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So I'm a long time lurker here on ENWorld. I decided it's finally time to start a thread. I've been playing 4th for a few months now, as an NDA'd friend of a couple WotC employees. While I can't discuss specifics, I can talk about impressions I've gotten, and I feel like I've got a good grasp of the feel of the game and how it works.

Anyway... I'll get around to my point now.

I keep seeing a lot of discussion on many, many threads regarding options. I see a lot of people, both pro and anti 4e, saying that the game is more constrained, you can't do as much with characters, so on and so forth.

I've seen a lot of people try to argue the opposite. They've discussed "party optimization" instead of "character optimization", or compared a 1st level 3e fighter to a 1st level 4e fighter.

Furthermore, in a not obviously apparent, related topic I've seen many, many arguments about how 4e is better in play than it looks from just reading the book. My own experiences agree with that one.

Despite that, I and many others are having an absolute blast playing the game. So, why is that? If the game really is constricting, if there really are less options, then why is it that it's still so much fun? And how does that relate to the recurring theme that it's more fun in play than in read-through?

Where did my options go? - The New Paradigm!

3e - What we're familiar with:

In the previous edition (3.x) which, to put it bluntly, the vast majority of us here are familiar with, the majority of character options were built into the character creation process. It started with the very strong modularity of the system. At any point, at any level, I can take my next level of whatever class I might want (assuming prereq's met). When I want to build a level 20 character, I've got 20 "units" of build, purely based off of class levels. I can take a bit here, a bit there, and go for it. Or I can take all 20 of one class.

Even further, you've got feats and skills. Spellcasters have spells. Tons and tons and tons of options. Given enough time, with just the PHB, I can create hundreds of level 20 characters, all noticeably different. Admittedly, a lot of them would be poor to unplayable (10 Ftr / 10 Wiz for example). Still, that's a *ton* of options.

However, once you've gotten your character built and you're actually playing the game, your options drop dramatically. With the exception of the open-ended spellcasters (and what I mean by that are the Wizard and Cleric types, who aren't constrained by a "spells known" maximum), the rest of the character types were still very limited in what sorts of actions they could take. This is definitely true in combat, but even expands into the non-combat arena.

While your melee fighter type character can choose from many different options to begin with, once he's in combat he's got his one or two things he does over and over again. The heavy armor fighter runs up and stands next to the monster, hitting with his greatsword. The spiked chain fighter does his tripping, or his moving with Opportunity attacks. The rogue gets into flanking position and proceeds to sneak attack. This does not generally vary from combat to combat either, except in situations where the monster is somehow "immune" to whatever your schtick is (undead for the rogue, for example), and then you generally spend the time trying to come up with creative solutions that vary from brilliant to extremely frustrating for the DM.

This isn't just in combat though. Given the lengthy skills list and the ability to have such variance in skill point allocation, you've got a couple different ways a character can be. You can specialize in a few select skills, maximizing their points for your level, or you can try to spread the points out into multiple skills. The first works throughout, but the second generally only works at lower levels. By the time you hit the double-digits your "ok at lots of things" concept starts to turn into "poor at lots of things", and then "barely able to do lots of things" at the top end.

So suppose you stick with the familiar specialist concept. Given how lengthy the skill list is (40ish, right?) you really can only be *really really* specialized in a couple things. You take hide/move silent and great, you're fantastic it it. What do you do in game? You try to solve problems by sneaking around. You take Jump and Swim? What do you do? You try to find ways to jump or swim your way past challenges. From level 1 to level 20 you're trying to sneak past things or jump past things.

So, to conclude and reiterate this point: 3e's paradigm is to provide you with maximal options at character creation. However, this comes at the cost of most characters losing options during actual play. The only exclusion to this is with the open-ended spellcasters, for whom options are maximized nearly throughout. I'll discuss this a bit later.

4e - The New Game:

Contrasting the 3e paradigm is the 4e one. And a contrast it definitely is, as the methods of the system seem designed to flip the situation around to its opposite.

As much as we want to argue that 4e has lots and lots of options, and it does, comparing the sheer number of characters I can create with a 3e PHB and a 4e PHB the 4e one comes out far behind. The system is not modular in the same way. Once I pick my starting class, that's my class throughout. Now, as I level I do have the retraining option, so I can switch things out that I don't like with things that I do. That's nice, but it doesn't mean much when I'm simply creating a new character from scratch.

There are a lot of feats, but they're largely restricted to a race or class. Multiclass options are there, but they mostly allow small uses of another class's power, not a full gaining of that class's skills. The skill list is significantly smaller and the mechanics of skill training and skill usage makes specialization difficult if not impossible in some cases.

The arguments that I've seen for the value of these changes from both posters and designers focus on a couple things: Game balance and Fun. Game balance is easy to see. The "economy of actions" concept keeps the length of a combat round down, and keeps each players turn length fairly similar. The redesign of the wizard, in particular, means that all characters have a "chance to shine", rather than the wizard being able to do basically anything, with the right spell. Hit points are standardized, BAB's are standardized, skill values are standardized, all these things prevent a lot of the swingyness and mean that most characters, of any level, are going to be at least useable if not excellent.

How about the Fun part though? Well, that comes in, in play. 4e's focus is not on Creation Options, but on Play Options. It's a hard concept to explain, but I'll do my best.

Take something simple. Say there's a rogue power that damages an enemy and slides them three spaces (I'm sure there is, but not having played a rogue I don't know the names off the top of my head). It sounds like a simple thing, in read through. In play, it has amazing versatility. I can slide the enemy into flanking position, so next turn I can get to do Sneak attack. I can slide the enemy around the fighter, so if it wants to attack me next turn it has to deal with the fighter's "stickiness". I can slide it away, trying to protect a squishier wizard or warlock in the back. I can slide it off a cliff, into a trap, into a damage zone cast by a warlock or wizard, into rough terrain, and so on, and so on.

It's one power with a simple read through, but once you're actually in combat it gives you a ton of options that are all dependant upon the specific combat situation you find yourself in.

And that's just one of your powers. You've got others. Some deal more damage. Some might blind or immobilize a foe. Others might hit more than one foe at a time. And you can use them in whatever order you want. I can put myself in a position where sliding my foe might be useful, or if it's not, I can merely go for maximum damage. Maybe *now* is a good time to immobilize rather than slide, so I can.

In 4e combat is constantly shifting. Monsters move around, traps and terrain change your ability to move or your reasons for it. The standard/move/minor action concept means you get just as much attack whether you stay in once place or you move around the field, so often it benefits you to reposition during a fight.

Skill use is also adjusted in a similar manner. A reduced number of broader skills means that you can do more with any individual skill. Thievery now covers pick pocketing, sleight of hand, trap disarming, forgery, and maybe even disguise in some cases. One skill, lots of usability. Stealth now covers both moving quietly and hiding. Nature now covers handling animals, knowledge local (in the woods), knowledge nature, and even some alchemy in potion brewing (with the right ritual). Arcana covers both knowledge and spellcraft and even detect magic, as well as lots of rituals. When I choose a skill to train in 4e, I'm now choosing to be better at a long list of different, related things. I'm getting blocks of skills for one training, rather than excelling at individual parts of that block at the expense of other parts.

And even further, rebalancing the way skills work to include the 1/2 level on a roll means that a character doesn't have to be highly trained and specialized to get use out of a skill. A wizard with decent dex can actually succeed at a sneak check now, just not as often as trained rogue. A non-charismatic dwarf might still be able to bluff his way through something. Sure, it'd be a difficult roll, but we're opening up more options during game play here. I wouldn't even try something like that in 3e because the way the system is designed, at mid-high levels your chance of success would be zero.

So to conclude this part: 4e reduces the number of character creation options in the name of game balance, but vastly makes up for it in the amount of "in play" options available.

Still reading? Thanks. Last part!

Finally, to tie up the beginning with the end, here we go. So we keep seeing people saying "it doesn't read well, but when you play it, it's great!" Why? Well, look at what I just said. They took the options we're familiar with, and replaced them with options we're less familiar with. I look at the book and see only a few races, a few classes (both less or equal to what the 3e PHB had), with the removal of a lot of the complexity that character creation used to have. It's more simple to make, easier to "throw something together" and completely lacking in the beloved modularity of the previous game.

You see powers that say "Do 2(w) and slide the target 3 spaces". Does that give you an excited tingle up your spine? No. It sounds pretty bland on paper.

How about "Switch places with an ally as a move action", "Close burst 1, do some damage and teleport 5 + Int mod squares", "Gain concealment when you move more than 3 spaces", and "Gain +5 to sealth checks until the end of your next turn". Individually they all sound pretty simple, not very exciting...

Then I see my buddy's fae-lock use a minor to activate his +5 to stealth checks, do a move to switch places with the fighter who's surrounded and getting beat on, use otherworldy stride to damage everyone around him and uses the teleport it gives to get himself out of being surrounded as a standard action, and then rolls a stealth check at the end because he trained in that skill and has concealment from his other warlock power. He makes a high stealth roll and the enemies can't see him.

The fighter is saved, the monsters are hurt, confused, and can't retaliate on the guy who just screwed them, the DM is boggled and the warlock can sit back and bask in it. Those were "just encounter powers", he's still got his "powerful" dailies left.

Bring on the 4e, bring on the in game options. I loved sitting around tinkering with character builds for hours, but I don't think I'll miss it much. I'm having too damn much fun actually playing the game!

To me, the 4E rules seem interestingly streamlined, but a bit oversimplified
in spots.

And you know what? I've heard all of this conversation recently. I've been
hanging out with PS3 owners who are mortally offended by the risk that the
Wii's success will "kill gaming". Many Wii games are simpler than the games
the experienced gamers are used to, and this is seen as a serious problem by
people who are comfortable with that complexity.

What I found is that, even as someone who's been gaming for thirty years, I
often prefer a somewhat simpler and less involved game. And I think I'm gonna
love playing 4E.

I recently read an article about "casual" gaming, which I was much impressed
by:

http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html

[excerpt]
"Retards!?" says a shocked reader. "Surely you can"t say
what you mean!" Why not? When a casual gamer picks up the
standard dual shock controller, he gets confused. He doesn"t
have the patience to wade through these elaborate 3d worlds
or memorize fourteen button combinations. While the hardcore
call him "stupid", he retaliates by calling gaming "stupid".

Anytime you read "casual games" in the news, just replace
"casual" with the word "retard" and you will get how it is
truly perceived by the industry. "There is a casual gamer
boom!" should translate to "There is a retard gamer boom!".
The "EA Casual Games Division" really is translated to "EA
Retard Games Division". "Why are you calling casual gamers
retarded!?" thunders one reader. I am not. I am saying that
the hardcore industry is the one who thinks this way.
"Casual" is just a nice way of saying "dumb" in their eyes.

The reason why hardcore gamers' hearts sink when a company
says they will make the game include "casuals" is because
they know that all the edge, difficulty, and passion will
be ripped out to make a generic, easy, and soul-less game.

Is 4E as richly detailed a game as 3E? Well, no. It looks to be in many
ways a simpler game. No longer will I spend an hour choosing the thirty
spells for my wizard, while the fighter's player ... has absolutely NOTHING
to do. Spell management will be much less of an issue. A significant
complexity, which I quite enjoyed, is gone... But now we're all playing a
similar game. The fighter and I will both be making interesting choices
about which abilities to use.

The new DMG is in some ways the best. The analysis and discussion of how
to build an encounter is delicious. Yeah, I could do it -- I've been doing
it the hard way for twenty years. But other people I know didn't know how,
and nothing ever EXPLAINED it before. The monster types (solo/elite/minion)
are a big win; the monster roles (artillery, brute, etc.) are also a big win.
For that matter, the skill challenge rules are absolutely head and shoulders
above anything I've seen previously for non-combat mechanics that give some
room for interesting choices and player creativity -- *WHILE STILL ALLOWING
AN INEXPERIENCED GM TO RUN THE GAME*. Sure, a brilliant GM who has written
novels before could do this on the fly -- these rules give us a way to make it
work for everyone else, too.

If I had a group of experienced gamers, all of whom were mildly autistic like
me, we would all play 3.5 or 3.75 and love the details and special cases we're
so familiar with. If I wanna play with my roommate who gets frustrated and
upset and gives up because skill points are too complicated and the spell
preparation system is confusing and how was I supposed to know I had to pick
spells... 4E is an excellent choice.

Like the Wii, this is a bit simplified and streamlined for the benefit of
newbie players. Also like the Wii, it has a lot more depth and room
for fun and exploration than people have given it credit for, and I think it
will be good for the hobby. I think the decision to streamline and simplify
things is probably, on the whole, a very good one. The resulting complexity
and range of powers looks like it's going to be more evenly dispersed, giving
all the players a chance to think creatively and make interesting choices.
I'm no longer going to have to struggle, running a game, to find some way
to give the cleric an option other than "heal" and the fighter an option other
than "five foot step, full attack".

The ritual system, while I'm not totally sold on it, is a genuine solution to
the very real problem of adventurers getting screwed if they take spells with
no combat application, or if they don't happen to take exactly the right spell
with no combat application. I like the idea.

--
Copyright 2008, all wrongs reversed. Peter Seebach / usenet-nos...@seebs.net

With the new edition, released Friday, D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is launching one of the most ambitious attempts the tabletop-games industry has seen at redefining what it means to play an RPG. The rules are different, the mind-set is different, even the delivery system is different. At essentially every level, Dungeons & Dragons is being streamlined and simplified with one goal in mind: To get players together to roll some dice and have fun.

"From the beginning of the 4th Edition design process, we knew we wanted to make a rules set that was accessible and easy to use," said Bill Slavicsek, R&D director for role-playing games at Wizards. "We wanted to approach them in a friendlier manner, and not necessarily continue the 'dense textbook' style of past editions. I wouldn't say we were thinking 'mainstream gaming,' whatever that really means. The D&D game will always be a specialized hobby. The trick is making sure that we can remove as many hurdles as possible so that it becomes the largest specialized hobby it can be."

Monster_manual I had the opportunity to play D&D 4th Edition in a series of play tests run by a friend of mine last December. As gaming sessions go, they were quite grueling; we showed up at noon and played until well after 10 or 11 p.m. We had to, though: We were on a deadline. Wizards needed feedback on the adventure we were playing by the end of the month. Despite the long hours, despite our fumbling with the rules, despite sometimes rough notes for the dungeon master, it was a glorious experience.

At every level, mechanically, players and dungeon masters (a game's storyteller and arbiter) are freed to experience the game in ways they never could before. Characters now have special powers that assist them in combat, giving them real moment-to-moment choices in the heat of battle.

"I hit it with my warhammer" gets pretty old; instead, why don't you whack that monster upside its head so hard that it's forced to stagger backward? Spellcasters have similarly colorful abilities in D&D 4th Edition; where once they had hundreds of thematically similar spells to choose from, they now only have to make a few important decisions as they gain in power. Warlocks, arcane casters that truck with mysterious powers, have particularly evocative abilities. What better way to deal with a troublesome orc than to teleport it away from you? If part of that trip involves burning in the fires of Hell, so much the better!

In D&D 4th Edition, dungeon masters, or DMs, are freed from a good deal of the bookkeeping associated with the hobby in previous editions of the game, as the designers have streamlined the process for preparing adventures. Boxes of statistical information and extensive charts were once the norm, but now DMs can almost throw together an adventure on the fly. This philosophy has also lead to some radical changes in monster design. Just as players now have a fun trick or two up their sleeves, monsters now wield fantastic abilities that are wholly unique.

The possibilities these mechanical changes unlock are exciting in and of themselves. Nerds love to debate game mechanics, but what all this ultimately means for the player and the DM is more time focusing on more important things.

Combat moves so fluidly now, and the DM has so much less prep time to worry about, that the art of role-playing itself finally moves into the foreground of Dungeons & Dragons. Telling a compelling story, and having a ton of fun doing it, is ultimately the reason players sit down to game in the first place. What D&D 4th Edition represents is the chance to have fun with your friends without a ton of hassle, to immerse yourself in a fantasy world without working at it.

Players_handbook In fact, many of the mechanics are so easy to use that they remind players of what it feels like to play a massively multiplayer game. Wizards' Slavicsek has absolutely no problem with those comparisons, as all good games build on what has come before.

"Good games, whatever the format, are always a boon," he says. "Better games mean more gamers, and more gamers mean a robust and vibrant hobby. At the end of the day, if the entertainment is solid and fun, it attracts an audience. D&D is the game that paved the way for the MMOs of today, but they are two very different experiences. Indeed, I believe that we need more reasons to get together in the same room and socialize in person. D&D is a great way to do that."

D&D is truly a great way to have fun. It's all about socializing with your friends over a handful of dice. Laughing at old jokes and cracking new ones, running your friends through an adventure you've created -- there's no experience quite like playing in a tabletop role-playing game.

In our testing, Fargrim, hardened dwarven warrior, served as my personal window onto the world the DM conjured at the table. Wielding a warhammer and a nasty attitude, he was the party's front-line defender. Over the course of that month he held the line masterfully. Though he nearly fell at the hands of a vicious tribe of goblins, was burned by the acidic membranes of a gelatinous ooze, and nearly drowned in a deadly water trap, he ultimately survived to tell the tale. The subjugation of an idyllic countryside was the cost of failure, and Fargrim's party successfully won the day.

Given the constraints of play-testing, there was almost no storytelling. We did very little role-playing, almost no character development -- and still it was one of the most enjoyable D&D experiences I've ever had. I've been playing this game for almost 20 years now, and the sheer potential for entertainment the 4th Edition rules offer up is still something I'm coming to terms with. In a more relaxed environment, with the opportunity for character, story and pacing, the polished mechanics will allow DMs and players to fully appreciate the experience of Dungeons & Dragons as they're playing.

Elf_wizard For the first time, Dungeons & Dragons will offer an integrated online component. For a fee, players will be able to get together on a "virtual tabletop" and play D&D with their friends from anywhere in the world. The way Wizards is going about charging for this service is a bit hard to understand, but the company is offering a level of service that has never been seen before in a pen-and-paper title.

The last edition of D&D was released in the summer of 2000, and did a tremendous job of revitalizing a hobby that had waned in popularity through the end of the '90s. While it also went a long way toward addressing some seriously arcane rules (Thac0, anyone?), a number of legacy issues found their way into D&D 3.0. Veteran third-edition players will talk your ear off about the problems with a combat mechanic called grappling. Even more daunting was the magic-user's burden of choosing from the hundreds of spells available at high level -- a Brobdingnagian task.

D&D 4th Edition removes these hurdles. Wizards has clarified and enriched its legendary tabletop property, and the new rules get to the core experience of D&D like no other edition has. If 3.0 was like listening to symphony with earmuffs on, 4th Edition turns those muffs into high-quality headphones.

It's not without some amount of irony, of course, that D&D co-creator Gary Gygax passed away the same year a new edition of his story-based game will be released. Some cynical wits have made cracks to the effect of "he couldn't bear to see the new edition released"; it's an open secret in the tabletop gaming world that Gygax had little interest in the more recent editions of the game.

I see it quite the opposite, though. Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition is a fitting tribute to Gygax and Dave Arneson's original vision of a game built around a story with few mechanical supports. D&D, when it was first released, was little more than a few dozen pieces of paper stapled together. They were the barest bones of a game system, requiring players and DMs to fill in the blanks to create fun experiences. D&D 4th Edition returns to those early roots by freeing the participants from boring mechanics and petty arguments about rules, by allowing them to focus on what's truly important.

Good story, good friends, rolling dice, having fun. What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?

Michael Zenke blogs professionally for Massively and recreationally for MMOG Nation.

Images courtesy Wizards of the Coast