions sound an aweful lot like every anti-4e rant you can conjure to mind) but will probably buy it anyway, but not run it for a while until his other game is over. I personally am excited, and plan to take a break in my Eberron game to run my homebrew until the Eberron Guide comes out (or at least some decent conversions of Eberron elements)

My other group in which I play (of whom, I share two players, the neutral and the excited) is universally jazzed and plan on running it ASAP. (We're currently playing SW SAGA) Even if certain elements don't set their world on fire (one hates "warlord", another disliked the new tieflings background).

So the vast majority of my players are in the positive category, and even my hold-outs are going to give it a long look and a try before declaring an official opinion. (Which is the OPPOSITE for the second group, he hated the concept of 3e so much we played 2e until 3.5 came out. Then we convinced him).

 

[Bardsandsages]

Most of the people I game with would not have even been AWARE of the upcoming 4th edition if not for me bringing it up. Most of them don't have the time or inclination to visit gaming forums, and none of the local stores have made any mention of it. As far as I know, only one store in my area (and it is 45 minutes away) has even done any pre-publicity for 4e.

So any impact 4e has on my game group in the immediate future will be when I get the books and start using them as lab rats for the new system.

 

[kennew142]

Us too, that's why we've ported over many changes form Saga, implemented some variants from UA, and a few house-rules to make 3.5 less clunky/more fun/better math.

3.5 looked great on paper, but we found it broke down after playing solidly for over a year, especially at the higher levels.

The math of 3rd Ed is completely out of whack (ACs vs. Attacks, spell DCs etc).

We've also been house ruling pretty extensively in preparation for 4e. We've added Second Wind, changed to the SWSE skill system (we've guessed as to what skills to include) and may be trying out the new critical system. We added action points, reserve feats and sneak attacks for undead and constructs a long time ago. We also did away with level loss and all forms of xp expenditure years ago.

Just about every issue we've ever had with 3e has been addressed so far in the previews.

 

[MacMathan]

Let's see in my current group they are 6 of us most of whom DM and play. We all in our 30's and have between 3 & 25 years experience.

2 players are staying up with the 4e news and have the preview books.

1 player is slowly getting more interested in 4e as it grows closer

1 player is not reading much but is willing to try 4e out

2 players are not concerned either way much at all as they are not into the rules for any edition very much.

We have one campaign that will possibly have to be finished under 3.5e most of the others should be portable.

I have also been drafted to run a new 4e campaign as soon as the books come out and we can digest them.

As a side note; from my point of view it seems like not having an in paper form Dragon to hype the new edition has lead to greatly reduced enthusiasm and even basic knowledge of the upcoming changes.

 

[Lwaxy]

I'm running 2 D&D groups and play in 1, plus sometimes take over for a neighborhood DM when she's on night shift. We have custom rules implemented, based on 3.5 but heavily modified - complete with custom classes and races and feats and spells etc. Dragons also got changed already, coming close to what 4e is going to have. Asides, we've added stuff from GURPS and other sources. My hubby and me have a laaaaarge library including self written stuff. Plus, hubby programmed an auto-update Excel map for it all, so we aren't switching. Anything we like in 4e, we can implement without having any backwards compatibility issues.

As for the mood of the players...

Group 1 I'm running, 2 players - we also created a custom world with some weird extra house rules. My son (16) is in this group. We aren't switching, and wouldn't even if we'd not have such an extensive library in 3.5 because he's learning disabled and always takes long to remember rules. The other player (son's friend) does what son wants.

Group 2 I run couldn't switch if we wanted to - 13 players and me as DM, just done with season 2 of an Epic campaign with at least 13 seasons involving 13 worlds. We took more than 6 months to where we are now and that was only because during the Xmas holidays, we had our private convention and played nonstop. You can imagine how long it'll take (and yeah the group will survive, we did this twice before) before 4e would matter.

From those players, only 2 showed a vague interest in 4e, but quickly saw that we can adapt the few things we actually do like from there. 8 are outright against it and would probably quit. 3 others wouldn't care either way once the campaign is through.

The group I play in, 4 players and the DM, we just made our own world and some house rules and play 3.5. As we only get together once or twice are week, things are proceeding slow so there was no talk of 4e yet. But knowing the DM he'll stick to what we already have. I'd not mind trying it if he'd switch though.

The group of the DM I sometimes help out (5-9 players depending who can make it) doesn't care at all but does not want to make new characters, except for 2 of them. That's why they are happy with 3.5. Plus, of course, the DM isn't switching because she uses our Excel sheet Right now they are playing CoC though so who knows what they will really do afterwards.

I also run a SW RPG (7 + 5 players in 2 groups, but still same campaign) . The players expressed interest in trying D&D to do something different once this is over. They would all be ok with 4e and I think some of them might even buy the material. In this case I'd DM for them if they'd get me the books so I'd not have to spend more money.

 

[Steely Dan]

We've also been house ruling pretty extensively in preparation for 4e. We've added Second Wind, changed to the SWSE skill system (we've guessed as to what skills to include) and may be trying out the new critical system. We added action points, reserve feats and sneak attacks for undead and constructs a long time ago. We also did away with level loss and all forms of xp expenditure years ago.

Right on, we have implemented everything you have listed as well, and we will be using the new critical mechanic in our next session.


We have also implemented:

-Half character level as a bonus to AC, as we have removed rings of deflection and amulets of natural armour

-Saves are static defences (10 + half CL + class bonus + ability modifier)

-Removed flat-footed AC and replaced it with combat advantage (+2 to hit)

-Removed iterative attacks but characters gain + half CL as bonus to damage (feats like Double Attack are in)

-Spells use magic attack instead of DC's = + half caster level + ability modifier vs. Defence

-Charge is a standard action

-Withdraw is a move action

-No 5 ft. step

-Full Str bonus with off-hand weapons

-2 x Str bonus with two handed weapons

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I think most in my group are pretty interested in 4E. We're playing 3rd edition since at least 2001, and we have seen and done a lot in it. We liked the rules and gameplay the most, but the problems and shortcomings we encountered seem to be exactly of the ones that we see addressed in 4E (at least according to all significant previews.)

I lend my Races & Classes to one of my fellow gamers, and he said that he nodded several times when reading the thoughts of the designers on certain game aspects.

Another member of my group seemed pretty interested in the books for the artwork alone, and the R&C certainly helps feeling that 4E will do good in that area, too.

Otherwise, 4E has mainly changed a little bit on how I create my adventures - I am currently DMing an Iron Heroes campaign for my group (but the others also have their campaigns - Age of Worms, Savage Tides, a FR adventure path I don't know the name of, and a DSA campaign at the moment), and the thoughts on monster design for 4E made me more willing to "ignore" the fine print of the rules and just make a few things up - like simply doubling hit points of a monster, or adding some special abilities that it can use to work as a "solo" creature (in exchange increasing the CR, naturally). The Iron Heroes villain classes have also proven their worth in this regard, and I don't think I will ever bother to create "normal" NPCs with class levels.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we will test out the Book of Nine Swords (campaigns are on-going and unlikely to conclude before 4E arrives). The same applies to Starwars Saga edition, which I considered to DM, either as secondary campaign or replacing my Iron Heroes campaign.

 

[Roman]

I currently DM two groups with 3 and 4 PCs respectively.

There has not been much discussion of 4E in the first group. Two of the players are barely aware that 4E is coming, but want to stick with our current campaign and the current rules, since they see no reason to change. The third player knows more about the 4E rules and is opposed to switching. She likes 3.5E and does not like many of the changes that 4E presents. None of these players are going to buy the 4E books - that much is certain.

The second group has one player who is opposed to switching to 4E and dislikes the changes and one player who is enthusiastic about 4E. Another player is neutral and will play whatever the group plays. The fourth player is a newbie and will also play whatever the group plays, but is would prefer not to have to begin learning a new ruleset.

As the DM for both groups, I have decided that both of the campaigns will stick to 3.5E until their final conclusion, which is relatively close for the second group, but far away for the first group.

I am still sitting on the fence regarding 4E, but I am leaning increasingly towards the negative side despite my general readiness to accept change. It seems to me that 4E is designed to appeal to new players rather than satisfy the D&D veterans and given the fact that I am not a new player the game is not aimed at me. I also have a simulationist predisposition and 4E really does not seem to cater to simulationists. That said, I am still holding out some hope that new announcements will reduce my 4E concerns and there already are some things that I like about 4E, for example the fact that every class will get something at every level.

Barring major changes, I think will probably refrain from DMing 4E, but will be willing to play it if somebody else DMs, but my position is still maleable in both directions based on new information.

 

[DSRilk]

These days it's no big deal. All my friends and players are old enough where dropping $75 for a new set of books is no big deal. However, some of them are also opposed to change as a general rule. This went for 2e to 3e as well. In the end, I simply said, "this is the game I'm running" and basically it went ahead with no problem. While we can afford the books, one thing I remember from playing back when I was in my early teens, was that I didn't need books to play. Someone had a PH and we shared. Heck, the DMG wasn't even released when I started playing -- shows how important that book was. We had all the rules we needed, and modules had monster stats (or we made up new monsters and items).

If you're DMing, pick what's comfortable for you. DMing takes a lot of time and energy, and "requires" the biggest expenditure. If you have the books, there's no reason your players can't share the PHB for the first session of character generation, write down what their chosen powers do on a piece of paper, and you're good to go. Spell casters can share the book if necessary. Also, with a new addition comes a plethora of new abilities, so the "need" for diversity of classes is diminished. Playing a fighter in 4e will probably feel different from playing one in 3e.