I'm 36. A fairly old-school gamer, though too busy shitting myself and being cute when the game first crawled out of the basements of Gygax & Arneson.
I nearly didn't get to play D&D due to the "Mazes and Monsters" hysteria, but after a year of pleading my case I got the "Basic Rules" red box with the stunning Elmore painting of a red dragon that graces the 4E quick-start set today.
A few years later I found a small community of gamers, where 3-5 games would go on every Saturday in the back of a place where old folks held bridge tournaments (serious business, that), and then graduated to the Grandaddy classic of all RPG's: AD&D 1st Edition.
I haven't played in quite a few years, for the same reasons most of us stop playing. But lo and behold I see the old red box art in a Barnes & Noble, and the marketing works - well, almost. I didn't buy the thing, but it piqued my interest.
So, long into the night I'm reading impressions of the new 4E and the giant shitstorm of controversy it has generated. I think I have a basic grasp of what's different.
What do you folks think?
From what I understand, 4E is supposed to be a faster, more efficient combat system. But the 4E has gutted the spell lists, with no non-combat spells, absolutely ruining one of the best parts of the game: creative spell use.
Even more strange, apparently you don't roll for stats in 4E. Characters are based on templates. Effective customization is eviscerated.
The elegant, logical alignment system first appearing in 1E has been dumbed down.
And soforth. Of course any of these things can be remedied by house rules, and indeed we had to do the same with 1E for some of its stupider points, such as level limits for demi-humans.
But the new 4E seems to be a sweeping revision, a different game really, more different from classic AD&D than that game was from the Red Box D&D system that used to run parallel. (Look that up if you're confused. There used to be two TSR D&D games simultaneously published, hence the "Advanced" designation)
Come forth, and release your nerd rage with all its barbaric fury to pound to skull of 4E into the dirt, or defend it with staunch paladin virtue. Discuss any and all points of the different editions, or simply reminisce about a great game you no longer have time for.
I nearly didn't get to play D&D due to the "Mazes and Monsters" hysteria, but after a year of pleading my case I got the "Basic Rules" red box with the stunning Elmore painting of a red dragon that graces the 4E quick-start set today.
A few years later I found a small community of gamers, where 3-5 games would go on every Saturday in the back of a place where old folks held bridge tournaments (serious business, that), and then graduated to the Grandaddy classic of all RPG's: AD&D 1st Edition.
I haven't played in quite a few years, for the same reasons most of us stop playing. But lo and behold I see the old red box art in a Barnes & Noble, and the marketing works - well, almost. I didn't buy the thing, but it piqued my interest.
So, long into the night I'm reading impressions of the new 4E and the giant shitstorm of controversy it has generated. I think I have a basic grasp of what's different.
What do you folks think?
From what I understand, 4E is supposed to be a faster, more efficient combat system. But the 4E has gutted the spell lists, with no non-combat spells, absolutely ruining one of the best parts of the game: creative spell use.
Even more strange, apparently you don't roll for stats in 4E. Characters are based on templates. Effective customization is eviscerated.
The elegant, logical alignment system first appearing in 1E has been dumbed down.
And soforth. Of course any of these things can be remedied by house rules, and indeed we had to do the same with 1E for some of its stupider points, such as level limits for demi-humans.
But the new 4E seems to be a sweeping revision, a different game really, more different from classic AD&D than that game was from the Red Box D&D system that used to run parallel. (Look that up if you're confused. There used to be two TSR D&D games simultaneously published, hence the "Advanced" designation)
Come forth, and release your nerd rage with all its barbaric fury to pound to skull of 4E into the dirt, or defend it with staunch paladin virtue. Discuss any and all points of the different editions, or simply reminisce about a great game you no longer have time for.
