Tag: 4e

June 17, 2008

4e: first time playing

Last night was our regularly-scheduled Morrow Project Game, but George was out of town. Instead of forging ahead and then trying to reintegrate George to the ongoing game (which he doesn’t make easy), we decided to give 4e a spin. There were only three of us, so it wasn’t going to be a full-fledged group or anything, but it was...

June 16, 2008

4e: Dreadblade?

A long time ago, I was talking about revising the Hexblade from the ground up… essentially, I did so (and called it the Dreadblade), but I don’t think I ever published it in any form. The class power-structure was too funky – it was, essentially an entirely new subsystem like those on the Book of Nine Swords – or the...

June 9, 2008

4e: some neat things

Encounter design: I’ve been really skeptical of 4e’s encounter design in which each combat encounter has, by default, one creature (or trap) per party member. Here’s the thing, though, encounters are defined in such a way as being separated by a short (about 5 minute) rest. So, if you are in a dungeon and hit two rooms with monsters in...

June 6, 2008

4e: Dungeon, Dragon

On the plus side, the magazines are looking decent. OK, one of the big Dragon articles focuses on Yeenoghu, of whom I’m not a fan. I don’t really like D&D’s tendency to focus on fiends in general, and I prefer my gnolls more morally ambiguous than demon-worshipers. Still, that’s a personal preference. The article seemed like is pretty good, quality-wise.

June 6, 2008

4e: very, very quick impressions

Angela and I showed up at the Armored Gopher at midnight to pick up my books. Yeah, our FLGS has gamer-friendly, if odd, hours. I immediately handed Angela the Monster Manual while I cracked open the PHB. First impressions: The Player’s Handbook layout is odd. Not necessarily bad, but odd. I’m used to the races/classes/spells organizational structure. Now spells (and...

May 29, 2008

4e: last minute thoughts

I have the core books on pre-order through the Armored Gopher… so, hopefully, I will get them on release day. The more I hear from people who have the books or have seen them, the less optimistic I am as to whether the game will be one I’ll want to actually play. I’m pretty sure the system will be fun...

May 19, 2008

4e: The anti-minion?

Earlier today, I wrote about minions in 4e. Since then, I’ve been wondering… about the flip side of a minion. A minion is an otherwise normally powered opponent who can be taken down with a single hit. What about an otherwise normally powered opponent who simply can’t be taken down? I’d call this a “mastermind” but that name appears to...

May 19, 2008

4e: Minions, mooks, and extras, oh my!

Today’s 4e preview is about minions. Essentially, a minion in 4e is an opponent that is made to come in a horde. You can wade through them, dropping them left and right, but you can’t ignore them. In 3.x, this was very hard to accomplish. Someone of sufficiently low level to be dropped with a hit or two was often...

May 16, 2008

4e: Economic downturn

Earlier this week, Wizards posted a preview about the treasure-economy of 4e. As has been noted elsewhere in the blogosphere, it is rather rigid. I understand the reasoning. In 3.x, magic items make an enormous difference in terms of character power level… and, therefore, game balance. Today, the preview was specifically about magic items. One of the stated goals of...

May 5, 2008

I which I offer a preliminary criticism (or two) about 4e encounter design…

I appreciate the fact that Wizards, in making 4e, took a long, hard look at encounter design and found it lacking. I’ve written before about how big a difference numbers make in 3.x – a group of PCs against one powerful enemy has a disproportionate advantage due to the per-round limit on actions. This could make climatic fights against the...