Wired has a new 4E review up HERE.
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
What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?
An open gaming platform.
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Nice review! He makes good points about the design goals of 4E that folks on these boards should try to understand better before bashing it about the head and shoulders so much.
Hopefully it will draw back in some folks who might have left the game and bring them back either to 4E or PFRPG. Or both!
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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.
Priceless. :-) Would it be the time to take the earmuffs off, then? I'm forwarding this to all the people who played with me since 2000.
Would I be bold enough to venture that it's up to Paizo and the PF playtesters to make sure that open gaming remains alive and strong?
Would you?
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Would I be bold enough to venture that it's up to Paizo and the PF playtesters to make sure that open gaming remains alive and strong?What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?An open gaming platform.
I would. Because that's the way it is: open gaming's future is tied to Paizo and Green Ronin, at this point.
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Nice review! He makes good points about the design goals of 4E that folks on these boards should try to understand better before bashing it about the head and shoulders so much.
Hopefully it will draw back in some folks who might have left the game and bring them back either to 4E or PFRPG. Or both!
I agree with Pete on this.
We are now like the old AD&D crew railing against the Red Box. It has its place and will be fun for mroe casual play.
As a separate note, I would like to see reviews from folks who were not directly involved in the playtest.
This has some contractual marketing taint to it, imho.
I believe Samuel Weiss put up a review somewhere around here that was largely negative of 4E (Sam says he was a playtester).
Also, another negative review was posted on Mr Myxztlpzy's (uh ... yeah something like that) blog, and then linked to on this forum. I think Joela put up a semi-positive first look review, but I'm not 100% sure.
Cheers! :)
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As a separate note, I would like to see reviews from folks who were not directly involved in the playtest.
This has some contractual marketing taint to it, imho.
I believe Samuel Weiss put up a review somewhere around here that was largely negative of 4E (Sam says he was a playtester).
Also, another negative review was posted on Mr Myxztlpzy's (uh ... yeah something like that) blog, and then linked to on this forum. I think Joela put up a semi-positive first look review, but I'm not 100% sure.
Cheers! :)
Yeah, Sam is really disappointed. I am ok with the system so far, and see it as different but ok.
I'd like to see what some professional reviewers do. I am a big believer in journalistic objectivity.
I would. Because that's the way it is: open gaming's future is tied to Paizo and Green Ronin, at this point.
So what happens in a year from now when Paizo and Green Ronin decide to produce 4e materials?
So what happens in a year from now when Paizo and Green Ronin decide to produce 4e materials?
Chaos!
Good story, good friends, rolling dice, having fun. What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?Nothing. What makes these impossible under another rules system? Also nothing.
True. But I believe the idea is/was to make the game more accessable to people who are not already die-hard geeks.
(Of course, with the rapid rate that WoTC is pouring out splat-books, they may undermine that stated goal. :( )
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Good story, good friends, rolling dice, having fun. What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?Nothing. What makes these impossible under another rules system? Also nothing.True. But I believe the idea is/was to make the game more accessable to people who are not already die-hard geeks.
(Of course, with the rapid rate that WoTC is pouring out splat-books, they may undermine that stated goal. :( )
I'm not questioning the game design. I'm questioning the review saying "4E is fun. 3E is unfun". It's become one of my pet hates in the whole edition wars we've got going on around here. Right up there with "4E is for retards" or "it's not a role-playing game" etc
I'm not questioning the game design. I'm questioning the review saying "4E is fun. 3E is unfun". It's become one of my pet hates in the whole edition wars we've got going on around here. Right up there with "4E is for retards" or "it's not a role-playing game" etcGood story, good friends, rolling dice, having fun. What else could be more important, in the real world or the one of Dungeons & Dragons?Nothing. What makes these impossible under another rules system? Also nothing.True. But I believe the idea is/was to make the game more accessable to people who are not already die-hard geeks.
(Of course, with the rapid rate that WoTC is pouring out splat-books, they may undermine that stated goal. :( )
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Would you?
Would I be bold enough to venture that it's up to Paizo and the PF playtesters to make sure that open gaming remains alive and strong?
Actually, I would say it's primarily up to the gamers who think that the SRD, the MSRD, Pathfinder and other 3.5-based OGL rulesets and product lines match better their gaming needs than 4th Ed.
Supporting Paizo and the other OGL companies and initiatives is one way to keep open gaming alive.
Taking part in the PF playtest process (Alpha 3 and soon Beta) is another.
Publishing house rules, tweaks, rejigs on the forums, on blogs, on wikis, all under the OGL license, is yet another way.
I've been doing the first bit for years. I started contributing to the the PF playtest a month ago. The third one goes live next week.