A new playtest article just got posted over at WotC for Dragon magazine.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drpr/20071012a
I think the very last paragraph says a lot. Without quoting (but instead paraphrasing), our intrepid DM comments on the noticeable difference between 3.5 battles and the new edition. He had to refer to stat blocks less, apparently, and hide less behind paper or computer screens.
On the other hand, while it says a good bit about his skills as a DM and all, and he DOES mention it's not a crunch article (maybe the WotC ninja have been reading the threads over here again), does this article REALLY say anything?
I leave this for you, the readers, to decide.
Boo-yah! Got a link right and over 100 posts!
Sorry, need to gloat to myself. Carry on.
At this time I am not looking for crunch. I just want afeel of how the 4e plays out. As for this last play test. It was the best so far, because it was more interesting to read than the others. I like it because I think the way the guy is starting his campaign is super cool. he does give his view on how easier it was to play. But it was the descriptions of what went down in the scene that I liked.
I just want to see what happens to the characters. The other playtest posts didn't do that for me. the other ones just were lazy.
Just for those who don't want to sign in I have copy & pasted the article below.
October 2, Tuesday Night, Wizards Conference Room (Graceland)
Campaign Arc: Prophecy of the Priestess
DM: Greg Bilsland
Players: Logan Bonner, Sammy, Peter Schaefer, Chris Tulach
Before I dive into an account of what happened during my first session running a 4th Edition game, a little about the players and their characters:
Logan Bonner is a designer at Wizards of the Coast and is playing a dwarf rogue with some background in the divine and fighting arts. His character’s name is Kriv Hartsfire. Kriv is from a religious mercantile family in the southern lands of Ionia, and has recently journeyed into the human middlelands to seek fame, fortune, and a spiritual purpose.
Peter Schaefer is a developer at Wizards and is playing a half-elf fighter named Wilbur Hammermeister. Wilbur has led a troubled life, having been displaced from his home, and spent time traveling the middlelands with mercenaries. He is a skilled and heavily armored fighter who has a penchant for provoking people despite any supposed half-elf social acumen.
Sammy is a senior customer service representative at Wizards and is playing a tiefling warlord named Malazreal, or simply, “Mal.” He believes that a destiny lies in store for him and that if he is to meet it, he must travel and seize fate—as it were—by the horns. He has a commanding presence, yet demonstrates a clear value and concern for his allies.
Chris Tulach is an RPGA content manager at Wizards and is playing a human wizard named Gerhart Draken. Gerhart, at the disappearance of a member of his family, took up the arcane arts and then ventured forth into the world. Although cool and composed on the outside, a fire burns inside him—a fire reflected in his preferred arcane powers.
I’ll forewarn anyone hoping for a rules-crunchy playtest report—this isn’t it. The first session was an introduction to the setting and campaign, both of which are very story-driven. Still, there are undoubtedly some elements of gameplay that are elucidated here.
The campaign begins with the adventurers’ arrival in the city of Telder, a city of commerce and culture in the center of the human province of Teluvia. They arrive separately, for as of yet, the adventurers know nothing of each other or the imminent crossing of their fates. Despite arriving on the holiday of Autumn’s Birth, the adventurers find the town empty and quiet, devoid of the celebration one would expect. The players use their skills to deduce what might be the source of this strange absence of celebration. They learn a little, but because they are foreigners to Teluvia, they cannot pinpoint an explanation.
They hear the clamor of voices near the center of the city and, following the sound, they discover a crowd of peasants circled around a statue. They exchange minor acknowledgments to each other, for they have apparently all arrived fortuitously into a situation of which they know nothing. With caution, they approach the crowd and soon observe the source of the crowd’s fervor.
A woman, clad in little more than rags, stands chained upon the statue of a dragon, sticks piled below her. A priest incites the crowd with zealous words and looks beseechingly at a group of people sitting high above the city square. The PCs take a quick moment to appraise each of the people who are part of this dramatic situation. There is little to distinguish the woman besides her long auburn locks and pale skin. She is obviously a foreigner, and, the PCs reason, must be of some importance, for she bears a seal upon one finger. What the seal indicates, the adventurers fail to discern. Men, nobles by appearance, comprise the group that is perched high above the city square. Two wear crowns; the others are more difficult to distinguish.
Looking over these people, the players use a combination of skills and logic to try and deduce what the situation is. Gerhart, with his knowledge of this land, manages to reason that this is not the work of a mob but instead a lawful execution. Similarly, Mal manages to observe something of the exchange between the priest and nobles—he discerns a questioning look upon the priest, one that seeks approval from the nobles. Although he is distant from the group, he moves closer and succeeds in reading the expression of the two crowned men; one bears a hardened, grim expression; the other watches stoically except for a hint of sorrow in his eyes.
The PCs have not yet communicated with each other besides an exchange of serious, questioning glances. They position themselves amidst the crowd, watching as the priest gives the sign to ignite the wood beneath the woman. The adventurers train their eyes upon the woman, who carries no fear in her eyes—only a fire as fierce and angry as the flames that begin to lick her flesh.
As the conflagration consumes her, she gives a curdling scream with an otherworldly quality to it. The strident scream is short, and despite the obvious pain, she speaks out: “I lay a prophecy before you—you who act from fear. Before Spring’s Birth, the middlelands shall look into the eye of change, and there shall see an end to all nations. Behold a fragment of the Hellstone, the source of your destruction.”
The PCs strain to see amidst the crowd; both Kriv and Wilbur have moved to the middle ranks of the mob. Gerhart and Mal stand back further. None of them succeed in perceiving exactly what happens next, besides to say that Kriv notices the woman give a flick of her wrist, which results in an explosion of force that washes through peasants and adventurers alike.
The force appears like a swirling opalescent fog. Tendrils of it snake outward from the woman, splitting into the composite colors of the opalescence, ranging the whole spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. The tide of gray knocks all but Mal and Kriv from their feet. As the currents of what can only be magic wash over the common folk, some begin to twist and writhe.
The PCs make a quick appraisal of the situation around them. The woman, consumed in flames, seems wrapped in a fog of the opalescent gray smoke. He flesh bulges and twists. Beside her, tendrils of darkness wrap about the guards; under the effect, their flesh sloughs from their bodies. Near the PCs, a cord of putrid green light strikes a pair of peasants, whose bodies seem immediately to rot away, becoming like living corpses. Last among these hideous transformations are several villagers whose bodies contort, becoming gnarly and sinewy, their skin taking a deep umber color.
The PCs now face four skeletons, two zombies, and two goblins.
Gerhart makes a quick check on his knowledge of such arcane transformations, but despite scoring an excellent roll, finds that this is unlike anything he’s ever encountered. None of the PCs have ever seen anything like this. Gerhart can only speculate that the chaotic energies of magic have warped these people into monsters.
One player makes the quip, “I always wondered where goblins came from.”
Time for Initiative! Battle begins and the players all score better initiative than the monsters. For both monsters and players, the first round is spent mostly standing up. A few that are close enough are able to stand up and attack. The players that succeeded in maintaining their balance against the magical force immediately engage the creatures.
Despite the complexity of the battle, events move quickly. In the midst of combat though, these chaotic magical energies begin warping the terrain as well. Using several suggestions from the playtest document, including some interesting and exciting new terrain features, the battlefield becomes dreamscapelike, with the ground shifting and changing color, spontaneous fogs of poison appearing, and the like. Incidentally, a fog of poisonous gas appeared on a pair of horses who, having already succeeded against fear, also managed to fend off the poison. Go horses!
The PCs manage well, despite a critical hit from a zombie and goblin. They focus on the weaker undead first before launching after the goblins who, in the meantime, slay several fleeing peasants. The nobles rush to aid the adventurers, but several swift and skillful blows manage to eliminate the threats before the nobles can reach them.
The classes work well together, with Mal lending aid to his allies in need, Kriv taking advantage of his movement and flanking (not to mention getting a critical with a great axe), Wilbur controlling the movement of his foes as well as himself, and Gerhart supporting them with the precision and consistency of his arcane powers.
Success is bittersweet, however, for several townsfolk die amid the violence of battle, and the woman strapped to the statue escapes. However, before escaping, she undergoes a hideous transformation, sprouting wings from her hands and arms, and taking on the mutated form of some half-beast. Mal makes a valiant effort to stop her, but the result is a release of the chaotic energies pulsating inside her. After seeing the violent effect this magic has on the terrain around, he turns his attention to helping his new allies and saving the townspeople.
The mechanics of battle ran smoothly. Having just played through 3.5 battles this weekend, the difference was noticeable. I found myself infrequently referring to the stat blocks, for I was able to remember, even with three creatures, what the monsters were capable of. I was able to keep my head in battle instead of behind a piece of paper or in my computer, and I think this improved the drama of the events. The first encounter was designed as a dramatic introduction to the varying effects of magic and as an opportunity to get the PCs working together, but it also succeeded in acquainting everyone with the pace of gameplay and mechanics of combat.
The story sounds interesting, and starts a campaign with a bang! As we do not learn anything about the mechanics besides that the DM assures us that it ran smoothly, more so than 3.5, we have to take his word for it. If the new edition is really that easy to use, then it could be interesting.
I´m looking forward to hear more of this.
Stefan