Brave New World
Things Man Was Not Meant to Know
If you aren't yet sure about switching to 4E from another edition, here is my feedback. I didn't want to like 4E. I was asked to DM by my new group of players. But I learned something by perusing its forbidden pages. 4E is fun.
The skills are incomplete. Rules for skill challenges as written in the DMG are incorrect. Updates are way too extensive. Paragon and epic levels are way too easy.
A list of complaints about broken rules sounds like every previous version of D&D I've ever played, actually. Does anyone ever play D&D exactly as written?
But for four hours every other week, I play D&D. And the experience is great. Mind-blowing even. Alliances are made with desperate shifters. Alien spore ships are invaded. Walls come crashing down, fires are burning, arrows are flying, and swords are flashing. Furious violence is waged against things from beyond the stars and sentientkind is saved for another day.
It is truly glorious. It is truly fun.
At its heart, that is the terrible blasphemous truth about 4E.
The other terrifying truth about D&D 4E is that it is the future. It isn't going away and eventually you're very likely going to game with players raised on its traditions, unless you manage to keep the exact same group forever (I recommend the Mi-Go brain in a steel jar technique for preserving favored players).
I opened the Necronomican of gaming. I read its crabbed ink made from the blood of previous edition DMs and fired Wizards employees. I drank in its dark truths and embraced the horror that is 4E.
And I found out, it isn't all bad.
Combat
I ran an encounter that started out as an ambush in narrow corridors. After a few rounds, the enemy began to withdraw to heal at some hidden location.
The PCs followed through broken terrain, dodging traps, and being sniped at. This part of the battle was spread out and based on speed and reflexes.
Finally, the combat ended with some PCs still battling in the narrow corridor, a few in the difficult terrain, and the rest surrounding a font of healing and battling for its control. The PCs were desperate to take down the myconids, whose shared healing made concentrating fire on one to take it down very difficult.
The combat was stunning, like something out of a great novel or movie. And I'm convinced I could not have easily pulled it off in previous editions of D&D.
In earlier editions, that long flowing combat would have been three choppy encounters of one to three rounds each. The monsters and PCs would bump, clump, and thump. The PCs would win and move on. The PCs might have tried sneaking by or tricking the monsters, but since the PCs were there to drive them out, the only tactic likely to work long-term was violence or intimidation. And fungus is hard to intimidate.
At the core, D&D is about combat (big surprise I know). And D&D 4E is so much better than any other version of D&D at combat. Or any other game for that matter. No comparison. In the hands of a skilled DM you can do so much more.
I've run a battle with almost thirty foes on the table. I've had interesting terrain, teleporters, skill challenges going on, shifting terrain that moves characters, and more.
Power cards for the players and basic monster stat blocks for the DM keep the game organized as no previous version can match. Because I'm not looking up spells and tracking multiple durations of effects, I can add in numerous other effects to make things look more like a scene from a great book or movie.
And the players' turns can go faster. If they don't pick the best power at that particular time, it doesn't spell doom for them. Combat lasts a few rounds longer in 4E, softening the deadly edge of mistakes made while learning the game.
A skill-based game or investigation game or anything else non-combat would beat 4E hands down. But a combat game? Tough to compete with 4e.
And combat is perhaps the hardest thing to pull off if the GM wants to convert great novel scenes or Hollywood special effects into his or her game. You can wing roleplaying and allow forging of armor on the fly, but a really spectacular combat works best with defined rules that allow for quick player turns and rapid action. D&D 4E does it best.
The Non-Combat Encounter
The other half of D&D 4E is non-combat encounters, specifically puzzles, traps, skill challenges, and roleplaying encounters. Puzzles and roleplaying encounters don't require rules per se but the DMG has useful advice about both.
Traps work well, but the difficulty classes (DC) seem almost completely random. My suggestion it to get the latest Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) rules update and use the level of the trap to equal the level of the new DCs to get the correct number.
Skill challenges in the DMG are mathematically incorrect and the rules for them have changed. Wizards has completely discarded rolling initiative for skill challenges, changed every DC, and modified the number of successes needed to win. A free online rules update doc for the DMG details all of these changes and I suggest using the updates.
The best rules for creating a skill challenge of your own can be found online at Wizards or in the DMG 2. Or you can just follow the general outline in the DMG and create your own guidelines.
While the DMG suggests listing a few skills with associated DCs I usually just end up winging the challenge. Whatever skills my players can justify using I allow. I adjust the description of the challenge on the fly.
Suggested D&D 4E Ground Rules
Condensed here is my best advice for starting a 4E game out right if you are just starting out, especially if you're switching from another system.
- Explain your expectations.
- Pick a story.
- Pick the rulebooks.
- Players need to use the Character Builder.
- Decide on set rules or evolving rules.
- Fit the rules to the story.
1. Explain Your Expectations
A DM should be upfront about what type of game he or she plans to run and what commitment is desired from players. I explained that I wanted a long-term campaign with as many of the starting players as were able to keep playing. This model is not the norm any longer. Many players play in Encounters (weekly, two-hour long adventures with random DMs and random players) as well as traditional campaigns. I didn't promise a campaign from levels 1-30. But I did agree to run the campaign for as long as at least four players continue to show and if the game continues to be enjoyable.
2. Pick a Story
D&D 4E has a lot of story inside it. I picked one idea, Colonial Cthulhu, and am sticking with it. I don't like the huge campaign openness of the default rules as it tends to dilute the story.
Other settings I could see exploring would be the Feywild or adventures in the City of Brass. The Manual of the Planes is bursting with ideas.
Also, Open Grave has some long-term campaigns about undead infestations. A gothic, Ravenloft-esque campaign could be run. Dragon Magazine online has four mini Ravenloft articles as well.
And Dark Sun is hands down what I'd run if I didn't want to make my own campaign setting. It fits 4E perfectly.
I suggest picking a story so your game doesn't come across as random encounters strung together. Games could be (and doubtless are) run like this and some of the early Wizards' modules read like this. I don't like that style and some players won't roleplay well in such settings.
3. Pick the Rulebooks
I recommend against opening up everything. The DM should create a list of books he or she thinks would fit the story. Then the DM can ask if the players think any other books would help in telling that story.
I started out using just the core rulebooks. I do recommend adding the Dungeon Master's Guide 2. It provides very useful advice and is mostly DM specific.
As to the rules for players, I added the Player's Handbook 2 to allow more options. But that book in turn made several classes using the base PHB much less appealing (especially the fighter, rogue, and warlord) because the PHB 2 classes are so much more versatile. Every added book will likely make some previous book less user-friendly.
Take Monster Manual 3. It fixes the weakness of paragon and epic monsters by giving them more damage output. So now I have to increase the damage output for monsters from the first two books to keep the game challenging.
4. Players Need the Character Builder
As the DM, if you want to know what your PCs can do, you need a copy of the characters (the Builder has an option to e-mail a character). Many players will also appreciate having the powers to print out directly. The Builder is a one-time purchase if the constant rules option below is used.
5. Decide on Constant Rules or Evolving Rules
Changing the base rules is now the norm. It is built right into the game. The designers are very up front about it and the upcoming Essentials line and Rules Compendium continues the trend. The DM has to decide how to react.
One solution to constantly evolving rules is to pick a date and say that everyone can use the rules from the Character Builder up to that date and not to use updates after that. That way, later rule changes don't change your current campaign.
The other option is to stay as updated as possible and roll with each rule change. But players will need to constantly pay for a D&D Insider subscription to keep up, so every player should agree before going with this option.
6. Fit the Rules to the Story
In my first two 4E campaigns, I tried to build encounters as recommended in the rules and shoehorn the players into the encounters. The resulting adventure was perceived as railroading.
This time around, I took the short story Jerusalem's Lot by Stephen King and fit 4E to the story. Since then, I've been borrowing more story ideas, especially from Lovecraft, and fitting 4E into those stories.
At the same time, I've allowed 4E design to infiltrate my story. I use a lot of terrain effects now, skill challenges in the middle of combats, and special locations to jazz up combat. But each piece I add has to fit thematically into the story or I don't include it. Both story and mechanics must mesh.
Next Month
Campaign setting guides so far for 4E start with an introduction and sample adventure. I'll provide a list of what makes Thirteen Colonies unique from other settings. And the adventure Preacher's Rest will reveal some secrets and horrors the campaign holds.
Cthulhu fhtagn!
Charlie
