OK....... I really REALLY REALLY wanted to love this game. To be honest I've been a sucker for every incarnation of DnD that's come out. I liked all of em in their own way. I prebought this one and every 'pre-book' they've put out... We were all so eager for this new incarnation. It read so well. I can't believe this, but this game has actually managed to depress me!! I HAVE played it. Just spent three hours playing, in fact.

When we finished the party reported that they had the distinct feeling that we had just played a board game version of WOW. Now we all LOVE WOW in our gaming group.. but that's NOT what we sat down to play around a table. We saw nothing 'quick' or 'streamlined' about the gaming experience. We moved pieces around a board adhereing to movement rules and 'squares' for this and that in a fashion that reminded me way too much of the old 'Heroes Quest', albeit a complicated version! Were the game mechanics good? Yes. Why did I give it a 'one star'? Because whilst the game is a good miniature warfare game it seemed to rob the flavor of DnD. The character creation was extrememly confined and the selections were limited. Gone was the ability to customize your character to the point that you actually felt like you had something unique. You will feel as if WOC is controlling the direction your character takes. The game DEMANDED a board and game pieces.. I've always felt that DnD's flavor relied on the 'minds eye', which is so much more colorful in my head than staring at plastic pieces on a piece of cardboard. I do realize that the 'original' DnD was just that, a wargame with a fantasy element. But I feel it evolved into so much more... I guess we've 'returned to our roots'... so why do I feel like we climbed back into the primordial ooze?!

The three core rule books for the new edition are in many ways a step in the right direction for me and my players.

The quick combat, the array of options available (I will admit this feels limited, only if you compare this edition to the last one.), and the over all feel make this a wonderful edition for borh players and dm's alike.

It reminds me heavily of my time spent in earlier editions but has its own unique flavor. It was easy to learn for me, and in turn teach to my players. We have now gone through 3 sessions and about 6 combats aside from our skirmishes and roleplaying.

The edition has it all, in a different way, that may or may not suit you. I am looking forward to guidelines for powers, and how to create your own.

There is a minor number of flaws with this product (such as editing espeically in the players handbook) but mosto f that has already been correct via pdf on the website. That is actually my biggest annoyance about this new edition.

So my opinion is that you try this edition twice with an open mind, and see if you like it.

I love it. I can understand that some people may find things they don't like in it, but it's one of the best High fantasy RPG ever written. I hate 3rd edition (even if I love lots of D20 books published elsewhere). I will love to run gamemastery modules and Pathfinder AP in DD4. It's so easy to do it that I'm eager to begin!

Ok, it sucks.
I mean come on, this looks like poor mmorpg rules.
this really looks like basics set for video games. I think that wizards wanted to screw their traditionnal customers, and try to bring along the mmorpg generation.
the only problem I forsee is the fact that mmorpg fan, and young players, would rather play a video game than this. I am a mmorpg player, and a dnd player, and I don't see myself loose my time on this.
Too bad really, but not so surprising.

This expansion to the Pokermon card game allows Perkachu, Beulbasaur, and all of your other favorite Pokermon characters to play the role of warlocks, rogues, fighters, and warlords combating dragons and....

I'm sorry? You mean this isn't a collectable card game expansion? Well you could have fooled me. With similar terms, abilities and powers that are presented on card like formats, mirror Magic the Gathering spells, and that they "recommend you make index cards" for (think that's a forthcoming supplement?), this just isn't my game.

Most importantly, note the promise of "future editions of the players handbook" (last sentence on page 15 of the PHB), words which should haunt even the most enthusiastic of players. Put on that cowbell, Bessie, you're about to be MILKED.

Instant Interrupts, Auto-regenerating fighters, well-hidden Vancian magic system in the form of "at-will", encounter and daily powers (Unfortunately applied to all classes now), abilities that after you use them once per encounter you just forget how to use them until you take a 5 minutes rest, and a very similar format of Magic: the Gathering on every power listed. Yes, the combat system was throughly cleaned from 3.5 (Grapple, for instance), but the system now looks like something you should play online. About the only thing I was not expecting to see and didn't make it was a rule where you have to tap your character sheet. And "5 star reviewers", are you getting paid to write down "designers' own words" reviews or is it just me that your text look like pre-4e preaching? Sacred cows... how quaint.

There's no middle of the road reviews on this one. People either love it or they can't stand it. I ran my first session of it yesterday, and our gaming group had a blast. It still felt like we were playing dnd, and there is just a much room for story and rp as ever. Our belittling warlord was a testament to that. He knew how to get a fallen soldier back on his feet.

I do admit that the books are heavy on crunch and lower on fluff, but these are the core rule books, and crunch is what I want in core rule books. If I want a lot of fluff, I'll open up my classic monsters revisited. As it turns out I can still use all the good stuff in there with my 4E game. How weird.

It works. It fixes everything that was wrong with 3E. The books are beautiful. And yes, it's still D&D.

No soul? The players provide the soul, the rules provide the mechanics.

Characters lose their uniqueness? The powers all look alike? Yeah, right. A fighter with Comeback Strike is a completely different animal than one with Villain's Menace. And how does any of his powers "feel alike", say, a Ranger's Split the Tree, a Paladin's Radiant Delirium or a Rogue's Blinding Barrage? And that's just at level 1. All the classes still do what they did in 3E, except now they get a new option every level. How can that feel more limited? If you call it a Tactical Feat, it's da bomb, but if you call it a power, it's a board game? Please...

The life sucked out of it? Tell that to my jaded group of players who had the time of their life fighting half a dozen kobolds.

No roleplay in the game? That's hilarious. Do you need the core rules to roleplay? Or would you rather have imaginative players and adventures filled with RP opportunities? How much RP was there in the 3E core books anyway? That's what I thought.

I don't care if anyone else plays this game and I'm not trying to convince anyone to switch. But please, judge these books for what they are and leave your preconceived notions (MMORPG wannabe etc) out of it.

Bottom line: it's a great game. 'Nuff said.

After only 3 years of selling D&D 3.5, Wizards of the Coast has delivered the new edition of 4E with much fanfare, rejoicing, and for some, sorrow. Unfortunately, in their effort to deliver an "upgrade" to the system, they have turned D&D into an action movie; all special effects but no soul. Much like a Michael Bay movie, the bright flash of the system rules the show, not the creative power of the players. Gone are the nearly limitless possibilities of character creation, instead replaced with a collection of "powers" for all classes, designed with the specific intent to make everybody "special" and "powerful" from the get-go. Characters lose a lot of their uniqueness, and the system rewards a very cut-and-dry boardgame style of play, instead of the free-form design of the previous editions. In playing the game I felt like all the fun had been sucked out of the room to be replaced with something foreign and frankly not enjoyable.

Sure, the game looks great, but behind that glossy cover and bright pictures is a product of over engineering and unneeded changes to a system that may have had its flaws, but did not deserve this kind of treatment. The very nature of how the game was released, and the extent of the changes made only leaves a further sour taste in my mouth and a response of "what's the point, why not just continue to play what I enjoy and save my money to spend on Paizo products!"

While my complains of the game are extraordinary negative, they all revolve around the fact that this is not D&D - it is a fancy board game with $100 of manuals that (according to WotC) will be upgraded regularly with further expansion packs...I mean splatbooks for everything from the missing races, the further "powers". I really wanted to like 4E, I went to my first 4E experience with a level of excitement I'd not had while gaming in years. I left feeling like somebody kicked my dog. If the future of gaming is really here with 4E, I'd rather find a time-machine.

These are wonderful rulebooks and just the welcome and refreshing change that the market leader in roleplay should be making.

Wizards have struck gold with a wonderful new system which at last ties everything together and flags the start of the roleplay of the future. Beautiful art, creative and balanced character classes, a wonderful monster manual, with new treatments on all the old favourites.

The only disappointment is that favourite classes and races are missing - monks, druids and gnomes - but there are some new ones in their place, which I am sure will go down well.

It is a shame that many can't see past their own wallet with these new rules. This is not a rehash , this is the future of roleplay. Whilst some will harp on how wonderful 3.5 is or how they like the Pathfinder tweaks, others will move on to a much more enjoyable and broad-based game.

Congratulations!