I tried a couple of games, bought the three rule books when it first came out, didn't like it and went back to 3.5.
I am keen to see 5e and am looking forward to it.
I am a long time gamer and I am not really interested in getting a digital membership (unless it is necessary) but I feel maybe I should have given 4e more of a go.
Also I am typically the one who runs games in our group, and we are campaign players ( not just dungeon)
Is there a relatively inexpensive way to play?
What rules are current?
What are some good adventures?
Want to give it a go before the sun sets.
I tried a couple of games, bought the three rule books when it first came out, didn't like it and went back to 3.5.
I am keen to see 5e and am looking forward to it.
I am a long time gamer and I am not really interested in getting a digital membership (unless it is necessary) but I feel maybe I should have given 4e more of a go.
Also I am typically the one who runs games in our group, and we are campaign players ( not just dungeon)
Is there a relatively inexpensive way to play?
What rules are current?
What are some good adventures?Want to give it a go before the sun sets.
I reckon a well-timed, one month subscription to DDI is your best bet, if you don't mind PDF adventures. It would also let you build PCs easily using the character builder. If you'd rather a printed adventure, there aren't that many good ones, in my opinion, but the slaying stone is my favorite (if you change the plot hook somewhat).
The best up-to-date printed version of the rules would be the rules compendium (Looks like you can get that for less than twenty dollars new).
An important thing to realize (at least it was for our group, anyhow) is that it's a fundamentally different approach than PF. Players have to be comfortable having creative control in terms of using powers and narrating their effects. Everyone has to be aware that it isn't trying to simulate a world the way 3.5 does but rather takes an approach of providing rules for contested situations and ceding control to the players and DM in a large number of other situations, covered by objective rules in PF.
The reason we struggled with 4E initially was that we viewed it as an evolution of 3.5, rather than a substantially new approach. We have the same problem in reverse going back to PF now. They are two quite different takes on an RPG, in my view.
I tried a couple of games, bought the three rule books when it first came out, didn't like it and went back to 3.5.
I am keen to see 5e and am looking forward to it.
I am a long time gamer and I am not really interested in getting a digital membership (unless it is necessary) but I feel maybe I should have given 4e more of a go.
Also I am typically the one who runs games in our group, and we are campaign players ( not just dungeon)
Is there a relatively inexpensive way to play?
What rules are current?
What are some good adventures?Want to give it a go before the sun sets.
Well I'm not suprised you shelved it after it's initial release, it's a common theme I'm finding from people who didn't like 4E in the beginning. Well for one, a DDi subscription (1 month) will net you pretty much everything you want to play using the current 4E rules. ALL the classes are available for your group using the Character Builder.
All of the Dragon/Dungeon magazines are available for download as well, though keep in mind that from a certain point, they went to article downloads instead of downloading the whole Issue but this way you can pick and choose which you want or don't want.
You can grab Keep on the Shadowfell, Quick Start Rules, and Khyber's Harvest free downloads to use. I believe they also include pre-made characters. If you don't want to grab the DDi subscription, they also freely produced The Fighter (Weaponmaster), The Cleric (Templar), The Rogue (Scoundrel), Warlord (Marshal), and The Wizard (Arcanist)
These are the updated classes with sur-names to differentiate between them and the Essentials classes (FYI). I'd also suggest getting the Rules Compendium and the Monster Vault, as they represent some amazing additives to 4E and the Monster Vault have great monster tokens that work for any RPG plus an Adventure for 4th level characters.
As for adventures, well the free download is "OK" and the one in Monster Vault is pretty good if you like modules that run pretty much straigh forward. Dungeon often runs some interesting adventures to download as well. I also really enjoyed Scepter Tower of Spellgard if you like running the the Forgotten Realms.
So I sign up to D&D insider and that gives me access to the rules and character design stuff as well as letting me download dungeons from dungeon digital magazine right?
Seems odd to not need to buy books. Or do I?
Quick start rules I can print off for my group, will they need to sign up too?
Is keep on the shadow fell a good adventure? Is there a good series in the dungeon magazines ?
To me a good adventure is most important. 3pp is fine by me it just has to be more than a series of rooms strung together.
I don't want to just play one session, I want to give it a proper go.
I don't think the 3.5 to 4 system change issue will be a problem. I have mostly been playing savage worlds for the last year and having a great time.
Btw thanks for the help
So I sign up to D&D insider and that gives me access to the rules and character design stuff as well as letting me download dungeons from dungeon digital magazine right?
Seems odd to not need to buy books. Or do I?
Quick start rules I can print off for my group, will they need to sign up too?
DDi gives you access to all Dungeon/Dragon issues, the D&D Compendium, the Monster Builder and Character Builder programs. These are great tools in getting your adventure started. As for the "rules", meaning the Hows and Whys, well you have the 3 Core rulebooks which I feel would be referenced consistantly. It depends on what rules you'll be referring to, but most can be found in either the DMG or the PHB. You can also look up any Errata on rule changes and clarifications.
As for the books being needed, yea DDI pretty much made the books good for inspiration and fluff but not necessary to play the game (wonder why they're not selling...hmmm??) Because you have a DDI account, they might not need accounts as they could use your sign-in name and Password (it's what I do with my group) but only 1 person can access teh Character Builder at a time, so it'll require taking turns.
Is keep on the shadow fell a good adventure? Is there a good series in the dungeon magazines ?
It's ok. As the first adventure for 4E, I had higher expectations and it's pretty rail-roaded into what the PCs can do. But don't let that limit that to what your group can do. on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the worst, 5 the best), I'd put it as a little over 3 (maybe 3.6). But it's not bad for free. From what I hear, the Scales of War and Chaos Scar adventure series are pretty darn good and received a lot of positive reviews. You might want to check those out too. I haven't played them but I'd like to as some point.
To me a good adventure is most important. 3pp is fine by me it just has to be more than a series of rooms strung together.I don't want to just play one session, I want to give it a proper go.
I don't think the 3.5 to 4 system change issue will be a problem. I have mostly been playing savage worlds for the last year and having a great time.
Btw thanks for the help
I hear good reviews of Savage Worlds, thinking about giving it a look. The adventures vary but I've been a fan of most of them or at least, indifferent. Nothing struck me as "Ohh, this is horrible!" Also, I hear the 4E version of the Tomb of Horros was well done and I'm going to (at some point) convert Return to Castle Ravenloft (v3.5) to 4E.
Is keep on the shadow fell a good adventure? Is there a good series in the dungeon magazines ?To me a good adventure is most important. 3pp is fine by me it just has to be more than a series of rooms strung together.
To be frank, I don't think there's anything in paizo's league (that's why I run paizo adventures in 4E). Certainly, the WoTC adventures are written in the dungeon delve format, so they appear to be a series if rooms strung together. No matter how much they are intended to be run as a sandbox, I find it hard to not fall into the trap of running them as a series of encounters.
If you're focussed very much on the adventures, I'd actually suggest converting adventures (or maybe using one of Scott betts's conversions of an AP). It's not a lot of work, although admittedly it would be hard to do your own conversion with little experience with the system.
The scales of war adventure path (in dungeon) has the first few issues downloadable for free, I think - so you could look into those first. Theyre amongst the best WoTC have put out, IMO (though unfortunately the first one opens with a stupid skill challenge that you'd be better off roleplaying out).