Comments on: 4E Test Drive

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 18 May 2008 11:34:00 +0000

Chris wrote:

"There were interesting choices to make during fights and it wasn't just a matter of trotting out your best attack again and again."

I'm intrigued by this, as I viewed some of the sample PCs, and read some of the playtest reports, and the question in my mind was "Why [i]wouldn't[/i] I use Ability X, over and over, round after round?

Unless there are some conditions for using them, which we haven't been privy to? (Eg. in 3.5, any attack of opportunity is just a basic attack. No special maneuvres added)

I am most wary of the fact that many of the special bonus effects are described as a done deal, regardless of the opponent's abilities. For example; a knockback effect is described, but makes no reference to rolling off against the opponent, or being modified (or ignored) by their strength or size.

If this is the case, and a Colossal Giant can be tipped off a bridge on round 1, by a Level 1 Fighter, using one of his apprentice-level abilities, then I can forsee a failure to suspend my disbelief in this game.

Now, it may be that I've not got the full picture yet, and that whenever the ability text boldly states that "The opponent [b]is[/b] knocked back...", they actually mean "The opponent [b]may be[/b] knocked back, as per the rules in the main PHB...", but if that is the case, then they aren't doing a very good job of getting that aspect across.

Snorter

By: The Ogre (aka, Matt)

The Ogre (aka, Matt) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:36:00 +0000

That has been my impression from what I’ve seen of the previews as well. That it just doesn’t feel like D&D.; Although, your take on it as a CCG fits in well with the prevalence of use of mini’s in the rule set. That’s where the collectable part comes in after all… As a long time player, I’m not inclined to make the switch, unless it just wows the hell out of me when I see it all put together. I’m guessing it won’t. Thanks for the review!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:17:00 +0000

Folks shouldn’t worry that we’re going to kill True20 or somesuch. We may do support stuff for 4E but that will not change our plans for M&M;, True20, and Ice & Fire.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:06:00 +0000

Thanks for an actual play review, Chris. It was good to hear your opinion on the what the system is or isn't.

For what's it's worth, I don't plan on moving to 4e. It sounds complicated, and I'm more interested in simplification. T20 and Savage Worlds have gained my interest for such reasons.

I'm hoping you guys put your efforts into expanding T20, not jumping on the 4e bandwagon.

Christina

By: Katowice

Katowice — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 06:44:00 +0000

Thanks for that honest review of 4E. So far I've been really unimpressed with everything I've read about 4E to date. I won't begrudge Hasbro/WotC for making a new edition of the game; that's their business, but I refuse to buy what amounts to an entirely new rules set when I've invested $1000 or so in D&D; 3.x products that work more or less just fine. I'm particularly miffed at the arbitrary changes in the Forgotten Realms setting, which I've been playing since 1987.

I will also add that I got True20 Adventure Roleplaying during Free RPG day, though I didn't really read much of it until two weeks ago. Since then, I've bought the Companion, Expert's Handbook, Adept's Handbook, Bestiary, Freeport and Narrator's screen. My group converted over our d20 Call of Cthulhu campaign and tried it out last weekend. It was great!

The actually rules to run the game are familiar, but simplified. The character options are very open. This product is what the next step should have been for D&D; and d20 Modern.

I know Green Ronin will continue to support D&D; in some fashion, since it makes business sense, but please, please continue to support True20. This is a great game and I hope to be playing it for years!