Greetings. I have a short history with tabletop RPGs, but an intense passion for them. 4th Edition came as not a real shocker to me, but the events and previews following did. Mechanically, the tidbits we got looked okay, some going as far as being good. However, almost every change to the words around the mechanics stirred an almost incomprehensible feeling inside me. I had never been so deeply repulsed, and yet so deeply enthralled. 4th Edition may finally be the D&D edition I'm happy with. For all the wrong reasons.
The reason my love for RPGs is so intense is my unique creativity situation. I have what I believe are wonderful ideas, but I have no other method to express them. I'm not gifted in speaking, painting, drawing, writing, any method that could be used to convey an idea, I suck at it. The main reason is the open environment they often have. You're left with a blank, nothing to build off. You create the foundation, the structure, the details. I don't function well in those environments. I work best with limited tools. The D&D game gives me the structured rules and mechanics, so I can get my ideas out.
4th edition gives me the chance to do something I've always wanted to do. I can find a rule system that I'm happy with mechanically, and scrap the rest. I have the mechanical guides to explain however I please. The worse I find the situation surrounding the buildup to 4E, the happier I am. More incentive to work with new fluff. The worse the fluff they release? Less temptation to hold onto and intermix it with the my writing. The less Wizards writes for 3rd? The more I can focus on 4th. My version of it.
3rd edition and 3.5 gave me great tools to teach me the tricks. The basics. With my subscription to Pathfinder, I'm finding something I didn't expect. Not only am I getting great adventures and content, I'm getting shown exactly how to do what I always wanted: how to build a world that leaves all assumptions at the door.
Am I crazy? Am I alone? Am I wrong? Maybe. But I've never been more excited for a product I plan to surgically reconstruct and make into my own horrible gaming abomination.
So, you're happy that it looks like 4ED will bomb in the fluff department?... Hand over the drugs. ;)
I do agree that if the mechanics are just that good, the fluff can be mostly overlooked. That's what we have Pathfinder for, after all.
Well, to be fair, the only 3rd edition books that had any good fluff were the Eberron books. Heck, even having fluff is kind of a step up from the Complete books, which had a lot of text that didn't do anything at all.
Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Gnomes are alive and well in Golarion, and will always be a more widespread and influential race than, say, dragonborn, which are coming off a bit stupid in my opinion.
I just wrote up the general description of gnomes for the Gazetteer a couple of weeks ago, and Paizo's resident gnomologists (Mike McArtor and James Jacobs) gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
So yeah, gnomes aren't going anywhere.
Greetings. I have a short history with tabletop RPGs, but an intense passion for them. 4th Edition came as not a real shocker to me, but the events and previews following did. Mechanically, the tidbits we got looked okay, some going as far as being good. However, almost every change to the words around the mechanics stirred an almost incomprehensible feeling inside me. I had never been so deeply repulsed, and yet so deeply enthralled. 4th Edition may finally be the D&D edition I'm happy with. For all the wrong reasons.
The reason my love for RPGs is so intense is my unique creativity situation. I have what I believe are wonderful ideas, but I have no other method to express them. I'm not gifted in speaking, painting, drawing, writing, any method that could be used to convey an idea, I suck at it. The main reason is the open environment they often have. You're left with a blank, nothing to build off. You create the foundation, the structure, the details. I don't function well in those environments. I work best with limited tools. The D&D game gives me the structured rules and mechanics, so I can get my ideas out.
4th edition gives me the chance to do something I've always wanted to do. I can find a rule system that I'm happy with mechanically, and scrap the rest. I have the mechanical guides to explain however I please. The worse I find the situation surrounding the buildup to 4E, the happier I am. More incentive to work with new fluff. The worse the fluff they release? Less temptation to hold onto and intermix it with the my writing. The less Wizards writes for 3rd? The more I can focus on 4th. My version of it.
3rd edition and 3.5 gave me great tools to teach me the tricks. The basics. With my subscription to Pathfinder, I'm finding something I didn't expect. Not only am I getting great adventures and content, I'm getting shown exactly how to do what I always wanted: how to build a world that leaves all assumptions at the door.
Am I crazy? Am I alone? Am I wrong? Maybe. But I've never been more...
Well, I hope 4th Editions mechanics work really well. I'm glad to see folks excited for the next edition. I'm not, but that's because of my personal distaste with some of the mechanics that have been hinted at. If 4th Edition will enable individuals to come up with some wonderful campaigns, then who am I to be critical.
Here's hoping for the best for 4th.
I like the new fluff personally.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Gnomes are alive and well in Golarion, and will always be a more widespread and influential race than, say, dragonborn, which are coming off a bit stupid in my opinion.
I just wrote up the general description of gnomes for the Gazetteer a couple of weeks ago, and Paizo's resident gnomologists (Mike McArtor and James Jacobs) gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.
So yeah, gnomes aren't going anywhere.
That's great news.
and now for a timely song.
"There's no race like Gnome with some Holinase..."
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...dragonborn, which are coming off a bit stupid in my opinion.
I agree. I am not disinclined towards the idea of a reptilian race, mind, but I am not sure of the "why?" when it comes to the dragonborn. It's like I always say, "Crunch serves the fluff" and I am failing to see, given the fluff in "wizards Presents", what makes this a compelling race. I feel the same way about tieflings. I like the race actually (the idea of it), but I don't see why it should be present as "Core for the very 1st 4E PHB" in the assumed "points of light" setting.
I would like to hope that "points of light" may have been a result of some demonic/draconic invasion which, over time, resulted in these races. However, that may be too tight of a straightjacket for a PHB race so I am sure its left for the DMs to justify. Whenever I think of "points of light" I think of xenophobic communities that are MORE likely to blame the bad on the "wierd-looking" folk than embrace them. I find it hard to accept Dwarves, Humans, and Elves living in mixed communities really, but I can suspend my apprehensions with these "human-like" races and just let it ride.
But slap a tail on a race and I am certain a communities woes will be blamed on them:
"Our crops are blighted! It must be the tiefling witch! Lynch her!"
To the OP, what you feel is actually fairly common. Its the cycle of editions:
Release: Uncluttered, new rule sets, very little fluff. DMs are inspired by the rules and the fluff is free enough to change by the DMs.
Mid-Cycle: New rules sets, options appear, often breaking the game at the fringes. Fluff, campaign settings appear, closing down whats universally accepted. Here is where 3E made the 3.5 revision which was a huge mistake IMO...this is where most games are in their stride. 3.5 disrupted the cycle.
End-Cycle: The options almost outweigh the original rules. For every core ability, there is an "exception-based" rule to circumvent it, often with game-breaking results. DMs spend most of their time trying to figure out how to both provide the best options that don't break the game and/or finding fixes. This is when you know a new release is coming. Due to 3.5, many people feel as if 3E is actually mid-cycle, but taken in the larger 3E context, its clear its near the end-cycle.
Trust me. You will begin to feel the system stifling your creativity as the 4E matures and as your players change. New players excpect the "released" fluff to be universal.
Well, to be fair, the only 3rd edition books that had any good fluff were the Eberron books.
Well, that may be a matter of opinion, but I happen to think The Manual of the Planes and the Fiendish Codices purely rock in the "background material" department.
But, looking back, and at third party publishers, I would have to agree that it does appear 3e could afford some more compelling background material. But then, I see the same guiding principles of a "shift towards gamism" that make that true to be guiding principles that seem to be showing a strong hand in 4e.
Talking about dragonborns, don't really understand the whys and hows of this race. They should put the lizardfolk in the PHB if they like races with scales so much, I think it's far more widespread, isn't it?...
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I just wrote up the general description of gnomes for the Gazetteer a couple of weeks ago, and Paizo's resident gnomologists (Mike McArtor and James Jacobs) gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up.So yeah, gnomes aren't going anywhere.
Quick, I need a map to these guys homes and all the garden gnomes in a three state area by tomorow morning.
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I never was one to dislike any of the old fluff. I found some of it hard to use (Lords of Madness), but all in all, it was good enough for me.
And to reply to the original poster, I'm happy you've found something that makes you happy. I wish I felt the same way, but I'm not a fan of the new fluff or the new mechanics.
I am a huge Golarian fan though.
The D&D game gives me the structured rules and mechanics, so I can get my ideas out.
You should try Hero. More consistency with no fluff. Want to leave assumptions at the door, step out of the box.
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Talking about dragonborns, don't really understand the whys and hows of this race. They should put the lizardfolk in the PHB if they like races with scales so much, I think it's far more widespread, isn't it?...
I almost sounds like an attempt to allow people to play a Dragonlance Draconian type of race ...