Comments on: D&D 4th Edition - List of Reviews

By: Curt

Curt — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:24:57 +0000

This is just the type of detail I was hunting for. I wish I’d discovered your web blog before.

By: Donat P. Fevre

Donat P. Fevre — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:28:03 +0000

4th Edition certainly isn’t for everyone. I know my initial opinion of it was that they had made it too similar to WoW. You might want to try 3rd Edition, which may be more to your liking.

I have finally played 4th Edition for myself recently, and I’ll admit that I’ve actually enjoyed it. It seems to make it easier to get away from the mechanics and actually focus on roleplaying.

By: knocker

knocker — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:07:48 +0000

I played 1st edition for over 10 years, then dabbled a bit in 2nd editon. I tried 4th for the first time this week, I know I will probably get flamed for this, but….. IMO, 4th edition isn’t even D&D, or as I like to call it, AD&D.
I’ve already had a strong distaste for wizards of the coast, and this just backed up my opinion that they ruined the game. Some friends are huge fans of 4th, I’m not. It is now a table top version of world of warcraft. I’m not saying the game is bad, but please don’t call it D&D. It’s not.

By: tim

tim — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 06:37:09 +0000

I actually DM a 4e game, I started out with it so for some time thats all I knew. I don’t have tons of money so it is hard for me to get to many books at once. Well anyways a guy named Dan came and started me how to DM better (Im still kinda new), he introduced the other versions and now I play with a combination of multiple versions. I find the rules that make the game the most fun. Right now I am running a game that encorporates 3e, 3.5, 4e, and some homebrew stuff but its just fun.

By: 2nd GEN

2nd GEN — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:52:57 +0000

Im a 2nd gen Dnd player and My parents had a large group untill the QLD floods and every one hated, especialy the mages and wizard players, the fourth edition So do I, just mostly combat Not worth it.

By: Hregrin

Hregrin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:46:03 +0000

Hi there !

It’s been 2 years since D&D4 was published and I still can’t find the fun in it. I personnally see very much where the MMO feeling is : it’s everywhere.

3.5 wasn’t perfect. But over the time I tweaked it and simplified it, I’ve thrown away big chunks of stodgy rules, created and modified races and classes, feats and spells.

But hey, the point of Wizards isn’t really to please old time gamers like us. They already got our cash (and they won’t have mine with that 4th E). They have to touch a new target, which seems obvious : MMO players. And they can get a lot of money with over 50 books already out and the fact that the game is a lot harder to play without miniatures (another thing I don’t like… I’ve tested it but it takes half the imagination, besides the cost).

What I fear is that young player will be fed munchkin-oriented material and lose the taste of real RPing…

And if it wasn’t enough for me not to buy anything 4E, with the licence restriction many third-party editors dropped their products, including one that I like a lot : Midnight.

So what I do since 2008 is creating what I need myself (I’ve always been kind of a DIY DM) and continue the game with a system that I find more flexible and customisable.

Maybe I’ll check the 5th edition when it’s published…

By: DM Demon

DM Demon — Mon, 24 May 2010 01:23:07 +0000

To give you an idea of where I’m coming from, I run a 4th ed game and play a pc in another, Ive run and played 3.5, original AD&D, and basic set (pink box). I started with around 1981.

I also run a regular Cthulhu game, among other things, which is 98% RP. A couple nights ago we had an overnighter, during which there was a -single round- of gunfire, and the rest of it was roleplay. The players were freaking out for a solid 6 hours and loved it. I bring this up because you can have 4th ed games that are just as immersive, combat isn’t what makes a game great, it is up to the DM to make it happen.

I like 4th ed because it provides a simple, basic framework, allowing the DM to spend more time creating great roleplaying encounters and less time on the mechanics of combat. You can take a pog combat system and run a great RP session based on it - many LARPs use rock-paper-scissors - the combat system is not what makes RP.

And yes, 4th ed works so well with miniatures/ battle mats that you would be a fool not to use them with it. As someone who never got too into minis that worried me quite a bit before I began playing it. Now I love it.

Good points about some of the wizard stuff that’s gone. However, the framework is there to do everything you used to. If your DM doesn’t have that kind of imagination.. sorry but other ones do.

Thanks for the google chart btw. Of course the release of 4th ed would spark interest in D&D in general, no surprise there. So many people have 3.5 and have poured $ into it, it would make sense they’d get back into what they know. The value in the chart however is in combining the two lines - after 4th ed, interest in D&D in general has more than doubled.

By: Curious

Curious — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:44:58 +0000

Well, as the time goes on, people seems to prefer 3.5 more and more.

http://www.google.com/insights/search/?hl=en-US#cat=622&q=D%26D%204%2CD%26D%203.5%2CD%26D%204th%2Cd%26d%203%2Cpathfinder&date=7%2F2007%2029m&cmpt=q

By: Depicting game mechanics in fantasy fiction - Pens and Swords - Talking shop with fantasy fiction author Kameron M. Franklin

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:35:27 +0000

[...] some significant changes in mechanics from the previous edition of Dungeons and Dragons. There are a lot of good reviews of the core rules, but seeing as this is a blog about writing fantasy fiction, I wanted to take a different [...]

By: Don

Don — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:56:32 +0000

I was hestitant to get into 4th editon for cost reasons, I mean I already spent hundreds of dollars on older books and that system was great and didn’t need “fixing” or “improving” but when I saw how different 4th edition was I got intrigued and did get into it. It’s like a completely different game but with all the stuff I loved about older versions of D&D - the flavor of the race and classes, feats, skills, ability modifiers, ACs.

There was enough familiarity there that the game still felt enough like D&D, only a version that was new and exciting.

I’m a little disappointed at the wizard spell selection but the arcane book hasn’t come out yet, besides, how often did a wizard run out of spells at 1st level and just suck? In 4th edition you can feel like a wizard at all levels with your at-will Magic Missiles and the rituals and cantrips.

It absolutely does feel like an MMO with the character roles of healer, tank, etc but it also makes player groups more cohesive and cooperative.

As far as role-playing or playing different alignments etc, there is nothing in 4th edition different from 3rd, 2nd, and 1st editions that would prohibit or discourage you from doing so. How much any of that happens is up to the individual DM. Yes, most of the powers are combat oriented but there were a glut of powers in 3rd edition that rarely got used and make better sense as rituals now.

4th edition is an exciting blend of old D&D, MMO, and miniatures game. Just because it is radically different doesn’t make it less fun. I like it better than any version of D&D so far but if my players want to play 3.5, I have those books too. There’s no reason that someone can’t love 3.5 and 4th edition as they play like different games in many respects.