D&D 4E My First 4E Game: Disappointing. Yours? (UPDATED with player feedback)

[LowSpine]

I ran my first 4E game last night, and it was...well, there's no easy way to say this.

It was lousy.

Now before the supporters of the new edition rise up with their blowtorches and chainsaws, let me say that there were outside circumstances that led to this lack of fun, and that most of these circumstances had nothing to do with the 4E rules system at all. Seriously, this could have happened to any game...even the best game of all time (Monopoly.)

Wrong, wrong, absolutely wrong.

The greatest game ever made is Escape From Atlantis. It never goes sour. That is because it is the essence of sour. Selfishly trying to save your own clan while taking great pleasure in killing another's is beautiful.

 

[Danzauker]

If they HAD to stop playing D&D4e in order to play Diablo II, THEN maybe D&D4e wasn't videogamey enough for them!

 

[LowSpine]

I had a 2E DM who said he would never try 3E because he liked the 2E system - he even said he liked THAC0. That really annoys me because the 3.5 way is mechanically exactly the same but without the stupidity.

He says all this without even knowing a single 3.5 element or rule except that they have got rid of THAC0. It is a product of age and some people age in that way before they are even old.

He would never move on without the kind of grumpiness you have experienced - and 3.5 has been taken up as the best rules yet by almost everyone.

People like your players are the kind of people who have still never tried a curry.

They are still using hissing videos that the auto tracking keeps going around and around and around before chewing the tape up. They have to spend half an hour going backwards and forwards trying to find their place. They complain that a scratch on a DVD makes it unusable (stop throwing it around like a frisby then.)

They are the people that say CDs don't sound as real life as vynl. I have seen bands in real life and I don't remember an invasive constant hiss and lots of pops and crackles loud enough to make jump out of my own arse.

These people are pegged for the death list. They have to die so the rest of the world can move on and progress. They say things like new fangled. I am getting old but I am keeping well and truely off that list.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

They are the people that say CDs don't sound as real life as vynl. I have seen bands in real life and I don't remember an invasive constant hiss and lots of pops and crackles loud enough to make jump out of my own arse.

These people are pegged for the death list. They have to die so the rest of the world can move on and progress. They say things like new fangled. I am getting old but I am keeping well and truely off that list.

Yeah, but a DJ who spins vinyl is orders of magnitude cooler than DJ who goes with CDs or is pure hardrive.

 

[Connorsrpg]

I don't care what you were playing...I can't imagine anything so rude - to do that to someone who goes out of their way to run a session FOR OTHERS! Sorry, but this kind of attitude would pe me off no end. At least they could have been honest about their intentions...which was clearly to play DIABLO. Obviously they are not GMs. Kinda cuts when your efforts are wasted like that. Such a lack of appreciation makes me wonder whether yo could be bothered preparing for that group of people again...?

 

[Keoki]

I ran my first 4E game last night, and it was...

Two things might have helped:

1. A full version of the rules. I fail to understand how anyone could possibly pass judgment on a game before seeing all the rules. Talk about a knee-jerk reaction.

2. Players that aren't total bell-ends. Whipping out laptops while assuring you that they'll finish "your little board game" sounds like inconsiderate and disrespectful behavior toward you.

Now 4E may still suck, but I don't believe anyone can reasonably make that determination until they've tried the actual game (as opposed to a fan-created compilation of suppositions) with players that aren't actively trying to ruin the experience.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Two things might have helped:

1. A full version of the rules. I fail to understand how anyone could possibly pass judgment on a game before seeing all the rules. Talk about a knee-jerk reaction.

They don't judge the game, they just judge the previews. I think 4E might be the best thing since sliced bread. That makes it easy for me to go out, get the rules, and see if my hopes come true. I might still be disappointed, but it's not my expectation.
Someone else might think 4E is a bad idea, judging by the previews. Why should he feel compelled to spend money on the books if he expects that they will be of little use of them (except maybe to say "Told you it sucks!").

But this doesn't really seem to apply to the described players. They already made up their mind, and did use everything they could find (or make up) to support their judgment. I remember having done the same thing as a child when it came to testing food. If I decided I wouldn't like it, there was no way probing it would change my opinion in front of my parents!

 

[Imban]

I had a 2E DM who said he would never try 3E because he liked the 2E system - he even said he liked THAC0. That really annoys me because the 3.5 way is mechanically exactly the same but without the stupidity.

He says all this without even knowing a single 3.5 element or rule except that they have got rid of THAC0. It is a product of age and some people age in that way before they are even old.

He would never move on without the kind of grumpiness you have experienced - and 3.5 has been taken up as the best rules yet by almost everyone.

...there are definitely major systemic things about 2e (like saves going down, instead of up) that I like better than 3.5e. And hey, in 3.5e, because of that exact change, we have the reign of save-or-die and save-or-suck spells. But hey, look on the bright side! At least now you can be reassured that higher statistics always mean better.

Sometimes the old way is what works, and works well.

 

[Steely Dan]

Can someone provide a link to this 4th Ed/PHB Lite?

I would be very much appreciative.

 

[Ipissimus]

Yup, I have to say it does sound like you got blindsided. They just happened to have brought along their laptops? Maybe, though I doubt it.

How does a skeleton without sinews or eyes get a bonus to AoOs? Might as well ask how they stand up and walk or ask for an in-depth discourse on the physiology of an Abberation in relation to toxicology. Sounds as if they were looking for reasons to stop and play Diablo rather than whatever you wanted to do.

Yeah, rude. But nothing to do with 4E or DMing skills or anything like that. Just sounds like they didn't want to be there but had nothing better to do.