How to run a 4th Edition Campaign When You're Used to 3rd Edition?

[Crazy Jerome]

1. Don't get too caught up in the letter of the treasure parcel system. The parcel system is in there so that a new DM (new to 4E at least) can follow a formula and have the party get the expected amount of treasure. However, magic items in 4E are weak enough that you can get away with a lot of variation. If most of the party has weapon, armor, and neck slot items with a plus equal to level/5 (round up), then you are alright. But that doesn't mean that everyone needs +2 everything at 8th, exactly. it means that sometime between roughly 6 and 10, they need to be picking up +2 items. And even if you get outside those boundaries a bit, you'll be ok. You just don't want, say, a 15th level party with nothing but +1 stuff, unless you've compensated them some other way (e.g. inherent bonuses).

Once you get what the treasure parcel system is trying to achieve, you can use it or ignore it as much as you find convenient.

2. When changing encounter thinking from earlier editions to 4E, expand the scope of what you used to call an "encounter". This will help you better visualize how to model what was happening in 4E. This was touched on in earlier advice, but my take is one from a "challenge sandbox" perspective, where the encounter is what it is, and it is up to the players to deal with it.

For example, say in 3E that you have a goblin lair, and you had several weak encounters near the entrance. The players can pick off sentries a few at a time, cast some healing, buff, and then move onto the next group. The kill the goblins in room A, then rinse and repeat for room B, hall C, and alcove D.

In 4E, look at that same map, and you notice that A-D are all close together. Then maybe there is a long passage or a thick door before the next several groups of goblins. You want some interesting terrain features, space to move, and a meaningful "encounter". That map and setup is telling you something. It is telling you that A-D are all really one "encounter".

With appropriate mix of minions and standard, and maybe one elite as a leader, you can easily fit the XP budget into enough goblins to make a tough encounter. Because it is spread out, and not a bunch of goblins on a flat plain, you can afford to make it a bit tougher than normal (L+1 to L+2). Then you notice that there is no reason why the alcove can't be a balcony, with a ledge, and a stairwell curving in from the hall. Put in a few pieces of furnishings or a firepit or the like, and you've got a interesting location now.

Now, tweak the goblins' motivations and warning setup so that the most likely outcome of the party going into room A is the start of a running fight that involves all four areas and all the goblins. If the party is exceptionally clever or lucky, they will be able to divide and conquer (using probably only at-wills and encounters) and thus save resources. If they blunder in, they'll have goblins pouring out from all directions and may need to burn a few dailies. So how tough the fight becomes is more about what the players do than how you change things as it goes. If they are exceptionally ill-prepared and unlucky, they'll get mauled, but not killed. As a first fight, it isn't tough enough to kill, excepting maybe a controller or striker that runs off alone. But it is strong enough to send them back out to rest, if they aren't reasonably careful.

This way, you still have two weak goblin guards at the door, and your map is more or less the same. You've simply changed what "encounter" means to better fit the 4E thinking.

 

[MadMaxim]

Thanks for all the great suggestions everybody. In a way I think that 4th edition will actually be easier to DM than 3rd edition because it's generally harder to screw up encounters if you just stay within the XP budget for combat encounters. I can easily remember how swingy Challenge Ratings could be with the different racial Hit Dice and so on whereas in 4th edition everything can be boiled down to different roles. As some of you mentioned, I have read some of the DMG (I also have the DMG 2, but haven't read anything in it, really), but I guess I basically have to forget some of the parts of 3.5 and learn 4th edition instead and that fluff and crunch are not dependant on each other.

 

[mkill]

In a way I think that 4th edition will actually be easier to DM than 3rd edition because it's generally harder to screw up encounters if you just stay within the XP budget for combat encounters.

Yes. One of the few things that almost everybody agrees on when it comes to 4th edition is that it makes the DM job a hell lot easier. It does take a bit of relearning the craft, though, so I agree with everyone here that it's worthwhile to read the DMG to understand the changes.

One big difference between 3rd and 4th edition that is not immediately apparent is the basic philosophy of good combat.

In 3rd edition, combat is often like a very sophisiticated version of rock-paper-scissors. For every spell, every monster, every resistance, every tactic there is a counter, and system mastery is about learning all the interactions. Take the fight between Vaarsuvius and Zz'dtri in the latest Order of the Stick strips as an illustration.

Combat in 4th edition, however, is a miniature skirmish game. Each PC and each monster has their assigned combat role, and effective tactics depend on teamwork, using these role abilities to the fullest. The difficulty of encounters depends a lot on how smart the DM is able to play monsters according to their roles.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Thanks for all the great suggestions everybody. In a way I think that 4th edition will actually be easier to DM than 3rd edition because it's generally harder to screw up encounters if you just stay within the XP budget for combat encounters. I can easily remember how swingy Challenge Ratings could be with the different racial Hit Dice and so on whereas in 4th edition everything can be boiled down to different roles. As some of you mentioned, I have read some of the DMG (I also have the DMG 2, but haven't read anything in it, really), but I guess I basically have to forget some of the parts of 3.5 and learn 4th edition instead and that fluff and crunch are not dependant on each other.

Firstly, there isn't a complete split between fluff and crunch in 4e. It's simply that there's a resolution level. By the rules as written, Web isn't massively more detailed than an ordinary lock - or less detailed. The rules just take you close and you fill in the detail yourselves. It's detailed enough to make sure there aren't large discrepancies in the shared narrative or expectations between player and DM while smoothing over the details so it doesn't get bogged down. This also makes reskinning either PC abilities or monsters very easy.

But you're absolutely right. 4e is incredibly easy to DM. The MM1 and 2 are obselete (MM1 has been replaced by Monster Vault). But with all of Monster Vault, Monster Manual 3, the Dark Sun Creature Catalog, and the Nentir Vale Monster Vault (excellent book btw), monsters behave very close to the way their levels would indicate. Just remember that if you aren't using a solo the 4e monsters are designed for combined arms with each other - e.g. artillery does only 75% baseline damage in close combat but 125% at range, whereas Brutes do 125% damage in melee (and seldom anything at range). All artillery and they will just get chopped up, but artillery behind brutes is nasty. Other than that (and needing to play minions by eye as wizard heavy parties can make a mockery of them) you can play them straight out of the book - no tailoring required other than a quick reskin.

 

[The Little Raven]

If you and your whole group are entirely new to 4e, I'd recommend taking some time to play around with it (by the book) and not launch into a campaign that you're all invested in until everyone has shaken out the ingrained 3.5isms that are hard to get rid of at first.

I took Dungeon Delve and ran every encounter in it in a row, without doing any story. We learned the feel of the game at various levels, as well as understanding the basic rules and some of the subtleties of the tactical system, and when we launched into our next campaign, everyone was up to speed.

 

[Kobold Boots]

Little Raven beat me to it, but what I'd suggest you do if starting a new campaign is find a 4e adventure path that you like the feel of and simply run it. Over time as you get familiar with how things set up, diverge from it if you feel it necessary.

You'll spare yourself a lot of headaches as the encounters and such should be balanced and you can add your flair as you see fit.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, DDI has some pretty decent adventures (some bricks too but nothing terrible). The 'Chaos Scar' series of adventures can be pretty handy. They're all lower level (mostly below 5th, but there are a couple in the 7-10 range). They all center on a region where 'weird stuff happens'. There's not a lot of continuity between them and each one is pretty short, but you can easily string them together or use them mixed in with other stuff and provide a few plot hooks as you wish. You can get a month of DDI for $10 and just download all the adventures from the last 3 years of Dungeon, they're all PDFs. Monster Vault and the DM's Kit each also have a module in them which are rated pretty highly. The original H1 Keep on the Shadowfell can also be downloaded for free from the WotC site. It isn't perhaps the most clever adventure and has some grindy combat, but a lot of people have had good luck with it. The Kobold Hall adventure in the back of the DMG is pretty usable for a 1st adventure, although the final encounter is pretty tough. Fallcrest is a pretty handy town, there are a few usable NPCs and some good plot hooks there as well.

Mostly, do what is fun. 4e tends not to go out of its way to tell you to "go crazy" but it is a good system for exactly that. I mean go ahead and throw some wacky curse on the PCs, give them some totally off the wall mission. Just come up with a good story or steal one (usually the best option). Because of the way the PCs capabilties are thought out most story lines will actually work, at least within the parameters of what you can do in an RPG. Pick some movie you really liked and just steal it, make a "Creature from the Black Lagoon" adventure, or whatever! lol.