Upon Further Reflection of D&D 4.0

Reached a decision two weeks back when the regular DM in my weekly D&D game (3.5ed) wrapped up a module- I wasn't having fun and 75% of that was the system- I just don't think 3.5 is fun- combats are: everyone line up and play whack-a-mole with your weapon- that is an over simplification but not by much. So I told my group I was out and they could go on with the 3.5 game; they said, "no we'll try something else" So it fell to me to dust off the 4.0 rules (I owned the first 3 books released) and bring a learning game for everyone to learn on. Now that I've dug into the books (and picked up a few more) heres what I think: 1. The game makes every effort to make it easy for a DM. first off the monster manuel details typical tactics for each monster and it details suggested encounter groups at the end of the monster's listing and at the very end is a list of monsters by level. All tools to aid the GM and I highly approve. The Dungeon Master's Guide and the DMG2 as well are chocked full of advice and tools to help the DM- a table with exp budgets for building encounters by level and party size- it aids in planning balance encounter but by taking the exp budget for 2 levels above the party's level the GM can plan a more challenging encounter. Theres a list of treasure parcels by level: basically they chart out the treasure (gold and magic) that a party should earn for each level in a fashion that maintains a particular power curve- something I approve of as well. Clearly outlined monster design rules- need to create a monster bang here's the rules. I needed a spider for 1st level PCs to fight and the ones in the monster manuel didn't really fit- no problem I now have a write up for a tunnel spider and future plans for doing a giant trap door spider (level 3 lurker). On top of that they provide design templates like mummy lord or lich and if you what to shake things up and throw a curve ball you can pick a monster like a gnoll and the mummy lord template and combine the 2 and you have a new creation that fits in with the whole theme of you've been running with the gnolls but now you have a boss monster who is a gnoll and a mummy lord that is going to challenge the PCs and be new and different. Clearly all of this aids in DM creativity. There is a host of other things as well that I really like in the DMGs- skill challenges, adventure companions, and more. 2. Its a Players game, and a thinking person's game There are 4 PC roles: Defender, leader, striker, and controller and a group works best when you have all 4 roles represented. Each role has its own unique contribution that pushes the party to victory and each one has its own thing that it can do. It has become a game of group tactics. where your decisions have impact and stuff goes better for you with good tactics (read good group tactics). Having come back to RPG from wargaming this strongly appeals to me. 3. Its a different game and yet its still D&D The wizard is no longer this tag along that you hope lives long enough till he gets fire ball and can then nuke stuff for you. he starts out balance against all the other classes and the power curve seems to be maintained throughout the climb to level 30 The game is changed in a way that facilitates extend play and dungeon crawls if you like that sort of thing- you dont get the resource depletion because the spell casters have used all their spells. your encounter powers recharge for every encounter; though the big guns: daily powers only recharge after an extended rest. but even when you've blown your daily and encounter powers everyone still have at will powers that can continuously be used. Some complaints I've heard: A. its just Warcraft as a table top RPG- I usually hear this from someone who only has superficial knowledge of the rules. No it is not. However, it would have been foolish for Wizards to not pay attention to what the MMORPGs are doing since those things have been raiding the RPG market's customer base. Have they stollen ideas from MMORPGs yes but dont we all do that sort of thing? and is it a negative to steal a good idea? B. The money issue and the plethora of #2 books: this is a complaint that could hold water to a certain degree. However I did feel that DMG and DMG2 were worth the money for the vallue they confered. However it occurs to me that no matter what your hobby is you're going to spend money- you're into guns? cost money- on going money with ammo even if you just buy the 1 gun decide that you wont buy any more after that. Golf- I have it on someone else's authority that if your really into golf that it can be $3000/year, cars & cycles are you good with just one? and isn't there some mod or up grade you want for that? comic books talk about a monthly cost- yikes (I use to collect), I dont care what your thing is it cost money some how or some way. If you went whole hog and dropped $300 buying up a bunch of books and materials it really isn't that much compared to other hobbies. Ok maybe you're as tight as scrouge with your money: You can play with just the Player's handbook (has the rules for combat) and downloading the demo of the Character builder- it has all the races, classes, feats, powers and spells from the 3 player's handbooks & 2 setting books. (I whipped up 4 PCs in 20 minutes with the character builder). The character builder lets you save your PC then level him up latter (or delevel him if you want) and when you print out the character sheet you get a sheet with all of your powers on it including any powers from a magic item you're carrying- which is very handy in game as there is no need to look up a power in a book. For that matter you dont have to buy a book- just get the character builder demo and sit in on someone else's game and learn from them. I've heard other complaints but they really stem from close minded stick in the mud individuals that just fear change. So far I've run one session with a skill challenge and a combat: total time 2 hours and that included easing our way into the rules. I like it and recommend it. If I had to complain against it: You really need 4 players and a GM. it will be a really bad idea for a DM to try to run a PC and GM (I think its kind of a full time job for a player to do their thing in this game and for the GM to do his- its like drinking and driving- dont do it no matter how tempted you are- use an adventure companion to cover the missing role. the DMG gives advice on party composition when you only have 3, 2, or 1 players there are consequences for not having a particular player roll. This can be a problem if you dont have a group of 5 people. though it could be an opportunity for a DM to just get creative and adjust the adventure to fit smaller groups.

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