Scholar & Brutalman
First Post
Orcus from Necromancer Games has some early copies of the three core rulebooks. He has posted a short spoiler-free review on the Necromancer Games boards. His summary: "The books are startling"
Scholar & Brutalman said:Orcus from Necromancer Games has some early copies of the three core rulebooks. He has posted a short spoiler-free review on the Necromancer Games boards. His summary: "The books are startling"
This is pure, undistilled awesome.Orcus said:4. They are startlingly unashamed in the changes they made. This is where the books, at first glance, will bother people who are predisposed to not liking 4E. The books dont at first glance seem "comfortable and similar and familiar." They used a new layout and new organization. Looking back on all the PHBs since the first AD&D PHB the format has been about the same. This one changes it all up. And that first impression is a bit startling. Plus, some of the new stuff is front and center. Heck, dragonborn are the first player race. The first bit of art in the book, starting from teh first page, is a dragonborn. That is new content. They dont try to ease you into it. I have said in the past, they didnt just kill sacred cows, they hung their carcass in the store windo--but I think this is a good thing. If you are going to make changes, dont %+%+* foot around the issue, jump in and do it. And that is what they did. I firmly believe that if people want to not like 4E, there is enough there on first glance to support their fears, BUT once you look past that first layer, you will see this is not only D&D, its is better and better organized and all the changes are improvements.
Wormwood said:This is pure, undistilled awesome.
My respect for the 4e team just deepened.
Can we stop hearing about "The designers are shoving their fluff down our throats and treating my homebrew like toilet paper" now?8. The books are startlingly fat-free. They are 99% crunch, 1% fluff, if that. They are not for reading anymore. Remember the days you might crack the DMG for a list of suggested reading and to get some fun gygaxian flavor and musings. That is gone. These books are purely designed for game use at the game table. Period. I thought I knew what all crunch, no fluff was, but then I saw these books. These are all crunch, no fluff. I think it is a bold move, but, like many of the above, it will contribute to people who are predisposed to not like 4E to say "this doesnt feel right with me." But if you look past those things, this is D&D.