D&D 4th Ed is Out

[Batou]

bah! 2nd edition is the ONLY EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[monroeski]

bah! 2nd edition is the ONLY EDITION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...For me to poop on!

[Spank_Me_Hard]

When 2nd Edition came out, while I didn't like some of the changes made (i.e. magic items had no "price") I thought that for the mostpart that it was superior and cleaned up a lot of loose ends.

In 1st Edition, there was some areas (such as being able to sell/buy magic items) that I still prefer (the seperate "Barbarian" and "Monk" classes as well as "double specialization" of weapons).

The core rules of 2nd Edition were for the mostpart the same as 1st Edition.

3rd Edition and beyond is a complete bastardization of the core rules of the game I feel. And the fact that they keep on coming out with new revisions in a relatively short timeframe leads me to conclude that with WOTC that it's all about simply squeezing people for money rather than preserving the integrity of the game as TSR did.

[monroeski]

So, I decided to wander into Half Price Books earlier today, assuming that the new edition would mean some people sold their old 3.5 books that I could grab for a good discount and maybe join in on a campaign some people I know are going through.

I noticed a few books on the shelf that I didn't quite recognize. "These can't be what I think they are" I thought as I pulled them out. Even looking at the cover with a Dragonborn on it, knowing full well what I was holding, I had to go into the book and check to see. Sure enough, a full set of all 3 4th edition core books were ripe for the taking, under $50 mint.

When I was checking out, some random guy that works there happened to be walking by and looked at what I was getting. He kind of did a double take, stopped, then moved the receipt out of the way, stared at the cover again, and just said "are these what I think they are?"

"Hell yes they are." I said, with a huge grin.

After paying and him telling me that he hates me "so much," I walked off to the melodious sounds of him talking to another teller about how much he hates me because those books are so new and the discount was so huge.

[Astros Fan]

I love that store.

Doesn't this 4th edition come with some VOIP server to link up with people to play D&D? I wonder how well that works.

[monroeski]

I love that store.

Doesn't this 4th edition come with some VOIP server to link up with people to play D&D? I wonder how well that works.

Hmm, good point. I think I remember seeing a disc in the back of the book when I checked it out at Border's a little while back, but now that you mention it I don't remember seeing any discs in the back of the ones I got yesterday (though I didn't look for them specifically). I'll have to check on this to see if I'm missing anything.

::edit::
checked out some new books at the store, no discs inside, so I'm safe. Wonder what I was thinking of that had a disc in it that I've looked at recently?
::/edit::

I believe there is some sort of online subscription component you can sign up for if you wish to. Only cements the criticism that they're going for a D&D meets WoW feel.

[taggart6]

I believe there is some sort of online subscription component you can sign up for if you wish to. Only cements the criticism that they're going for a D&D meets WoW feel.

Ahh I didn't hear about. I thought they were just putting the Role-Playing Game Association (RPGA) online.

[monroeski]

Ahh I didn't hear about. I thought they were just putting the Role-Playing Game Association (RPGA) online.

Nah, it's called DDI (Dungeons and Dragons Interactive). It's apparently free for now, until they get bugs worked out and such, then it's going pay-to-play. There are, of course, a hundred other methods for playing the games online, some good, some bad, but DDI is by no means mandatory.

[Kamakazie]

LE BUMP.

I started playing D&D 4th edition after PAX East and it's pretty awesome. I never played D&D previously but 4th edition definitely is pretty easy to get into. I talked to many different people about the new edition, some who love it and some who hate it, and the ones who love it often say how they love that some unnecessary stuff went by the wayside and combat has a more structured feel. A couple of people I talked to said that 4th edition feels a lot like original D&D before it became AD&D. The people who hate it still play whatever edition they love, decrying the simplification.

I like the rules and to me it seems like they're light enough to allow for more roleplaying and less rolling than if there were dozens of skills. The DDI subscription mentioned earlier is also awesome as this gives you access to Dungeon and Dragon magazine which contain articles written by designers and DMs, new areas to play around with and published adventures as well. DDI also gives you access to the D&D Compendium which is a database containing information on every spell, creature, trap, skill, etc in the game and I've found it to be indispensable when searching for information quickly. And finally there's the character builder which takes all the math out of creating your character and lets you get something ready to play at the table in minutes (and is updated monthly).

I think the game is a lot of fun. I've been playing about a month now DMing a home campaign and playing in D&D Encounters at a local game shop. If you're a fan of the old system and wary of the new, or a new player looking to learn how to play, you can check out some quick-start rules and grab the character builder demo (fully featured through 3rd level) here. There's a free version of the Keep on the Shadowfell adventure pack on there as well, but I don't recommend reading it unless you intend on DMing it.

EDIT: Oh, and to the people being afraid of errata'd books replacing the 4e books and making you buy everything again? Doesn't happen. Any updates end up here and get propagated to the compendium and character builder.

[monroeski]

I've been playing 4th Ed for a few months now and have been enjoying the hell out of it. Still, it almost feels like a different game; every class seems fairly similar in that they each have a few skill to choose from at each level, as opposed to old AD&D 2nd ed where fighters just hit things with melee weapons from level 1-infinite, wizards had spellbooks with a billion things to choose from, etc. Each class plays differently, of course, but the actual structure of every class feels very same-y.

Again, still having fun playing tabletop for the first time in over a decade, but 4th ed feels like a totally different game than 2nd ed or even 3rd IMO.

[Timman_24]

So how do you guys play? Do you have a group of people that get together or do you play with family/spouses? I would like to try a few games but don't want to go down to nerd central which is the local gaming store (the one close to me is kind of creepy.) How many people does it take to make a good game?

[monroeski]

I play with a random group of people. Met a guy at an alumni function for a school I didn't even go to, actually, and from there I joined his group and became friends with his friends. We play once a week if we can, and we've played any given day with anywhere from 4 to 8 PCs at a time.

[Kamakazie]

So how do you guys play? Do you have a group of people that get together or do you play with family/spouses? I would like to try a few games but don't want to go down to nerd central which is the local gaming store (the one close to me is kind of creepy.) How many people does it take to make a good game?

In the game I'm DMing it's me and four friends, the D&D Encounters sessions are with people I'd never met before.

I've found that game store RPG nerds aren't really all that weird... for the most part they've been extremely sociable and very nice. If you're looking to get into things with minimal commitment, try to get into an Encounters session. It's very combat-heavy and will get you used to the rules pretty quick. Check out the website to see if any shops nearby are participating.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Event.asp.../dndencounters

[taggart6]

I tried getting a group going with some friends but we only meet once. It was fun but its been impossible to to schedule a time when people can meet. It would be awesome to form a group that can meet regularly.

I went to a local gathering at game shop I found on meet-up.com that holds a big gaming session once a month. It was pretty easy going but the smell was intense. I'm not sure if I want to try going again.

[Timman_24]

Thanks guys. I am a complete noob with D&D. Do they have a rulebook that you have to pick up like Warhammer or is it an open source type thing? I've seen the books at the story but most looked like adventures to play. What do I get to learn the basics?