Musing about the past, looking toward the future…
I was reading through some of my backlogged blogs and came across this great post over at Jeff’s Gameblog about his musings regarding original D&D (OD&D) house rules. The post continues to discuss the fundamentals that make a system important, and it is a solid read for anyone interested in a very intelligent look at the metamorphosis of D&D over time.
Looking Forward
I have looked at very little regarding the upcoming 4th edition, however I have heard many concerns starting roughly ten seconds after the announcement at GenCon last year. I decided to break the veil tonight, did some poking around, and came up with the pre-PHB that has been put together from pre-release materials by the fine folks over at the Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition blog.
I have to say that I’m feeling a lot better about this system seeing some of the known details laid out. Many of the stat block simplifications address some things that have dramatically slowed down our gaming sessions. I’ve not read into the detail surrounding the combat changes yet, but the character creation stuff looks decent too.
Dealing with Change
Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments! I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks about the new edition and how your group plans to handle the transition. As previously mentioned, our group is somewhat change resistant… here’s to hoping the good outweighs the bad moving forward!
I’m a full go for this and have been since its announcement. I was one of the non-believers in 3rd edition but I didn’t want to change from 2nd. However, because of the success of 3.5 I have decided to embrace their new versions from here on out.
That doesn’t mean I am going to do it blindly. I have been looking into 4th edition very heavily and have been scooping up every bit of information that I can. I’m excited for just about everything I have seen thus far, minus a few exceptions. Like making halflings bigger … why?
Well, I actually don’t like the 3rd edition; complex rules for a result that could be sooooo easier to achieve. I used to DM it as well before, but then I came in contact with simpler and still effective rpgs (I LOVE Spirit of the Century :P) and I couldn’t stand DMing D&D anymore. However, my friends play D&D and I’ve adapted to playing it.
But now… this 4th edition looks cool. Amazing, really. I’d be back in DMing if we change, however my group is very change-resistant as well… but I’ll try everything to convince them 😛
And sorry for my english…
I pre-purchased my 4E books already (Amazon has a great deal on the box set) and I’m looking forward to bringing my current 3.5 campaign to a close with an apocalyptic bang!
I’ve read a lot of the Design and Development articles and I like what I’ve seen so far. I think the general simplification approach will work wonders for D&D.