|[4E] A podcast interview with Chris Perkins and Sara Girard

"Allen Wessels" <awessels.RemoveThis@EXPUNGEpacbell.net> wrote in message
news:awessels-9C26EB.00095808032008@newsclstr02.news.prodigy.com...
> In article <sJSdnWFQeJKM3E_anZ2dnUVZ_jGdnZ2d.RemoveThis@comcast.com>,
> "Malachias Invictus" <invictusebay.RemoveThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> "Allen Wessels" <awessels.RemoveThis@EXPUNGEpacbell.net> wrote in message
>> news:awessels-6670FB.16283706032008@newsclstr02.news.prodigy.com...
>
>> > There is one area that may not be an issue in most campaigns. Since
>> > the
>> > party spans a very wide variety of alignments, goals, and political
>> > afiliations, a certain amount of time is spent on, shall we say,
>> > countermeasures?
>>
>> Heh. That reminds me of the old days.
>
> And that may be part of what the naysayers are wrestling with. A
> perceived assult on memories that may not be replicated.

That makes sense. I still miss some of my 1E and 2E characters that did not
translate well, and experiences that would not be the same if the scenario
was played out in the current edition.

> I wonder if there is any kind of ongoing campaign in playtest that's on
> the order of several months old.

I would not be too surprised.

> Demonstrating strong memories not of play sessions but of the ongoing
> campaign experience might go a long way to reassuring people that while
> those old experience may not be replicated, it isn't just a collectable
> minis/CCG.

Sure.

>> > The two mages in the party, a human wizard (CG) (mine) and a drow
>> > wizard
>> > (CN) another player's cooperate, but there is a perpetual air of vague
>> > distrust between them. The drow is married to an draw Evil High
>> > Priestess (NPC) and that creates certain issues, not the least of which
>> > is that the fact that the party (NPC) Cleric hates her guts.
>>
>> Good times, sounds like.
>
> Well lets just say there is plenty of dramatic tension in the campaign,
> within the party and without.

That is good stuff.

> There is a war with the Lichlords on the horizon and this time they need
> to be dealt with instead of being put in a genie bottle made of masonry
> and spells.

Nice. I had a great Lichlords-themed campaign. It was grim, nasty, and
fun.

> I wonder how much of this will be doable or likely to be done in 4e?
> From what I can see, tight integration of skills and teamwork is going
> to be an essential part of combat. In 3.5 you could get away with
> leaning on the spellcasters' artillery.

We don't run very artillery heavy, for some strange reason.

> In 4e, if everyone doesn't pull their weight, you just tipped the odds
> big time in favor of the monsters.

That seems true.

--
^v^v^Malachias Invictus^v^v^

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the Master of my fate:
I am the Captain of my soul.

from _Invictus_, by William Ernest Henley

Justin Fang wrote:
> In article <slrnft3cl3.khn.keith.davies.RemoveThis@kjdavies.org>,
> Keith Davies <keith.davies.RemoveThis@kjdavies.org> wrote:
>> Justin Fang <justinf.RemoveThis@panix.com> wrote:
>>> And yet Mike Mearls is running a lunchtime game of original D&D:
>>>
>>> http://odd74.proboards76.com/index.cgi?board=campaignstories&action=di...ay&thre
>>> http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=8558527&postcount=59
>>>
>>> "Today I ran the first session of my OD&D campaign at the WotC
>>> offices. Yes, we're rolling original D&D-style in the very heart of
>>> the land of fourth edition."
>>>
>>> "To be honest, I think the games are different enough that I easily
>>> have space for both of them in my library. For me, they fill very
>>> different needs."
>
>> Which suggests to me that, while they may call the new one D&D and it
>> may be a very fun game, it's not the same game. If the play is that
>> different, enough that the games fill a different role, I would suggest
>> that they are in fact 'different games'. Even if they are called the
>> same thing.
>
> On that basis, is the 1974-vintage OD&D Mearls is talking about the same
> game as 3.5? I don't know, never having encountered, much less played,
> the original.
>
> Hmm. I might say that AD&D 1st ed (where I came in) is the "same game"
> as 2nd ed, and that 2nd is the "same game" as 3rd, but that 3rd is a
> different game from 1st. Something similar may apply to 4th; I don't yet
> have enough info to tell.
>

Consider RPGs as if they were cars. The 1975 Mercury Grand Marquis was,
for its time, a symbol of elegance (Jimmy Hoffa was last seen alive as
the passenger in one!) and still has a small but vociferious collector's
market.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Marquis#1973-78

"Advertising billed these cars the best fullsize cars in America. A 1976
consumer survey showed the Marquis Brougham far superior to the
competing Olds 98 LS and Buick Electra 225. The next year, the Grand
Marquis went up against Cadillac's Sedan Deville and was again the
preferred choice."

Today, the 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis, although possessed of more
elegant body lines, interior swag, etc, was recently voted one of the 11
worst cars in America by Consumer Reports. (Granted, it was #11 out of
11 where #1 was worst, but still...)

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/autos/0802/gallery.2008_cr_worst_c.../11.htm

So while no one can say 4E won't be faster/louder/harder than 3E just
yet, we can say that it will have traded in much of its past elegance
for a new cool-looking exterior with a less-than-satisfying interior, IMO.