What is 4E about?

[catsclaw227]

In 4E terms, exploration is what is going on when not engaged in either combat or a skill challenge dicefest. In other words about .00012% of a published 4E module.

Unless you're talking about the War of the Burning Sky 4e. That is LOTS of RP, options and the consequences of PC choices.

Good Stuff.

 

[Thasmodious]

I looked at it as, "What do you spend the most time prepping? What do you spend the most time discussing? What does the company line seem to be pushing most?" YMMV.

1. NPCs and skill challenges. Prepping encounters is a breeze.
2. Characters, memorable RP moments, and the story
3. Well, I've yet to see the Advanced Combat Handbook, otoh, 4e has a number of settings books, Manual of the Planes, new classes and races, a second book on world building, RP, skill challenges and exploration (DMG 2), etc. Seems the company line is pretty obvious.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I tend to examine the adventures to determine what the company line is pushing:

1e: Good luck. You might well die.

2e: Good luck. Our special NPCs won't die, and might save you.

3e: Good luck reading through pages of statblocks.

4e: Here are some combat encounters, and a few skill challenges you can roll through. We've even turned traps into a kind of combat encounter!

 

[Nifft]

IMHO, and IMXP, of course:

1e was about being 12 and naive, so even stuff that made no sense felt awesome.

2e was about Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn.

3e was about unifying the subsystems of 2e into a coherent framework; also, Open Source.

3.5e was about re-balancing some of the bigger remaining issues, and experimentation.

4e is about balancing the game so PCs are always in the "sweet spot" from levels 1 through 30.

Cheers, -- N