Hi everyone, my name is Nick...I'm a 4E freelancer/playtester.

"Hi Nick!"

I've been absolutely avoiding saying anything about my freelancery for 4E for a long time now, mostly because I was pretty sure I wasn't allowed to even hint at it. In fact I took this to a crazed level of feigning lack of understanding about the game (hence a lot of my comments you've seen on these boards). Okay, so yeah, it's about time I let people know, since now I know I can let people know after catching up on my emails today.

First off: I got *the* email! It said exactly what Andy Collins said it said (over on Enworld), nothing more. I was just touting Rodney's praises on the "Another Playtester" thread, so while we are on the topic of good people:

Andy Collins is one of the finest human beings I've ever met. He is compassionate, brilliant, generous, wise, and full of love for the game. He is, quite frankly, one of the world's best game designers, and he has a bright and glorious soul that exudes kindness, warmth, and strength of spirit. He is not disingenuous or duplicitous. Nor does he conspire to murder our childhood love of D&D. He is a committed designer working hard to make the game better for as many people as possible.

I am allowed to disclose things about the new edition I like so here it is...Nick's very most favorite thing about 4E:

The DMG This is quite frankly the best book on roleplaying I've read in my entire life. It is titties. It is great. I love it. Not only are non-combat encounters and traps truly interesting now and backed up by awesome mechanics, but the book contains some of the strongest advice I've ever read on how to step behind the screen and rock out a good gaming session.

I hope you all understand that being under an NDA but being allowed to discuss things to a very non-specific extent is a little confusing to ittle ole me, so I don't want to get wrapped up in a maelstrom of 4E discussion.

I have too much work to do to get sucked into this message board. The fact that I need to pump out 5,000 words a day until May in order to meet all my deadlines for Paizo, WotC and Open Design (check out Blood of the Gorgon on Open Design!!!...shameless plug) pretty much ensures that I am no longer a man but rather a typing-monkey (I am a HUMAN BEING, I am NOT an ANIMAL!!!), I just can't be online all the time rapping about stuff. Not to mention I don't really know what I am allowed to rap about and what not.

My advice on 4E can be summed up as this: Remember, it's not finished yet. Give it a chance. Pick it up and read it in the store. You may really enjoy what you see there. It won't be for everyone, but it might be for you. If you want faster game play and lots of new combat options no matter what class you're playing then this game delivers the goods.

Nicely said Nick. Good luck with the writing!

Took a big man to come out of the closet like that...

Alright, Nick, you don't have to friggin dip my head into it water torture style. I'll play it, I'll buy it, I'LL LOVE IIIIIIIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...conspire to murder our childhood love of D&D.

The DMG ... is titties.

It is also great to hear that there is good advice on running a game in there as well... most hints have been mechanical.

Since most of what we have heard has been about playing the game can you tell us anything else about making/designing adventures for it? Yours would be a great perspective to hear from.

Sean Mahoney

I thought typing monkeys came only in infinite quantities and compose Shakespeare works...

[Disclaimer, humor!]

I've been absolutely avoiding saying anything about my freelancery

In fact I took this to a crazed level of feigning lack of understanding about the game

Andy Collins is one of the finest human beings I've ever met. He is compassionate, brilliant, generous, wise, and full of love for the game.

Is this related to the whole coming out of the closet thing? 'Cause there's nothing wrong with that...

The DMG This is quite frankly the best book on roleplaying I've read in my entire life. It is titties. It is great. I love it. Not only are non-combat encounters and traps truly interesting now and backed up by awesome mechanics,

but the book contains some of the strongest advice I've ever read on how to step behind the screen and rock out a good gaming session.

pretty much ensures that I am no longer a man but rather a typing-monkey (I am a HUMAN BEING, I am NOT an ANIMAL!!!)

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Well, I must say, this is the most hopeful thing I've heard yet. Most of what I've heard has filled me dread. But if Nick "Crown-of-the-Kobold-King" Logue gives it props...well then...I may have to try a bit harder to keep an open mind.

Some of the specifics I've heard still make me wake up in a cold sweat at night...but maybe, just maybe, I can house-rule it into something manageable...

Thanks for giving us hope, Nick.

Nicolas Logue wrote:

Andy Collins is one of the finest human beings I've ever met. He is compassionate, brilliant, generous, wise, and full of love for the game.

He's got some neat stuff on his website, too. But wow, he sounds like the second coming of Pelor, to hear you tell it!

Is this related to the whole coming out of the closet thing? 'Cause there's nothing wrong with that...

And, yeah, I'd go gay for him too, but that's a separate issue. ;-)

Some of the specifics I've heard still make me wake up in a cold sweat at night...but maybe, just maybe, I can house-rule it into something manageable...

I remember when City of Heroes was in the planning stages, I had all these grandiose ideas about characters I wanted to make and after the game came out realized that none of them were possible. Instead I made all different heroes based on their setting and using their rules (and roles), and had a blast anyway.

I think 4E is gonna be the same. All of the characters I've most loved in 2E and 3E are gonna be un-doable, especially from the sounds of the core classes in PHB1 and the concept of 'roles' (none of which cover the kinds of characters I like to play, or the multiple 'roles' my characters tend to take up from time to time, depending on the situation), so I'm going to have to throw them all out and find new things to enjoy in this game.

If I don't think 'D&D' and just think, 'hey, new fantasy game!' it goes down much smoother and I can start looking for cool things in this new game, rather than thinking about all the 3.X stuff it isn't going to be designed to do any longer.

One thing I'm kinda struggling with accepting is that the roles and classes make it pretty clear that this is *not* going to be any sort of D&D I've played before.

Then of course what happens is we play our characters anyway we want.

Hi everyone, my name is Nick...I'm a 4E freelancer/playtester.

I just wanted to applaud you on coming out and telling everyone this. I think it's really cool that you're throwing this out there, even though you really don't have to.

I'm glad that you have good things to say about 4E. It's nice to see that even if WotC had some difficulty dealing with their fanbase during the edition switch, at least the resulting product may be a worthy investment in the end.

I'll be honest, I don't think I'll be jumping onto 4E right away, but I do look forward to seeing the rules. And if you're going to be writing 4E adventures for WotC (and possibly Paizo, depending on their decision), then that's probably going to be a big factor in getting me to eventually play 4th.

Keep up the awesome work!

Hey Nick,

I've yet to have the pleasure of running one of your adventures for my group yet, but I'm already counting down the weeks till they mosey their lollygagging asses over to Hook Mountain, and come hell or high water I'll make sure they stumble across Falcon's Hollow in time for the carnival of tears. It'll be a nice experiment on the limits of player sanity, I think.

Anyway, just wanted to say everything of yours I've read I've loved. But more importantly, hearing your support for 4E most certainly helps put this DM's skeptical mind at ease. The decider for me is still likely going to be Paizo's choice on whether or not to make the switch, but your endorsement certainly makes things a noticeably less cringe-worthy process for me.

Now if they can just make the tieflings less silly-looking and angst-filled and the dragonborn completely nonexistent... Ah well, can't have everything, I guess.

Thanks for the great adventures and the thought provoking posts.

Sweet, I look forward to playing your stuff, dude.

I hope this cools down some of our edgy 4E critics.

Nick Logue was hiding in the closet...
Now why did he go do something like that?
I'm starting to get angry...
So I pull out my gun!

bla bla bla. It is titties. bla bla bla

I can't wait until Paizo is able to make a decision on what to do so that our freelancers can shamelessly shill our new stuff, too.

I can't wait until Paizo is able to make a decision on what to do so that our freelancers can shamelessly shill our new stuff, too.

Sean Mahoney

Don't tell anyone, but I've been doing development work on some of Nick's stuff over the last few weeks. All I can say is he's a man who knows his titties.

That sounds odd.

One thing I'm kinda struggling with accepting is that the roles and classes make it pretty clear that this is *not* going to be any sort of D&D I've played before.

When I ran Age of Worms, however, my players did the fighter/cleric/rogue/wizard thing, and it worked out SO much better. You don't need those "Core Four" specifically, but you do need someone who can do what they can do.

So 4E doesn't really change that. Instead, what it does is it says, "What do these roles need to be able to do? OK, let's give them that by default. Now that they have that down, we can let players build all kinds of characters on top of that." For example, the fighter effectively gets his "defenderiness" for free, and then you build whatever kind of fighter you want on top of that. Some of the abilities speak to defenderiness, but, well, not all of them by any stretch.

Out of curiosity, what are the character concepts you don't think you'll be able to do?

huh, huh-huh...he said "titties"...cool! huh, huh

Nick Logue sold me on 4e!

I can't wait until Paizo is able to make a decision on what to do so that our freelancers can shamelessly shill our new stuff, too.

Nick Logue sold me on 4e!

Tobus Neth wrote:

Nick Logue sold me on 4e!

Tobus is ridin' that sunbeam right right up your ass. They should be paying you extra for this kind of publicity, Nick.

Thank you Nick! :)

I can't wait until Paizo is able to make a decision on what to do so that our freelancers can shamelessly shill our new stuff, too.

Well done Nick!

(my last post vanished)

EDIT: If you're sick of hitting refresh on the board of your choice, just to hear the latest bit of crap (positive or negative), you should join us over at Open Design. Intense brainstorming happening all the time in Blood of the Gorgon.

It's helped me forget about 4th edition until such time as there's actually something for a consumer to know.