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

[DandD]

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

I would be very much appreciative.

Check out the stickied thread top this forum.

 

[Steely Dan]

Check out the stickied thread top this forum.

Ta very much.

 

[Wepwawet]

A lot has been said on this thread, and I agree with almost everything, and I'm even amazed that everyone kept really polite and nice with each other. The honest tone and the good writing skills of the OP must have helped

CleverNickName, I just want to ask you if you talked with the players after that session? I don't know if they're actual friends or just gaming acquaintances, but did speak to them about it afterwards, didn't you?

 

[Xorn]

I'm about as die-hard excited about 4E as a person can get (even the moniker "fanboi" would be fair), but I don't see your experiences indicating anything about 4E, in either direction, as you've already (and many others) suggested.

I'd like to commend you on not knocking someone out when they pulled out their laptops. Maybe I'm just an extremist, but I grew up getting spanked with a thick leather belt for being that insulting to someone who is doing something for you with good intentions.

I'm not actually suggesting physical violence, but... Wow. Had I been in your situation, it would not have been pretty. This is why I am not a PR guy, because at best I would have said something like, "Actually I don't think 4E is for you, it wasn't written with douchebags as their target player. So take your little douchey sideways hat, and your douchey sunglasses inside, and your douchey popped collar, and your little bluedouche earpiece, and get the F--- out of my house."

Am I being over the top? Heh. Anyway, my commendations on not losing it with your players (who if they are reading should feel like complete A-holes) and being a better person than I am. I get one WoW-esque reference from your story though:

They way they treated you at your table is the way most people in guilds treat the people they don't know. See the Greater Internet F-Wad Theory for more details.

 

[Steely Dan]

My group has been playing our own version of a 3.75 – a mixture of 3.5, Saga, and everything we know of 4th Ed, and we all agree our sessions have been more robust and juicy than ever (in every way, role-playing and roll-playing).

So I now it's only my own anecdotal experience, but you can role-play your ass off in 4th Ed, just like you can in any edition of this bizarre game.

 

[Steely Dan]

I'd like to commend you on not knocking someone out when they pulled out their laptops.

Yeah, my players would never do that; they even get embarrassed and apologize if their mobile phones go off.

I/we don't even like it when one player is browsing unnecessarily through an actual PHB or what have you.

 

[OchreJelly]

If they wanted to be argumentative about why Skeletons get fast reactions, you could ask why a necromancer in Diablo2 can raise a human looking corpse from the remains of a beast.

And they got WoW comparisons from "bloodied" state? /Boggles.

As has been stated by many others, your players were being rude, plain and simple. I would have been thrilled to play but if even one of these naysayers were present, I'm sure that person would have been an anchor pulling the whole table down.

 

[Baka no Hentai]

Wow, I just want to chime in with my condolences for the train-wreck of an experience you had. If my friends did the same thing to me I would be more than a bit upset, as I'd much rather them tell me up front that they are not going to give it a fair chance rather than let me waste hours of prep-time.

I really do hope that those were gaming acquaintinces and not friends, as I can't imagine my friends doing something so disrespectful to me.

While its obvious that your group will not be wanting to play 4E anytime soon, dont give up all hope (assuming that you still want to play after the books come out.) Since you said that you are going to be playing your 3.5 campaign before switching regardless, that gives everyone plenty of time to warm up to the idea of giving it an actual open-minded try.

Right now it's "cool" to be against 4E. Kind of like how some people stop liking a band because the band "sells out" by releasing an album that appeals to a mainstream audience. Please note that I am absolutely *not* saying that all (or even most) anti-4E'ers are like this... but the comparison seems apt in this particular case.

Hopefully given enough time they will be able to get over that and be able to get to the point where they can judge the game on its actual flaws and merits. Until then, best of luck to you

 

[Wormwood]

I would have been thrilled to play but if even one of these naysayers were present, I'm sure that person would have been an anchor pulling the whole table down.

Which would have been his intent, I believe.

 

[Cirex]

The warrior's execute and paladin's hammer of wrath come to mind. Both work only against targets with less than 20% health remaining

True, forgot about those. Funny how as an ex-retribution paladin I could forget about that. Ah well, HoW was not good mana-wise, and hard to time with a swing (it resets swing timer).

I will do a report on my game (happening 30th April). I've managed to somewhat transmit my enthusiam to my players (by telling them random bits of the system, powers, etc.), so I'm kinda excited about it.