Playtest report: Hanging on a fence

[Dannyalcatraz]

As for this:

I also think that roleplaying is never as much fun with pre-made characters handed to you. With no background, no investment in them etc. this puts a real brake on roleplaying IME.

That has never been my experience, but then, I sort of take playing a pregen as a challenge.

It is, in a way, closer to acting than typical RPG action. After all, like an actor, you're playing the creation of the same person as the campaign designer- your PC is custom made to fit the environment in which all of his interactions will take place, and as such has been created with more inside knowledge than a typical player does when he creates a PC for a campaign with neccessarily imperfect insight.

 

[The Little Raven]

That has never been my experience, but then, I sort of take playing a pregen as a challenge.

Same. I was really into Drama back in high school, so playing a pregen character is no different than playing a character from a play, since I wrote neither and merely take the creator's description and interpret in my own unique way.

 

[small pumpkin man]

That's cool if you want to push, pull, and mark stuff in combat. Me, I want to be able to shoot guys in the nads and have the choice mechanically meaningful and not just being the dm's description of abstract hit point damage which may/may not mean real damage. Yeah, D&D has never done this but 4e has made combat and damage so abstract that I just can't see liking it for very long.

Thing is, if you're making your own character, you can choose a power (probably not a daily, probably one which has an additional effect, such as stun or something) and rename it "kick 'em in the 'nads". So long as you find fighting something without obvious 'nads to be an interesting challenge as to describing how your power still works as opposed to something which breaks your WSoD it should be all good.

Of course, I have a feeling this isn't actually what your asking for.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I also think that roleplaying is never as much fun with pre-made characters handed to you. With no background, no investment in them etc. this puts a real brake on roleplaying IME.

I don't see pre-gens in themselves being a problem. I am not an RPGA player, so every convention experience I have had has been pre-gen. Many of those games have been great, some not so much. The factor I have found as been the players and DM, not the pre-gens that make the difference.

 

[Frostmarrow]

No. It's the disconnect of immersion to memory. In short we have very specific ideas of what D&D is and specific roleplaying memories associated with that. ie. Even though 3rd Edition changed many-many things about the core mechanic it still held onto the prescribed conventions of Cleric = Healing, the 90 minute work day, and the wonky power creeps.

No, it's the challenge connecting our D&D memories to something so different that it breaks the 4th wall of our memories diorama of what we want to play. It introduces some very game saving changes but creates a 'uncanny valley' effect of play expectations to actuals. Not unlike almost photo realistic CGI.

The uncanny valley-effect may very well be the source of my sense of weirdness after trying out 4E. I'm going to keep this in mind. It would also explaing the lack of role-playing, without ye olde trusty clichees to fall back on you are left with uncertainty.

 

[Mostlyjoe]

The uncanny valley-effect may very well be the source of my sense of weirdness after trying out 4E. I'm going to keep this in mind. It would also explaing the lack of role-playing, without ye olde trusty clichees to fall back on you are left with uncertainty.

It's a d20 game for sure. Just some of the conventions we're use too need to be shifted around in our head. I'm excited about the revamped Cleric. I want to see more of their power choices. What survived, what's new, etc. With 3rd Edition, I knew what was coming. I was excited about the domain powers and and starting off power bump Clerics had in 3rd. (And didn't notice the buff monsters they would become.) But, I knew what I was getting into. Now, I don't know. (Save past 1st/2nd level play.)

 

[WhatGravitas]

The uncanny valley-effect may very well be the source of my sense of weirdness after trying out 4E. I'm going to keep this in mind. It would also explaing the lack of role-playing, without ye olde trusty clichees to fall back on you are left with uncertainty.

Yes, it is - because it's close enough to 3E, that we don't think "ah, new game", but it isn't 3E. One needs to go into a 4E game with the expectation of trying out a new RPG, like Exalted, Savage Worlds, or Spirit of the Century. But going in with "this is 3E", will cause that disconnect - especially if you add the lack of self-made characters and less combat focused rules. My group experienced the same, said it felt like a boardgame (without haven read ENWorld - I'm the only poster of my group). But reading the articles doesn't[/i[ read like a boardgame, just the play. Hence we concluded that the incomplete rules are perhaps at fault and want to play 4E correctly with the books, soon.

Cheers, LT.

 

[hong]

Apropos of nothing, this thread title makes me have Bon Jovi in my mind.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Apropos of nothing, this thread title makes me have Bon Jovi in my mind.

Is your mind Slippery When Wet?

 

[occam]

I found the whole thing very easy to DM. I didn't find challenge-marks cluttering the game at all. (Something I've feared it would do). However, by the end of this encounter I began feeling exhausted, almost fed up with the game. I don't know why and the players agreed that they were feeling weary too.

I just came across an article that jibes with what I thought was going on here:

Too many choices -- good or bad -- can be mentally exhausting