In the meantime, I have been tasked with DMing a D&D 4th edition campaign for some of my fellow graduate students. Most of them have never played before, and I am tinkering around with a setting and campaign idea. I ran a lot of 3rd edition, but have only just picked up the 4E books and am very much still learning the rules.
Does anyone else out here play D&D?
6 comments:
Currently have a level 5 Paladin, GM allowed me to be Chaotic Good since I serve Kord. Every other saturday, starting this week.
Also have a level 5 Scout (1)/Fighter (4) in a campaign every other sunday.
I've also played Clerics, Barbarians, Rangers and a Monk (once..only once).
All of which in 3.0 and 3.5. I have a copy of the 4E core books and its just a bit too weird for me to wrap my brain around right now. Stats, Races with no flaws, odd skill system..just weird. Not bad though. just weird.
(( I used to play Rolemaster/ICE Middle Earth a LONG time ago, back in college. I also did a bit of Shadowrun, Marvel Super Heroes, and RIFTS. But never really got into D&D. Not sure why. ))
To say I'm an RP addict is probably within the range of gross understatement. I have been my group's (mostly old high school buddies) primary DM for almost a decade now. Its for this reason that I love RPing on here so much. As the DM, I've always found I have less opportunity to really "get in the head" of my NPCs, and truly flesh out the role (and why I tend to try to contemplate every nuance of my characters when I do play, with folks like Sandre). I could probably go on another forty thousand words with stories of campaigns gone right and wrong, but I'll spare you the long-windedness of it all.
I do have two things to mention though, the first a bit of bragging, for its an achievement I'm quite proud of, and a lament, for I'm sure I'm not alone in this:
1) My proudest bit of DMming was a Call of Cthulhu story I ran the summer after graduating high school. It was meant initially to be a one shot adventure of my friends and I, living in our rural hometown during the Lovecraftian age. Instead, it became a nightly three hour event for just over three months. What truly causes me to swell with pride this pinnacle of my DMming career, was that the plot itself was spun off-the cuff, remaining plot-ifically sound despite the complexity and depth of a town consumed in mythos lore. (Re-reading this, I feel like such an egotistical jerk writing this, but I am very very proud of what I consider my mastercraft work)
2) A bit shorter note: In my early college years (before I realized I had to pay back my college loans), I sank a small fortune into the 3(.5) series, spanning a LOT of settings (D&D, Cthulhu, Deadlands, Weird Wars (WWII w/ zombies), Midnight, Star Wars... etc.) And, with 4th edition, they are all rendered more or less moot.... With 4th edition, I've declared that my books will consist of the 3 core books, and that I will only be DMming classic d20 material.
(Partly because there's still so many story ideas that I want to play out)
P.S. If anyone actually read this long, rambling affair. Thank you for listening to me babble. I get all geeked when talking about RP, and I tend to be a bit of a storyteller at heart.
Okies, as an afterthought of my rant/babble, I decided to put my two cents in on 4th edition:
As a whole, I think the series is a lot more stable, much harder to power game (maybe someday I'll share with you the horrible time I had DMming Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and the bane of undead bane bows... or why my friend Adam's no longer allowed to play druids)
However, in trading off a more balanced game mechanic, they've taken a lot away from the spirit of the characters; making it harder to make someone whose personality doesn't fit within the predefinition of the class structures (Such as Rakinishu, a halfling rogue/druidess that rode a giant scorpian into battle, summoned swarms of rats, and cast camoflage spells by smearing mud on party members faces (some times they worked, other times she was out of spell slots, that was between the DM and I). Or more importantly, one of my first toons, who.... gah, here I go again!)
But yes, they've given it a more fluid MMO sort of feel, and brought a glimmer of hope to the possiblity of a balanced game, but at the cost of the souls of truly unique characters, who are often the most memorable to play.
I love D&D, been playing for about 10 years, almost always as a player. I happen to really enjoy 4th Ed, not quite as much as 3rd but I think it's a more streamlined system.
Ookies, I hate to be a braggart once again, but I am COMPLETELY geeked about this:
My fiancee is an entertainment blogger for a couple of news sites; specifically in the fields of nerdology and celebrity stuffs. Today, we've finally gotten one of the perks of being well versed in the former: Two press passes to GenCon! Sooo... some weekend in August, we'll be going down to gorge ourselves in RPGs, board games, and probably spend several pay checks on replicas of swords and Imperial Navy uniforms... *does a squeally happy dance*
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