D&D 4E Monte Cook on 4E

[WhatGravitas]

3.5 is a great game. Unless 4e is a substantially better game, it's going to dissapoint.

Hmmm... somehow I share a bit of that feeling as well. 3.5 is an incredibly easily houseruled and adaptive game. Sure, 3.5E has problems with low-magic and higher levels - but at the core, it offers a lot of variety. 4E has to impress a lot, since it cannot start with 3E's sheer variety (even if you only count WotC products).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Wolfspider]

Hmmm... somehow I share a bit of that feeling as well. 3.5 is an incredibly easily houseruled and adaptive game. Sure, 3.5E has problems with low-magic and higher levels - but at the core, it offers a lot of variety. 4E has to impress a lot, since it cannot start with 3E's sheer variety (even if you only count WotC products).

Cheers, LT.

This is one of the main reasons why switching over to 4e does not appeal to me. I have 3.5 rules to cover nearly any possible option regarding races, character, monsters, magic, and so forth. Why should I switch to a game that will limit me in that regard?

Maybe after four or five years I will be able to look at 4e and see something close to the amount of options available to me now with 3.5....

 

[sidonunspa]

I think you overestimate the interest in non-WOTC products. Most players of this game really don't even bother to look at non-WOTC products.

And thus they miss out on some amazing books.. A lot of which inspired 4E (Iron Hero's anyone?) yes there is a lot of bad d20 products, but there are just as many amazing ones.

 

[Will]

For me, the big win will be if 4e honestly and truly offers a lot of what I've come to like in 3.5e, but simpler.

If it does anything else, I doubt I'll jump on board; if it's just as complex but a different set of rules, then I'm ... well, I won't say 'not interested,' but it's a black mark for me.

 

[MerricB]

An interesting note:

Monte Cook says he's going back to 3e (with a little stuff from 3.5e)
Jon Tweet stopped using 3e some time ago, and can't wait until 4e.

Cheers!

 

[Mistwell]

And thus they miss out on some amazing books.. A lot of which inspired 4E (Iron Hero's anyone?) yes there is a lot of bad d20 products, but there are just as many amazing ones.

I was not advocating anything, just pointing out a misstatement of fact.

I too like almost everything Monte Cook's company put out (and Green Ronin for that matter). But, I also know most people never even looked at that stuff, and that if all 3rd party companies disappeared tomorrow (which would be a bad thing for me), it still probably wouldn't impact 4e or WOTC very much.

 

[Kraydak]

And thus they miss out on some amazing books.. A lot of which inspired 4E (Iron Hero's anyone?) yes there is a lot of bad d20 products, but there are just as many amazing ones.

I bought 1 non WotC product. Iron Heroes. It read like a rough draft, with vast numbers of WTF!! utterly broken mechanics.

WotC may have some design issues, but if a top level 3rd party product was as flat out unedited as IH, then 3rd party products are not for me. (seriously, had *anyone* but Mearls read it before publishing? Had he gone back and done basic sanity checks??)

 

[Banshee16]

I bought 1 non WotC product. Iron Heroes. It read like a rough draft, with vast numbers of WTF!! utterly broken mechanics.

WotC may have some design issues, but if a top level 3rd party product was as flat out unedited as IH, then 3rd party products are not for me. (seriously, had *anyone* but Mearls read it before publishing? Had he gone back and done basic sanity checks??)

Given it was one product among hundreds, using it as the basis behind a decision to ignore other products wasn't necessarily the best decision.

WotC comes out with all kinds of broken things as well. They also come out with stuff that's balanced, but because it has been so engineered, it's flavourless and boring.

3rd party publishers don't have a stranglehold on bad books.

Banshee

 

[Tharkun]

I bought 1 non WotC product. Iron Heroes. It read like a rough draft, with vast numbers of WTF!! utterly broken mechanics.

WotC may have some design issues, but if a top level 3rd party product was as flat out unedited as IH, then 3rd party products are not for me. (seriously, had *anyone* but Mearls read it before publishing? Had he gone back and done basic sanity checks??)

"Unedited mess"? Take a look at the Spell Compendium for the definition of "unedited mess". Iron Heroes is steps above many WotC (and non WotC) products when it comes to editing things.

Broken Mechanics? Look at the spells in the Spell Compendium! Or some spells in the PHB those are plenty broken. There is PLENTY in WotC library of books that contain broken stuff.

 

[grimslade]

4E has a bit of an uphill climb, but the numbers of people playing 3.5 are much less than those that were playing 3.0. There has been attrition. Some may come back to try 4E. The focus for 4E should be to attract new roleplayers. This is where 4E will succeed or fail.

The internet is a bigger factor for 4E than 3E. There is no presence at the new stand to promote D&D anymore. (Salute to Paizo) So all the promotion is through the internet and word of mouth.

3Es success had lees to do with the languishing of D&D under late 2E/TSR screw-ups and more to do with the kids from the 80's having grown up and looking for a nostalgic kick. A decent economy, 30th Anniversary of the game, and disposable income fueled the launch of 3E. The fact that it was/is a good system kept sales up from word of mouth. 4E will not have these events to rely on (other than hopefully being a good system)