D&D Test Drive
2009 April 30
WotC has created a set of test drive tools for 4E, giving everyone an opportunity to try the new edition for free. Â The Test Drive site includes Quick Start Rules, the Keep on the Shadowfell module and the Character Builder.
The Test Drive Basics
If you’re new to 4E or to D&D in general, this set of tools was designed for you. Â The Quick Start guide is designed to give you the rules you need to play the module, including some pre-gen characters. Â Though since the Character Builder is included and will let you create characters level 1 to 3, you don’t have to use the pre-gens.
As a player currently in the middle of the Keep, and I can say that the module is pretty entertaining. Â Who doesn’t love a dungeon that starts with goblins?
The Character Builder is pretty easy to use. Â It may take a while to install, but in the end, for those who want to quickly put together a character, it walks you through all the steps. Â It includes character options from the PHB, PHB2, Monster Manual, DMG, Forgotten Realms guides, as well as several other sources. Â Based on your choices, it will fill out your character sheet and provide you with power cards to print for your character.
The Quick Start Rules documents contains 15 pages of rules and guidelines, followed by 12 pages of pre-generated characters. Â The Quick Start rules provide a lot of good basics, including descriptions of what happens in combat.
Even if you have been playing 4E for awhile, I like the Quick Start guide as a small reference guide. Â It’s got a lot of pages from the PHB that come in handy, like the conditions and combat actions.