Sigurd
First Post
I am not an expert on 4e and I invite any comment without competition or negativity. I'd like to hear how I'm wrong (as well as hear that I'm right 
) I've kicked this around in my head a bit and I'd like your opinions.
Edition differences and the future of 3e
WOTC
Firstly, Hasbro will do what it has to - making a profit is what it concentrates on. The D20, OGL, SRD(s), GSL have all been optional for them. I think the D20 served WOTC very, very well - witness December when their competition has to be pulled from the shelves - but that doesn't change that we should be grateful to them for all the licenses and the role playing.
OGL
I think the OGL is a special case because it can't be revoked. It is an honest place to start building a shared ruleset. I hope the OGL becomes the larger draw for players and home brewers. I'm not too worried about publishers, really. They will follow the gamers. OGL is my game system of choice.
4e & 3e
I'm not 4e bashing, but I think it has a publishing weakness over 3e. Besides not encouraging outside publishers, it has moved the level of world abstraction further into 'game' and away from simulation. 4e encapsulates a lot of rules into powers and special actions that are fairly well defined in scope and outcome - there is less room for tweaking.
Simulation is a huge draw for homebrew because everything is a fair topic. If I write about a special kind of underwear for 3e it affects everything else in the game world. The relationships in 3e are for the most part causal and based on the premise that 'everything' has to be considered. A DM will modify things of course, but if I say 'dragon skin underwear makes you thirsty' (or something equally weird) I can make a case for how it affects anything. IMHO, 3e rules are more closely tied to basic setting principles and simulation logic. I think it gives you a greater license to experiment in the setting.
In 4e, the weird is more often irrelevant because nobody is going to rewrite all the powers. There is less confusion but there is also less variety and realism. I think people will tire of the different powers because they aren't as obviously drawn from the core mechanics of the world. They are more static and, I think, will get uninteresting faster. People will munchkin all the available powers and select the most powerful and then abandon them because they're done, or find the powers are mostly the same because they share the same game design principles.
I think the strength of D&D and role playing emerges from the gray areas. 4e reduces the gray areas and, I think, weakens the story telling. I won't deny that 4e looks much easier to run. Perhaps 4e popularity will explode with the more tactical gamers but for me it feels wrong. I'm a dreamy, story-based gamer and I'll keep the old rules or find another game.
my .02
Sigurd
) I've kicked this around in my head a bit and I'd like your opinions.Edition differences and the future of 3e
WOTC
Firstly, Hasbro will do what it has to - making a profit is what it concentrates on. The D20, OGL, SRD(s), GSL have all been optional for them. I think the D20 served WOTC very, very well - witness December when their competition has to be pulled from the shelves - but that doesn't change that we should be grateful to them for all the licenses and the role playing.
OGL
I think the OGL is a special case because it can't be revoked. It is an honest place to start building a shared ruleset. I hope the OGL becomes the larger draw for players and home brewers. I'm not too worried about publishers, really. They will follow the gamers. OGL is my game system of choice.
4e & 3e
I'm not 4e bashing, but I think it has a publishing weakness over 3e. Besides not encouraging outside publishers, it has moved the level of world abstraction further into 'game' and away from simulation. 4e encapsulates a lot of rules into powers and special actions that are fairly well defined in scope and outcome - there is less room for tweaking.
Simulation is a huge draw for homebrew because everything is a fair topic. If I write about a special kind of underwear for 3e it affects everything else in the game world. The relationships in 3e are for the most part causal and based on the premise that 'everything' has to be considered. A DM will modify things of course, but if I say 'dragon skin underwear makes you thirsty' (or something equally weird) I can make a case for how it affects anything. IMHO, 3e rules are more closely tied to basic setting principles and simulation logic. I think it gives you a greater license to experiment in the setting.
In 4e, the weird is more often irrelevant because nobody is going to rewrite all the powers. There is less confusion but there is also less variety and realism. I think people will tire of the different powers because they aren't as obviously drawn from the core mechanics of the world. They are more static and, I think, will get uninteresting faster. People will munchkin all the available powers and select the most powerful and then abandon them because they're done, or find the powers are mostly the same because they share the same game design principles.
I think the strength of D&D and role playing emerges from the gray areas. 4e reduces the gray areas and, I think, weakens the story telling. I won't deny that 4e looks much easier to run. Perhaps 4e popularity will explode with the more tactical gamers but for me it feels wrong. I'm a dreamy, story-based gamer and I'll keep the old rules or find another game.
my .02
Sigurd
