D&D Launches 4th Ed

June 13, 2008 · Filed Under General, Musings, Videos, Gaming

The much anticipated Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition was launched last June 7, 2008 with Wizards of the Coast, official publishers of game declaring that day as “Game Day”. A special game day website was made by WotC so that fans and players can hook up with one another to try out the new ed of D&D.

Without D&D, none of this MMORPG or fantasy gaming would have existed. Also, being an old vet of pen-and-paper RPGs, I’m quite excited about the launch too, having heard that the 4th Ed takes D&D gaming into the virtual and online environment with such tools as the D&D Insider.

After the break, I’ll show you what’s new in D&D 4th Ed and also a special video feature by G4TV with an interview with head designer and WotC R&D Director Bill Slaviseck.

What’s New with D&D 4th Edition

Distinct Roles - You have 4 “Character Roles”
- Defender (Tank),
- Leader (Healer/Support) ,
- Controller (Spellcasters, Crowd Control),
- Striker (DPS) in addition to the classes.
changes in alignment - now “unaligned” is possible
Faster-paced combat rules
Integrated with D&D insider (tools for graphical representation via a PC)

As promised, check out the video feature below by G4TV

There has been some debate that D&D 4th Ed has taken its cue from MMORPGs. Are we seeing some influences of WoW on D&D? This is a good thing, right? At least the two opposing genres have finally synergized…. which is the Holy Grail of gaming. Too bad the father of fantasy gaming, Gary Gygax is no longer around to see this historic day.

For more D&D 4th Ed stuff, check out this unofficial blog which has a lot of stuff on the subject.

Thoughts?

GM T

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Comments

4 Responses to “D&D Launches 4th Ed”

Blackwolf on June 13th, 2008 9:35 pm

Oh wonderful, a new edition of D&D…

I wonder how long before scanned copies of this book and every sourcebook they have become available online? I’ll bet copies are already available in .pdf… Don’t bother wasting your money, folks. Piracy rulez!

Interesting seeing the synergy of it all. D&D inspires the creation of PC and platform RPGS and eventually, MMORPGs. Now D&D is taking cues from MMORPGs and integrating aspects of it into its mechanics.
Udo Schroeter on June 23rd, 2008 10:25 am

Well, I’m about halfway through reading the new rulebooks. Just a few quick notes:

For obvious reasons, Pen&Paper RPG is not the same as an online RPG and it’s certainly different from trading card games. However, reading the new stuff, I get the distinct impression that this kind of convergence has indeed been attempted here at the cost of story telling.

Characters now have strange new powers, many of which don’t exactly make sense and seem strangely manga-like if not outright comical. Like trading cards, these powers can be applied quickly and without context.

I really, really dislike the behavior triggers for monsters. 4th edition monsters are already squarely separated from “real people” by not being allowed access to classes and levels of their own, they are now by rules programmed to perform certain actions when they reach a certain number of hit points. This is obviously a very badly adapted version of scripts that control MMO mobs.

One more thing: by being hell-bent on throwing out anything that isn’t “fun”, WotC removed a lot of risk and adventure from the game in order to make everything safe and more predictable. This may even be perceived as a good thing by neophytes who come to play the game for the first time because they heard “it’s just like an MMO, only without a PC”. New flash: most of these people will be sorely disappointed as they blunder about the Pen&Paper world without any earthly idea what to do there. At the same time, these rule changes introduce the concept of grinding: risk-less, repetitive actions designed to give your slow but predictable results and a fake sense of advancement. Special case in point: mosters in 4th edition now drop all kinds of stuff “appropriate to the characters’ level”, but not necessarily items they themselves would logically carry around. Expect lots of Winter Wolves dropping swoards and armor items…

I’m not generally adverse to changing things around, mind you. But I can’t see myself actually GMing one of these without heavy house rule adjustments.
Udo Schroeter on June 23rd, 2008 10:30 am

PS: sorry for the typos there, I should really check my posts before clicking the send button
valfogg on October 27th, 2008 10:49 am

all i can say is used 4th ed to bring newbies to the hobby, then shift back to 3.5 to feel what RPG’ing is all about.