D&D 4E Reply if you love 4e

[mac1504]

Love it from both sides of the screen

I had the privilege to run our group through a 3 year campaign with 4e (using the H1-E3 modules) and we have not looked back. I enjoyed running it, and never found myself burnt-out as I did after a year and a half of running a 3e game.

Now, I'm lucky enough to finally get to play in a 4e campaign (Dark Sun!) and I'm having a blast with it.

 

[Storminator]

That brings up another strength of 4e. Unlike in PF where I feel like I have to vet every feat and spell combination for balance before play, WotC has done such a fantastic job at balancing, that I often don't even look at my player's characters or worry about what books they are using. I just worry about my plot and the monsters, and I take enjoyment and pride from my players surprising me with some cool power combo or teamwork.

This is a great factor. I don't even know what's on the PC's sheets. Oh I know the wizard is built around Magic Missile, and the War Priest's anti-undead power can Push 9, but mostly the players just tell me what happens and I roll with it. Awesome.

PS

 

[EnigmaRamus]

I can't believe I forgot to mention it, but one of the biggest things I love about 4E is the powers and utilities. While I am not really what you'd call a gamist (I am of the D&D is serious business on multiple levels and planes variety), the powers give it certain type of game flavor that i just... well, love. It also makes it feel gamey enough for my wife to reluctantly get involved (she's now played two sessions with us and kinda digs it, but originally expressed anti interest). They provide a super cool array of option, flavor and strategy.

 

[EnigmaRamus]

Without 4E I would be a lost chicken in high weeds!

 

[Mark Morrison]

I love 4e. It's clear, tactical, turbo-boosted, and plain good fun. I have three groups on the go, and I'd say one of them is about the most dedicated group of players I've ever had at the table. They're largely new to gaming, and the system really works for them.

I love many other things too; notably Pathfinder and Basic Roleplaying (Chaosium). The secret ingredient is good friends, and fun always follows.

M.

 

[Will Doyle]

Got some big love coming atcha from me, 4E.

For many, many reasons stated upthread.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

I've played every edition of the game (well, actually, I didn't play much of 2nd edition), starting way back in the 70's.

My current group has been playing together for 10+ years, so we played a lot of 3.0 & 3.5 before 4e.

We were playtesters for 4e, and right away we knew we loved the system -- it fit our style of play, etc. We haven't looked back. We have always also loved -- deeply loved -- Paizo's work. Their stories, their art, their production values are dynamite. But by the time 4e came out we were so tired of the problems with 3.5 we never even considered trying pathfinder.

But as much as I enjoyed playing 4e, I love it most as a DM. I run about 50% my own material, 50% off-the-shelf. There's been a lot of talk about what's great about 4e for DMs -- monster stat blocks & reskinning, not needing a stack of books and tables at hand, etc etc etc.

I like the DDI tools quite a bit, and I know they're getting better all the time. I love what some 3rd party folks have done with them -- both for mobile devices and on the computer. (i4e app, Maptools & Power2ool.com especially). Most of that wouldn't be possible without the effort that goes into making the content available through an online database with a sensible API for 3rd party use. And that, I love that Wizards provides.

Warts and all, I love skill challenges, and have in all variations. I love that I can spend more time fiddling with a complex challenge than I do preparing for an encounter if I feel like it, and I also love that I can easily ad lib a challenge just by knowing the Easy/Medium/Hard DCs at a given level.

Right now, our group is playing through one of the Paizo adventure paths (Second Darkness), converting it to 4e, and setting it in Eberron. It has been interesting to go back and look over the 3.5 encounters (this adventure was published pre-pathfinder, I think). As much as I love the fluff, the art, the story, everything around the mechanics (because Paizo has always rocked that stuff), I'm so glad I'm converting it to 4e. And I'm incredibly happy that it's as easy to do as it is.

So, yeah. Big love from this gnome.

-j

 

[Garthanos]

Huzzah!!! brought me back to gaming.

 

[Keenberg]

I've played a PC in only one campaign, and loved it. I have DM'ed two campaigns, and loved those as well. Further, it has been so easy to introduce new players to the game, which has been important for me. I've played 3e and 3.5, and a lot of my friends wanted to give D&D a try when 4e was coming out. It was easy to pick up for all of us, veterans and newcomers alike. It was quite serendipitous!

 

[Osgood]

I love 4E... I love it more than I could ever love a human child. (But then again, I'm not a kid person).