Pre Game Review: Dungeons & Dragons 4E

[AlekTrev006]

Man, I love watching this video. I dunno what it is. Maybe the way Captain talks...he has an easy-to-listen to voice so I often have it on in the background whilst doing something around the house - along with the rest of the Captain Machine playlist I've got. :-) Great stuff Capn'.

[KayEnDub]

I don't need Hasbro to tell me how to deal with problem players much in the same way I don't need a PHB that treats me like a retard.

[Imagicka]

Well, @KayEnDub Hasbro, nor does anyone else, care about you. Not unless you're going to buy the entire production run of their books. WotC is marketing to new players and new DMs, maybe because aren't going to try to win over old gamers who are too close-minded or just don't want to invest in learning a new edition.

[mangadood]

i played a little dnd4e and it was super railroadie, and super dumbed down. but the art is pretty

[Kain1003]

@mangadood Agreed man. I played it a few sessions and wuickly went back to 3.5. The art was nice, but I just felt like I was playing table-top WoW, and alwyas felt like my creativity was being stifled. Moreover Wizards really angered me with how they organized the books and with how little they put in the books so that they can push out a PHP 2, DMG 2, MM 2, right away.

[woodwwad]

WOTC went into problems players pretty well in 3.5 DMG II

I hate 4e

[mooglelance]

I like the 4e Player's Manual and it is very fun while using the 3.5 DMG and MM but it takes a lot of conversing the rules to fit the 4e rules

[MrWitko]

It's suck the first and the 2nd DnD is better they destoy DnD.If you want to play a real RPG get your hand's you to The World Darkness WereWolves or vampires.Thous are real RPG.

[bathlarper]

3.5 didn't require maps it just assumed you would use them. 4e is actually unplayable without maps. Most of the problems with 4e can be circumvented by a good gm with very little monkeying with the rules but you MUST have a map. I hate using maps in games, that was the factor that stopped me buying the game.

[Droogie128]

3.5 wasn't very playable without minis either. AoO's, flanking, range etc. don't work right without it.

[cptmachine]

Agreed having a combat without minis was close to a nightmare as you pretty much had ot ignore a good couple of rules to get it to work.

[tarboy69]

@Droogie128

I play and gm 3.5 and never use minis and never had a prob.

[Droogie128]

@tarboy69 then you're ignoring things like flanking, terrain, diagonal movement, reach, aoo's, zones, traps, line effects, aoe's, range, cover, and forced mbovemen t. Basically, all the same things 4e relies on minis for. 3e combat is built on the d&d minis game, afterall.

[matthewlane]

read it, own it, played it. Not crap, but not D&D

[awininegeno]

wow a european nerd. their rare. anyway hello my nerd bretheran. even though i'm not a nerd (that's what my friends say), i like nerdy stuff (especially d&d).

[eeekenci]

you are only a d&d nerd if you dont use a calculator during gameplay =p

[n00bdragon]

Bears - Page 29

Wolves - Page 264

etc.

The generic animals -are- deeply cut down but that's for space reasons and also because a swarm of bats or a rabid dog are rarely credible threats to armed and armored adventurers.

As for plain ogres, why not take one of the named ogres and just call it an ogre? More than ever before there's nothing that prevents you from taking a stat block and using it as a base to go somewhere else with it.

I agree DMG is short on info though. Good for new DMS though.

[Andulvar]

You don't DM do you?

[heroes756]

I DM 4e. I think the DMG has a fair bit of useful info, but the MAJORITY can be found on the DM screen. I do agree the DMG is good for new DMs (I started D&D with 4e). It has a lot of fluff to pick through though. I believe if Wizards trimmed down the DMG to just the important stuff, the DMG would be 50 pages shorter.

[cheezeofages]

The combat is actually far deeper in 4th than in 3rd, just so you know.

[demonskunkstudios]

it's not x3 the combat is watered down. the only thing that could make it seem deeper is the fact that you get 'powers' to use

[cheezeofages]

They use effectively the same combat system, only they took out full round actions. therefore it can't be watered down and MUST be deeper with "powers"

[xiola6969]

If you play it for a while you realize it feels more like a really well balanced mmorpg not P&P. I cant get on board with a game that doesn't have unique characters each class is pretty much a clone and each class pretty much as set roles now and you deviate from

[xiola6969]

those roles to be something not part of the smash machine you aren't effective. Just like a mmorpg you have a class roll and there is only like 1-2 options to effectively use your class in combat wizards would have had a lot more brains to not destroy the reputation of D&D with these books I hit the local shops nobody plays it they all still play 3.5

[xiola6969]

Sorry 4th is D&D for newbs; older players for the most part will be offended. But this is always the trend with Wizards they don't care about the quality of a game only how many editions they can pump out to sell books and get richer.

[ZeErique]

That is the curse of being a business though, innit?

[araciel82]

I would say minis are now more important from what I've read...

[d6Danny1]

e4 is not my favorite. Its like a pen and paper version of a video game. My favorite game is The Dark Fantasy of Sundrah by Scaldcrow Games.

[atubaman1]

hi

ive always heard about d&d but have never had a chance to play it.

im kind of a jock so i dont have any friends that will play, and no one knows i have an interest in it.

what should i do. i really want to play and i went out and bought player handbooks.

anyone know of a way i could play, maybe via the computer or something?

PM me please

[catsnatcher101]

maybe get more friends in diffrent social groups. have them invite you to play dnd.

[cptmachine]

Very true I think I need to do that, I know there is at least one group out there in my home town I dont play with... hehe "play with"

[lk333]

Okay I just bought 4th edition and have started to learn the rules personaly I like the less complex rules I havnt had a chance to play yet but what have people thought of it that have played is it just as if not more enjoyable than 3.5

[Weirdhero42257]

I'm running 4th edition now and thus far I agree with your comment about D&D being brain candy. Now more than ever really. It's fun to play, but I'd never want it to be the only game I ran. I also agree that the DMG is nearly useless sadly.

[cptmachine]

Thanks for the comment, should be any week now, its hard to get 4 other people in the same room at the same time.

[Ogma01]

I'm in a campaign right now and we just completed our fourth session last week (may my Dragonborn Paladin rest in peace...) Still have a heck of a good time with it and I hope you get a chance to play it soon, Captain!

[Valclav]

Sorry Double post there for some reason.

[Valclav]

Hey mate,

I get what you're saying alright. WHFRP can be a bit bleak at times, although it does have that dark sardonic humor which I really like. For me, I'd personally go the Savage Worlds route if I wanted that type of "crash and bash" - which can be a lot of fun too! :)

I can't comment on the recent editions of D&D or their world settings to be fair (last one I read was in 2000).

Cheers,

V.

[Valclav]

Hey mate,

Thanks for the reply.

I get what you're saying alright. WHFRP can be a bit bleak at times, although it does have that dark sardonic humor Which I really like. For me, I'd personally go the Savage Worlds route if I wanted that type of "crash and bash" which can be a lot of fun! :)

I can't comment on the recent editions of D&D to be fair or new world settings (last stuff I read was in 2000).

Cheers,

V.

[Valclav]

Sorry, Part one:

Great review as always...

I guess I'm in one of those camps that hasn't played D&D for many years. I started with the red box when I was 13. Once I got a bit older myself, and my other mates moved far away from it. If anything we all pretty prejudiced towards it these days. Which in retrospect is unfair, as were so out of the D&D loop.

[Valclav]

Part 2:

We now tend to concentrate on games like, WHFRP, Cthuhu, Vampire (Sabbat), Unknown Armies, etc.

But I was just wondering what you thought of D&D compared to something like WHFRP?

Please, don't think I'm bashing D&D - I'm just very interested why it's still so popular compared to other games which I think have more to offer (again, that just my opinion).

Thanks,

V.

[cptmachine]

Comparing D&D to Warhammer is like comparing action movie with thrillers. The former is brain candy and enjoyable brain candy it is too. The latter makes you think and theres plenty to get your teeth into.

I really enjoy both and I like to play both, I just expect to get different things out of each, its hard to compare them as their very much like chalk and cheese.

D&D is popular because sometimes all you want to do kick in the door and kill the orc then take his stuff.