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D&D 4E Your plans for 4e
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Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
I remember the playtest for 3e. Kim Mohan headed it up, and it was all he could do to keep things straight. I strongly suspect that the current team has badly underestimated the time and personnel commitment needed for adequate playtesting, and they're drowning in data.
That doesn't mean that 4e will suck. But it is disappointing.
That doesn't mean that 4e will suck. But it is disappointing.
(contact)
Explorer
Piratecat said:
And I bet it's not Dave's only (or most mission critical) job.
Edit-- which reminds me, what sort of institutional memory should they have had for this project? None of the primary designers or developers were on 3e were they? Is anyone left from the 3e rollout who could pop holes in over-ambitious timelines and under-staffed efforts?
. . . or did someone just up and move the deadline forward 6 months? I'm telling you, dog (rolls eyes) . . .
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Piratecat said:
Out of interest, how far in advance of the release date did you actually get involved in the playtesting?
Kid Charlemagne
I am the Very Model of a Modern Moderator
Well, Kim Mohan is still there, apparently, so they should have had his input. One factor in their favor is that to some extent the SWSE is very similar in rules, so that helps in the testing process.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Piratecat said:
Interesting... compared to the 9 months allowed for playtesting in this instance. Of course, they didn't announce 3e until, what, mid-1999?
Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
So . . . in my "shadowrun" playtest group we've just started our second round playtest. This time we're playing the intro adventure that they'll release in the spring, I believe, so this is much closer to production stuff. We played the first session last night.
I'm a player this time, playing a halfling a rogue, which is like home for me.
I don't want to talk about specifics, but to say this: it was really, really fun. We all had a good time -- I've got players IMing me today saying "last night was really fun" and we just played our primary game on sunday (Rise of the Runelords from Paizo, a
-hot ballbuster of a campaign).
There are some very good changes between the previous playtest version and this one.
In this case, the adventure itself isn't all that terrific. But the play itself, especially (but not only) the combat is better -- faster, more interesting, and we all pretty much have fun things to do every round. I can't WAIT until I can say more about it -- and I obviously can't say this much, according to my NDA, but we're all friends here.
They're going to be running both a dungeon delve style (20-30 minute sample) and a regular 4-hour sample adventure at D&D Experience in Arlington at the end of February. I'll be there as a judge, running something crazy like 7 slots for the sake of a free place to shower and sleep.
The bottom line is our group of playtesters are jazzed. It's a different game, a bigger change than people expect, I think, and we're still only seeing a slice of stuff (only pregen characters, an only a 5-page digest version of the PHB), but in actual play it's . . . FUN. We fought kobolds. And not even Piratecat Supersmart Trapsmith Ambusher Kobolds. And the were FUN.
And it was fun for everyone, even the cleric, the traditional Gulag class of healers and buffers.
Did I mention that we had fun?
-j
I'm a player this time, playing a halfling a rogue, which is like home for me.
I don't want to talk about specifics, but to say this: it was really, really fun. We all had a good time -- I've got players IMing me today saying "last night was really fun" and we just played our primary game on sunday (Rise of the Runelords from Paizo, a
-hot ballbuster of a campaign). There are some very good changes between the previous playtest version and this one.
In this case, the adventure itself isn't all that terrific. But the play itself, especially (but not only) the combat is better -- faster, more interesting, and we all pretty much have fun things to do every round. I can't WAIT until I can say more about it -- and I obviously can't say this much, according to my NDA, but we're all friends here.
They're going to be running both a dungeon delve style (20-30 minute sample) and a regular 4-hour sample adventure at D&D Experience in Arlington at the end of February. I'll be there as a judge, running something crazy like 7 slots for the sake of a free place to shower and sleep.
The bottom line is our group of playtesters are jazzed. It's a different game, a bigger change than people expect, I think, and we're still only seeing a slice of stuff (only pregen characters, an only a 5-page digest version of the PHB), but in actual play it's . . . FUN. We fought kobolds. And not even Piratecat Supersmart Trapsmith Ambusher Kobolds. And the were FUN.
And it was fun for everyone, even the cleric, the traditional Gulag class of healers and buffers.
Did I mention that we had fun?
-j
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Radiating Gnome said:
With all the various ranting I hear in various un-named places about 'Shadowrun', it is good to hear that in its most fundamental criteria - fun - it is working well.
I am encouraged, Thanks
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