Well, the cool thing for me this week is the new 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons introductory module, Keep on the Shadowfell. I remember the pleasure that I had when I encountered the third (now 3.0) edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I had to learn to use miniatures and tactical combat, which I’d never used before because of the new feat system, and the way that warriors’ feats and many of the rogue’s feats required knowing the exact placement of characters.
That was a down side then, but the way the mechanics were cleared up and the way that things were just that much easier was wonderful.
It might be nostalgia for that time, since my feelings about the current 3.5ed of D&D are nothing like that. Oh, I liked the improvements they made, I finally understood some of the odder rules with the way they rewrote the combat chapter, but there was so much to choose from, so many finicky rules and exceptions — and that was just in the official sourcebooks. Of course AD&D 2nd edition was the exact same way by the time it’d met its end. The current batch of 3.5 sourcebooks both official and third party make a huge mishmash of options and choices, settings and stories.
It’s kind of wonderful in its own way, as well as daunting. My most recent 3.5 campaign was kind of brutal in the rules lawyering, I’ve always been a fast and loose GM, preferring more cinematic combat than crunchy. We got crunchy because it was D&D we were playing, and because of who the players were. That’s not something I’ve ever been able to pick — they were my friends, and that was that.
So, I’m excited by 4th Ed. There’s some new crunchiness, sure, but there seems to also be some of that revolution that happened with 3.0. Things got cleaned up, things were streamlined, and things that used different mechanics were simplified into one. Spells and combat maneuvers have been merged together; magic missile can now be cast every round (at the darkness, or not), but now (for the first time ever) requires a to-hit roll. Healing is vastly different, and doesn’t always require a healer.
Obviously, I don’t have the full rules, just an teaser module that has a few characters, and a decent length introduction. It’s mostly combat and not roleplaying, but then it’s D&D. I said something similar about 3.0, how it was an entirely different game than before, but it was still D&D. This feels the same way. Girl said it sounded like it was heavily influenced by WoW, and I agree. I also sense Magic: the Gathering influences, with interrupts and instants.
It is crunchy, like most D&D, but it also has some cinematic stuff. Encounter powers that are strong but can be used only once/combat. Action points that can be spent to make things happen a bit more in your favor, something I’ve always been fond of.
I hope to play this soon, maybe as early as Friday (although we’re headed to Marcon this weekend, so that play may change). Still, it’ll happen soon, and that makes me happy.
