What I really know for sure about 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
You know, after playing this game for two and a half decades, I really should get the picture. The fact of the matter is, I’m a fanboy. I always have been, always will be. Let me explain.
When 3rd edition D&D came out, I was skeptical. I was happy with my AD&D, and so were my players. I had no compelling reason to switch. I wasn’t a convention goer at that point, so it wasn’t like I was being bombarded with 3E the way that sometimes happens at cons.
But, before too long, I switched.
We met some new friends who were also gamers, and they were playing 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons. They convinced us to try it. Once I tried it, I never looked back.
Fast forward. WotC announces Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. Once again, I declared that I had no compelling reason to switch. I was happy with my 3.0. My players were happy with my 3.0.
But, before long, I switched.
You see, my players bought me the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, and Monster manual for 3.5. I opened the book, recognized that, yes, Harm had indeed been broken, and was now fixed. Once I tried it, I never looked back (although, to be honest, I do miss 3.0 haste).
So, the thing is: all of this talk about 4th edition, all of the rumors, all of the cries of hatred being railed against WotC and their corporate parent, in the end, I know something.
I’m going to switch. And, unless you’re still playing AD&D (and I know that some folks are, God bless ‘em) you will to. Be honest with yourself. You’re not going to be able to help it. You’re a fan of the game. And rightly so; it’s a good game. Hell, it’s a great game.
The only real question is how long after release will we switch.
Character Death
Now, I’ve never been accused of being a killer DM. The fact of the matter is, I have a better time, and so do my players, when their characters live. At low levels, this means that I almost always fudge rolls in favor of the party. At higher levels, it means that I use kinder, gentler rules for Raise Dead, Resurrection, and True Resurrection.
The problem is, I often think that my players just aren’t afraid. There is very little fear of losing their character. I guess I always feel bad. My players, for the most part, put a good deal of thought and work into developing their characters. I hate to see all of that work go to waste.
Having said that… it occured to me last night that all of the hard work that I put into my critters and my storylines as a DM are destined, every one of them, to fail. That is, the players are going to win, and my guys are going to lose.
All bets are off, from here on out; a character dies, they’re dead. I’ll keep the alt rules, because I agreed to them, but there are going to be times when a character just stays dead. I want to see how this will work out. Wish me luck.
Use your lightning bolt.
OK, that was scary. Forget that all of the players are, very obviously, as nerdy as can be. Forget that the animation looks like the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon on acid. What I want to know is this: Why does the Dwarf look like Doc from Snow White?
Dammit.
That’s what my 8 year-old said today at school when she got back a math test that she didn’t do so great on. It’s hard for her, sometimes, to know what is socially acceptable and what is not. That, of course, reflects on me. Believe it or not, I can, occasionally make a social error.
I suppose I should consider myself lucky. You see, Ellie’s huge into D&D. I guess she could have said, “By all the tyrants of the nine hells, I damn this exam and its foul stench!”
If she had, she could have single-handedly started a revival of the Satanism-Dungeons and Dragons connection scare of the 1980s.
Brian Sanford is my Hero.
He’s everything I wish I could be.
I could fly higher than an eagle.
With Brian Sanford as the wind beneath my wings.
Counting rations, disolving +2 broadswords with acid pools, and making busty informants from shapeshifting dude necromancers. Sweet.
Wake up, Dude.
It’s no coincidence that I’m on my way out the door to watch the rest of Battlestar Galactica season 2.5 with my buddy Binks.
I figured I’d check out what big-time Web Comics Guru and world-famous Dungeons and Dragons player Scott Kurtz has going on over at PVP today:
The man is a frackin genius.
Kitt is a Cylon.
Fine, WHATEVER.
All right. I give. I’m blogging now.
So, it occurs to me… I’m not the most detailed-oriented person in the world. Now, this can obviously cause some problems from time to time. But this time, I really, really screwed up.
You see, I decided to convert an old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Module (Needle) to 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons. No biggie, right? I can cut and paste monsters from the SRD, do up NPC stat blocks rather quickly, change the flavor text to fit my campaign, and I’m done.
Almost done. Forgot to look at the treasure. Oh well, no biggie, I’m sure the treasure will be equitable. I’m known for being a rather generous Dungeon Master anyways.
Yeah. Well, it turns out that Needle has an interesting bit of treasure. See, there are these 300 sheets of “silicon steel.” Valued at 100 GP each. Fair for a 7th level adventure. However… there’s a tool that the PCs can find that works the silicon steel. It multiplies the value of the steel by 100.
So, the party is expecting to sell this crap for 300,000 Gold.
Yeah. Ain’t gonna happen. Guess I’ll just have to do a Total Party Kill.
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