I Converted a Grognard Today!

[Lhorgrim]

I DMed my first 4E adventure today after a very long hiatus from DMing in ANY game sytem.

I was rusty for sure (just couldn't get as organized as I like to be), and not a soul at the table had played a 4E game before. I ran an adventure of my own design, and two of the grognards (I mean it in a good way) from my old 2E group joined the game.

One of the guys was open minded and had already bought the core set, but the other was openly skeptical of the new system and stated he wasn't going to invest in a new game.

We made characters and the negative grognard made a half elf warlock. He started warming up to the game as soon as he found that there were several options for him to take that changed the character significantly. When we started the game he was roleplaying the character with some relish because he seemed to be more confident in that aspect than the other players.

During the first combat with some goblins he really started working his at-wills and encounter powers. He was big into Magic the Gathering years ago, and it seems that something in the application of special powers and limited resources in 4E struck a chord with him.

By the end of the game tonight he had decided to purchase a PHB and indicated that he wanted to join the group next week for the game session. I never thought this guy would like 4E, and he didn't think so either judging from our pre-game discussions, but it looks like he found something he liked enough to spend some money and time on it.

Now I really have to get back into the groove of DMing at the same time I learn the new system. No pressure.

 

[MarauderX]

Cool. I'm still working on my brother-in-law, who is 10 years my senior and was skeptical about the whole thing. I have found that it's easiest to direct him to some of the contents on this very site as a slow immersion to 4E. So far he has the PHB and has the DMG & MM on order. I felt relieved that he would at least give it a try.

 

[Hairfoot]

He was big into Magic the Gathering years ago, and it seems that something in the application of special powers and limited resources in 4E struck a chord with him.

No surprise he likes it, then.

As Chris Pramas pointed out, "The roots of the new rules are not in MMOs at all, but collectible card games. Building your character seems much like building a deck in Magic: the Gathering. You have a selection of powers and special abilities that are exceptions-based. Some powers you can only use once per encounter, like tapping a card in a CCG....Part of character and party building revolves around power combos."

 

[Wik]

It's fun when stuff like that happens. The one I've really run 4e so far was with a group that was receptive to it. But I'm looking forward to when I run 4e for my regular group. We ran a sort of mini-delve, but I don't think that's really enough to get everyone's beak whet. And the main "grognard" of our group didn't play that session.

I really want to see how he responds to it. I'm sure he'll hate it, but you never know - he's a pretty big fan of CCGs, too.

 

[drothgery]

No surprise he likes it, then.

As Chris Pramas pointed out, "The roots of the new rules are not in MMOs at all, but collectible card games. Building your character seems much like building a deck in Magic: the Gathering. You have a selection of powers and special abilities that are exceptions-based. Some powers you can only use once per encounter, like tapping a card in a CCG....Part of character and party building revolves around power combos."

I seem to remember the exact same thing being said about 3e.