What is 4E about?

[MerricB]

1E was about the adventures
2E was about the settings
3E was about the rules
4E is about (enabling) the DM.

That's my take. What do you think?

Cheers!

 

[Lord Xtheth]

Personally, I'd say 3e was about the options and 4e is about the rules.

 

[Umbran]

Not to be glib, but I think they are all about having fun with your friends.

You may find that each edition focused on a different aspect of the product to get you there (I disagree with some of your points - especially 1e), but I don't think that makes the edition "about" that thing.

 

[Henrix]

3e was about empowering the players
4e gives some of that back to the DM, and gives him a plethora of new tools.

4e is about being able to do nifty stuff - as a player, as a character, and as a DM.

They are all about killing things and taking their stuff.
The 4e rules are perhaps a bit more focused on making that viable.

 

[diaglo]

1edADnD was about power gaming
2edADnD was about upping the ante
d02 was about breaking any of the barriers put in place of powergaming
4ed is about continuing the trend

 

[MerricB]

1edADnD was about power gaming
2edADnD was about upping the ante
d02 was about breaking any of the barriers put in place of powergaming
4ed is about continuing the trend

You missed "Supplement 1 was where it all went wrong!"

Cheers!

 

[Dausuul]

1E was about fleshing out the game.
2E was about streamlining and cleaning up 1E.
3E was about creating a consistent, unified, versatile ruleset.
4E was about making the system work smoothly in actual play.

 

[Henrix]

You missed "Supplement 1 was where it all went wrong!"

Yep. The Thief was purely for powergamers!

 

[billd91]

I'd say 4e is about the tyranny of mechanical balancing tools. But that's me.

 

[Umbran]

I'd say 4e is about the tyranny of mechanical balancing tools. But that's me.

Need I mention that edition warring in here is not going to be acceptable?

It is fine (expected, really) that folks won't like one edition or another. It is equally fine to say so. But I'll ask that everyone do us all a favor - think twice about using emotionally charged words (Sorry, billd91, but "tyranny" kinda qualifies, so you're the example). Think about what your adding to EN World when you go vitriolic. Ask yourself if that's what you really want to do.