podcast: 4th edition combat too long

[Kaffis]

Next time these guys should just ask a group of players & DM who already play and have fun together off-camera to be the podcast group. Who cares if they're all bad-looking or nerdy or all guys? The group interaction is what it's all about and this group just didn't bring it.

I'd love to see a session or two of Shelly's Confessions... group at play. Just sneak a webcam into a corner of the conference room unannounced, with microphones stashed under the table or something, then get them to sign whatever waivers after the fact...

 

[Felon]

I think you have to take into account the situation... a bunch of employees thrown together and told to pretend to be friends and have fun in front of the camera.

Yes, there were plenty of detrimental issues that had little to do with the actual game being played. It was an ill-conceived on many levels. If that's what we're trying to establish here, then I think we can acheive consensus.

So you can't see how individual rounds going faster would lead to more energy and excitement at the table? Pretty clear from where I'm standing.

Well, from where I'm sitting--which is, consequently, where I watched the podcast--it was quite clear that cycling through initiatives more rapidly did not in fact generate nail-biting electric tension. People just locked into a rut of mashing their hotkey. They were grinding against monsters whose defenses far exceeded the players' damage output.

Actions that don't produce results aren't terribly exciting. Forget the number of rounds and actions taken. Think quality, not quantity. What actually changed from one round to the next? What "cool stuff" happened? The mind flayer bored into the rogue. The rakshasas didn't do anything (the only cache that rakshasas ever had was their nigh-invulnerability, which they don't have anymore), the minotaur didn't do anything, and for all the supposedly cool powers at the players disposals, did it really feel like they were accomplishing much? Was there an ebb and flow? Pretty clearly not, from the way the battle ended.

 

[wedgeski]

I loved this video podcast and want more. It's about time that Wizards showed their own people playing the game.

"He's what we call a revenue stream." Made me LOL.

 

[Felon]

I loved this video podcast and want more. It's about time that Wizards showed their own people playing the game.

"He's what we call a revenue stream." Made me LOL.

The opening segment got things off to a good start. I laughed as well.

And I want to see them playing the game, but it needs to be a little more immersive than just one nondescript generic encounter. Monster and player powers are great additions to the game, but they are not a replacement for the other elements of an RPG.

 

[jgerman]

IMO they shouldn't have released this. It does a bad job of making the game look exciting. If the intent was to entice new players I really think they failed.

Maybe that wasn't the intent though, it was filmed before release so maybe it was just intended to be a preview.

 

[keterys]

It just me, or does it feel like this was supposed to come out quite some time ago?

When things like those powers would have been nifty previews.

I also found it interesting these were people who were suddenly given 15th level characters, rather than using characters from an actual ongoing group or playtest, so that people were familiar with them.

 

[ZetaStriker]

To clarify, I didn't expect a long, roleplayed conversation out of the podcast. I did expect at least basic descriptions of what was going on, and maybe a quote or two. The DM at least got the second part right to an extent, but being a DM, the first point is far more important to his role. A DM that doesn't describe what's going on and relies entirely on minis is a poor DM in my book.

 

[wedgeski]

IMO they shouldn't have released this. It does a bad job of making the game look exciting. If the intent was to entice new players I really think they failed.

I think the intent was just to show what the hell a game of D&D looks like. In that it succeeded... I would bet money that what we saw there represented about 60-70% of all games of D&D out there in the world. Of course now thousands of ENW posters will chime in to say how much better and more dramatically immersive an hour of *their* game is.

I want more, and if future podcasts show more roleplaying encounters than combat encounters, so much the better. Also a variety of DM's to compare styles.

 

[keterys]

I'd love to see a well done skill challenge...

 

[Felon]

I think the intent was just to show what the hell a game of D&D looks like. In that it succeeded... I would bet money that what we saw there represented about 60-70% of all games of D&D out there in the world. Of course now thousands of ENW posters will chime in to say how much better and more dramatically immersive an hour of *their* game is.

I certainly hope so.

Like I said, this seemed like a hundred other tournament games I've been to at cons. Nobody knows anybody, nobody's looking to make friends, nobody's looking to make enemies, nobody wants to take charge, nobody wants anyone else telling them what to do. Everyone's got their eyes down on the character sheet, and a big free-for-all is the best you're likely to get.