D+D? Who plays?

[Quinn]

Ok I understood about half of that conversation.  Apart from the DAKKADAKKADAKKA!!!! bit.  Go the Orkz!  But I digress.

So what's the deal with this 4E anyway?  Have they dumbed it down or made it streamlined or what?  I have to admit I'm not a big fan of Templates but that could be my prejudices as an old school gamer showing though.

Honest opinion time - will I have fun playing 4E and will it let me loot stuff and develop a characters personality at the same time?

To dumb down Anubis's post, it's easy to learn and every class is now equal to the other in their own ways. What Anubis is calling a 'build' is a way of saying "this is what my character is going to do for the group".

I was able to learn it fairly quickly.

[pants]

Well that sounds cool, I may have to check it out then. 

[Jocke]

Am I the only one who misses the good old days of Paper-and-Pencil RPG's when you had to have a math degree to make sense of it all?

The only "streamlined" RPG I've seen that wasn't a bit too... simple, is Blue Planet.

(It's also the only RPG I've come across where you can roll a orca for a character  )

[AstroBoy]

Am I the only one who misses the good old days of Paper-and-Pencil RPG's when you had to have a math degree to make sense of it all?

Probably. I've found in my limited experience that having more and more rules has less and less use. There's a medium point which is probably best not to go too far past.

[Anubis Reynard]

Ah, the glory days of Thac0. I think I was about 10 back then.

4E has a short learning curve (it's easy to pick up) but has loads of tactical complexity. IE: wizard casts a Thunderwave doing damage and pushing the target between the rogue and the fighter, so the rogue can backstab on his turn.

[pants]

So 4E is streamlined more towards combat resolution than roleplaying? 

Plus THACO is old school, I haven't heard that term for ages!

[Anubis Reynard]

Um. I would prefer describing it as, they didn't put any rules in the WAY of RP.

Yes, the rules handle combat really well. But if you want to talk with the kobolds instead of killing them, talk to them, and the DM can choose to have you make Diplomacy checks or something. Or not- If you're convincing enough, you might do it without any dice rolls at all.

[eyeball]

ok i must be a sad, i play d&d, war hammer 40k, war hammer fantasy, pirates of the spanish main, magic the gathering and munchkin...now that last one is fun.

[Anubis Reynard]

I don't have the money for Warhammer, Pirates, or Magic any more, but Munchkin is an easy investment, and D+D, well, you can just keep playing.

[Quinn]

Minis are really hard to get into because they're expensive at first (my IG army is the result of seven years of playing). After that, just get new codices.

Oh Anubis, google tabletopwar.com. Sign up there, and there's plenty of 40k stuff that you can print and then make from plasticard! There's lots of armored stuff there for a treadhead like you.

DIY Baneblade, Hovertank, Leman Russ, Malcador, Griffon Mortar, Sentinel, Chimera and Salamander!

Personally, I like the Marauder, Lightning, Thunderbolt and Valkyrie templates! Imperial Navy Task Force, here I come!

[Ranger2011]

I was always an old-school D&D person. I rather like the THAC0 system alot better than the newer versions...But hey, D&D is still fun. I play with a group of friends every friday night. Got myself a level 18 Wood Elf Ranger/level 4 Sorcerer. Lol.

[Raider65]

I haven't played in many years but I used to alot. First started playing in 1979 at school on recesses.
Played D&D first, MechWarrior, Traveler, Gurps, different stuff down through the years. It was pretty fun. Now alot of the games I played with pencil and paper are comp games too so I can still play them.

A character that I had and made into a NPC was a 56th lvl Magus (Magic User), 25th lvl Ninja and 18th lvl Beastmaster when I quit playing him. He now has his own castle and lands and Bodyguards, naked red haired, shark toothed female swordmasters. Does anyone remember their names from the Fiend Folio, I think. It's been years. And all my books got burned up in a fire.

I have a friend who only just started playing D&D and he worked for Wizards of the Coast. He designed comp generated dungeons and he worked on some of the Axis & Allies games.

[Ranger2011]

Damn. Can't compete with that. All I know is I lost my level 21 Wizard to a seven headed dragon, bastard killed me and then my party killed it...Never revived me....I played at this bank with friends and tournament rules, they stamped my character sheet sayin it was done. Lol.