The Battle of 5 Armies (er...editions)!

[CleverNickName]

Is there a reason you couldn't play 4E on FantasyGrounds?

Sort of. FantasyGrounds uses a special version of the SRD, in XML format...all of the monsters and spells and stuff are already encoded into it. It would involve rebuilding all of the tables by hand (since there is no 4E SRD that we know of), and the character sheets, spell lists, and such would have to be redone completely, but I suppose it could be done. It is too much time and effort to be feasible. (Edit: and I'm pretty sure that would be a violation of copyright, since 4E is not public domain.)

The other way to do it would be to use FantasyGrounds as a virtual tabletop, and each of us could play with a stack of books in our lap. It would slow the game down a bit, having to stop and look up stuff that used to be only a mouse-click away, then type it in for all to see...but I suppose it could be done also. Again, it is too much time and effort to be feasible.

 

[Mostlyjoe]

So we're arguing about bias in a biased poll about bias. Whoa, way to meta for me.

 

[CleverNickName]

The game table doesn't adjudicate any rules of any kind, so I don't see how this is a problem in the slightest, if you can write up what you want and use it. All it is is a battlemat, a chat interface, and a dice roller.

You are right; D&D Insider could be used as just a virtual tabletop, chat interface, and dice roller...which is exactly what we use FantasyGrounds for. The deal-breaker for my group is that D&D Insider charges a monthly fee, and FG doesn't.

It's not that we believe one to be superior to the other, it's not that we aren't excited about 4E, and it's not that we are misinformed or somehow confused. We just can't justify the price tag.

 

[Agamon]

I prefer the rare, mostly unknown Lemon Curry edition to that one I haven't played yet.


Wait...C&C is a D&D edition? What about True 20? Hackmaster? Iron Heroes? M&M? Spycraft? WFRP? HERO? GURPS? Toon?

 

[Hunter In Darkness]

I like 3e to me it still has the feel of older editions but cleaned alot of the math up.It has become a system I love to create with I find it flexible easily house ruled and very plug and play friendly also my older game books are still very usable with a little conversion very easy and simple. and I use 3e with not 3.5 .

 

[pemerton]

I am much more of a simulationist and narritivist in terms of my D&D tastes. The openly gamist structure of 4e over those play styles means that the underlying philosophy the game is designed on will conflict with what I want from a D&D edition.

If you are using "narrativist" in the Forge sense then I don't understand what you are saying - with its player empowerment at every point, 4e seems in its mechanics to be clearly the most narrativist-supporting version of D&D.

If you mean "narrativist" in some different sense, what is that?

 

[Xanaqui]

My favorite published D&D variant is Arcana Evolved.

I'm not certain if I'll move to 4E (thus I didn't vote); I'm just certain that I won't be able to do some of the things I like to do perfectly legally in 3.x until, at least, 6 months after 4e's release (when the GSL will supposedly be offered to a general audience). This will, therefore, delay any transition to 4E by at least 6 months.

That said, I do really like what 4E has done with spellcasting in particular.

Sort of. FantasyGrounds uses a special version of the SRD, in XML format...all of the monsters and spells and stuff are already encoded into it. It would involve rebuilding all of the tables by hand (since there is no 4E SRD that we know of), and the character sheets, spell lists, and such would have to be redone completely, but I suppose it could be done. It is too much time and effort to be feasible. (Edit: and I'm pretty sure that would be a violation of copyright, since 4E is not public domain.)

Until the GSL is released, I can't comment on the legality, but I suspect that the "time and effort" is pretty small, spread among the more avid FantasyGrounds players.

 

[Grimstaff]

Wait...C&C is a D&D edition? What about True 20? Hackmaster? Iron Heroes? M&M? Spycraft? WFRP? HERO? GURPS? Toon?

I don't think anyone who has played C&C would hesitiate to say, yes, its D&D

 

[Grimstaff]

Isn't it a bit premature to be asking whether you prefer an older edition to one that isn't even out yet? sheesh. No way do we know enough about 4ed to make a judgement about it.

Personally, yes, I think its to early to decide not to switch, but some folks have already decided, and that's their preroragtive.

So my insatiably curious nature demanded to know what editions they were being faithful to, and what those editions offered that was so compelling, switching to a new edition wasn't even an option already.

I was also curious about how many people were deciding between 3x and 4E, and how many had to decide between all these other versions and 4E.

 

[3catcircus]

You need to fix the poll - either allow us to pick every choice or add an "All of the above/anything but 4e" as a choice.