D&D 4E Mouseferatu weighs in on 4e

[Demigonis]

This thread makes me convulse with glee!

Thanks very much for the impressions, I can't wait til June.

 

[zoroaster100]

Thanks, Mouseferatu and Jonrog, for posting these review or comments. These two reviewst today are both very encouraging. Admittedly, I was already over all feeling positive about what I've seen so far. But it's particularily encouraging to hear good reviews from those who have actually been playing the game with the new rules.

My main concerns about the 4th edition changes are some of the "world" flavor changes, but those ultimately are relatively easily remedied by a good campaign setting from a third party publisher, or by skillful application of a DM's art. Fixing problems with the mechanics is something I don't have time to do, but I think as DM I can put in the flavor I want if necessary, so long as the core mechanics work well.

 

[Swack-Iron]

I... wrote and produced the pilot for a TV version of Warren Ellis' Global Frequency

Hey, I've seen that pilot! It was great!

 

[Rechan]

Actually, one of the things that made me saddest when I looked at the 3.0 MM for the first time was that the ENTIRE PAGE worth of info about the monster, from habitat to behavior, was gone. It made me a very sad panda. Because I love monster info.

From what it sounds like, 4e may return to that, and that has me excited. Just being able to read the 4e MM for enjoyment and ideas is great.

 

[Shroomy]

Actually, one of the things that made me saddest when I looked at the 3.0 MM for the first time was that the ENTIRE PAGE worth of info about the monster, from habitat to behavior, was gone. It made me a very sad panda. Because I love monster info.

From what it sounds like, 4e may return to that, and that has me excited. Just being able to read the 4e MM for enjoyment and ideas is great.

I always kind of assumed that the 4e MM would resemble MMIV and MMV in format.

 

[Counterspin]

As opposed to Rechan, I'd be perfectly happy if things were just down to stat blocks. I've taken to setting up a tactically interesting encounter and then reskinning all of the monsters to be appropriate to the setting, so the ecology and societal stuff isn't really useful to me anymore.

 

[Incenjucar]

Actually, one of the things that made me saddest when I looked at the 3.0 MM for the first time was that the ENTIRE PAGE worth of info about the monster, from habitat to behavior, was gone. It made me a very sad panda. Because I love monster info.

From what it sounds like, 4e may return to that, and that has me excited. Just being able to read the 4e MM for enjoyment and ideas is great.

Agreed.

I used to read MMs just for fun.

Really, most of my 2E collection was just for fun.

And my 3E collection.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Actually, one of the things that made me saddest when I looked at the 3.0 MM for the first time was that the ENTIRE PAGE worth of info about the monster, from habitat to behavior, was gone. It made me a very sad panda. Because I love monster info.

From what it sounds like, 4e may return to that, and that has me excited. Just being able to read the 4e MM for enjoyment and ideas is great.

If so, I'll be very happy too. I don't need a perfectly precise and realistic ecology or whatever, but I REALLY liked the old 2E MCs and the way they detailed monster. I cannot even begin to explain how many adventures or parts of adventures I created due to inspiration from a 2E MC. From a 3E MM? Precisely zero, because there was bugger-all inspiration there (though I did create plenty of 3E stuff based on 2E stuff).

 

[coyote6]

It has not been my experience that having monsters with fewer abilities has led to less interesting combats. The combats themselves are both more fluid and easier for the DM to run, leading him to make more interesting use of what abilities they do have. More to the point (for those asking about the pit fiend), remember that he's not meant to be a solo encounter. So even if he individually has fewer abilities to throw at the party, the DM's "team" as a whole is going to have as many, if not more, as they had in 3E.

I, at least, found myself tending to think of pit fiends as big bads that fight the party singlehandedly; others may have a similar mental stumbling block. Can you (or John) comment at all on how easy or difficult it will be to "upgrade" a monster to a higher category (say, from "elite" to "solo", for instance)? I imagine that higher "category"* monsters tend to get more powers to choose from (and more opportunities to use them).

*BTW, IIRC, monsters have a "role" (Brute, Solider, etc.); they also have the minion/regular/elite/solo categorization -- does that categorization have a name?

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

This is a good sign. I value Ari's opinion.

Me too. I'm very pleased. Not only is this the first real opinion I've seen on the new edition from someone who is not being paid to recite copy for 4E, but it's an opinion from someone whose opinion I think is generally good, and whose work I have enjoyed in the past.