Some of you may wonder why I am so PRO 4th Edition... so much so that I will not DM in any other version going forward... (not that you guys would find me not DMing again a problem... LOL )
I was recently looking at a forum discussing 4th Edition pros/cons and came across this post, to which I find I am of a similar opinion because my experience has been very close to his... So I post this here to hopefully shed some light as to why I like 4E so much...
EDIT I've also added this website to a review of 4E that also epitomizes how I'm feeling about 4th Edition. HERE http://www.aintitcool.com/node/35776
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I've played D&D for 25 years, and DMed most of those years. I like something about every edition, but 4e flows better for me, and the game system gets "out of my way" for roleplay's sake when necessary, but runs smoothly when I want the crunchy mechanics of encounters--including dice rolls, if I want them, for a lot more than combat using skill challenges. Now, I've tried many online games, and they don't keep my interest. I've tried WoW, because most of my friends play it...but it's not D&D and it never has been, nor will it ever be.
Does D&D use some genre, races, trope, and this and that of fantasy, sorcery, swords, magic... all elements which are in Warhammer, or WoW, or Rolemaster, or Earthdawn... Did D&D "steal from" or "copy" these? Perhaps, there is nothing much completely new under the sun, but all of these instead interface, and share, interact, evolve... So no, 4e does not play like WoW because one is an online million-player game with a finite number of choices, and one is a smaller social tabletop pen-n-paper [okay, and now DDI] event, in which imagination is the only limit.
Could D&D 4e pick a few ideas from WoW, or just use it as a modern "dictionary of jargon" to create a new frame of reference, and then use that as a hook of sorts? For instance, "roles" is not unique to WoW or MMO's... I think, oh, the Battletech boardgame used that idea... we've always had these ideas in war, knights, archers, pikemen, catapults... those pieces have "roles"--does that make them WoW?
4e just did some clean, dynamic rethinking about presenting classic elements in...let's call it a modern frame of reference. Maybe I've just been waiting for this version of D&D, for level 1 characters to be interesting and heroic and not be so fragile, and for monsters to run on a different design mechanic to serve their short guest star role as effectively as possible. Maybe I got tired of statting out a monster for 4 hours which was going to die in 30 minutes or less.
If printing and game aids had not evolved, I don't think the wargames/minis/boardgame comparison would hold water either. Ever since the first metal, and then plastic D&D minis were available, I used them. Ever since gridded maps, boards, Chessex mats, old Warhhammer or Talisman tiles, Steve Jackson cardboard heroes... we've all looked for something, even glass Pente beads or something. I never ever once read a rule for playing D&D skirmish minis, nor did I collect them for value, except as I needed them as a DM. I've bought thousands of plastic D&D minis and tons of cardboard D&D Dungeon Tiles because that's how I like to run a game, and I've done that since 3.0, before, and after. 4e just finally makes that board come alive with terrain, movement abilities, clean combat mechanics, and simplifies a few things which were redundant. Much easier and swifter to count in squares, instead of feet and then convert in your head. I don't do fast math, but I can count squares (and diagonal moves!) sooo easily.
I've run 4e since June, and my games are just as roleplay heavy as they have always been, but now, there are more encounters, more traps, and monster packs are mixed so I get to DM little hordes which were so hard to do before... I'm having more fun in all my years DMing than I ever had before. No joke. It used to be work, which I was willing to do so my friends would have fun, but it was sometimes such long homework. Now, I prep so fast, and if you as DM know the new system and guide, teach, and suggest to players in combat, they learn it, and the combats fly... or if they are a little long, they are so much more intricate and cool and memorable.
All I know about "why" is on the designer forums and podcasts, for the first time I can playtest new material, I have an online tool that works great, I have new material than has yet to break my game or allow power gaming to break my game, each piece fits and interacts within the whole. Th foundation holds. I give and receive feedback and the company and designers listen. I've had at least 8 personal answers from writers, editors, designers, authors at WotC, listening to me as a player and interacting. That alone is totally awesome.
4e D&D is 4e D&D. Immerse yourself into it and play it for a while, and that is when it reveals itself, past those assumptions made at non-parallel comparisons. Don't just skim it or even just read it. Try it, a bunch of classes, races, powers, combats, skills, vs monsters... give it some dedicated effort and you just might be surprised.
I appreciate what has come before, but I am playing 4e and I have no desire to go back. We're having a blast![url][/url][url][/url]