Dungeons and Dragons v4.0
First impressions of this are based from a session I played yesterday. First point is that, it would seem the print quality of the books for some is quite poor. The colourfast process didn't work so well, and you can smudge the print on the pages with very little force and 'dry' fingers.... So those who are used to using their grubby paws to push their pages around a lot, be warned you may be obscuring/destroying your important texts....
The character generation was relatively easy and quick. They have simplified quite a considerable amount of content, and new content added, but it is actually very easy to understand and get the hang of. The races and character classes have been restricted, and so has the feats and skills tables. Saving throws now mean something else entirely, while you get a new set of defences besides armour class. The layout of the new character sheet is ok, though still a little cluttered in some aspects on the front page. There are some useful 'calculation' boxes that are there to assist in the numbers so you don't end up doing the often annoying and confusing/painful mental number remembering/crunching for bonuses from this that and the other or leaving out a dice etc.
Gameplay mechanics are mostly unmodified in that it is still a d20 system. The standard turn hasn't changed much with your standard, move and minor actions with unlimited free, and the ability to convert downwards. Movement has been changed to 'squares' which are 5 foot squares, so instead of a base movement of 30ft, you have a movement of 6 squares. This is because they are promoting box/grid maps for adventures and battles, and the use of a 1-inch base model/miniatures when playing combat/encounters.
I made a level 1 warlord character for the adventure we ran. Took about an hour or so to throw the character together from scratch without having the material before me before I got to the session (so a clean slate). Relatively easy to understand how to make it and how to play it. In the playing, it was easy to play, and quite enjoyable. There isn't as much rule-mongering as there used to be in AD&D 2nd Ed and 3rd/3.5Ed because a lot of it has been simplified greatly. I think that to bring it to the masses and make it more enjoyable/enticing, it was a good move. The hardcore enthusiasts will probably whinge about it for a while to come, and then come to accept it, or fall away to other things ~shrug~.
I guess it will have to be seen how it pans out in future sessions if I get to play them, but I quite enjoyed it.
First impressions of this are based from a session I played yesterday. First point is that, it would seem the print quality of the books for some is quite poor. The colourfast process didn't work so well, and you can smudge the print on the pages with very little force and 'dry' fingers.... So those who are used to using their grubby paws to push their pages around a lot, be warned you may be obscuring/destroying your important texts....
The character generation was relatively easy and quick. They have simplified quite a considerable amount of content, and new content added, but it is actually very easy to understand and get the hang of. The races and character classes have been restricted, and so has the feats and skills tables. Saving throws now mean something else entirely, while you get a new set of defences besides armour class. The layout of the new character sheet is ok, though still a little cluttered in some aspects on the front page. There are some useful 'calculation' boxes that are there to assist in the numbers so you don't end up doing the often annoying and confusing/painful mental number remembering/crunching for bonuses from this that and the other or leaving out a dice etc.
Gameplay mechanics are mostly unmodified in that it is still a d20 system. The standard turn hasn't changed much with your standard, move and minor actions with unlimited free, and the ability to convert downwards. Movement has been changed to 'squares' which are 5 foot squares, so instead of a base movement of 30ft, you have a movement of 6 squares. This is because they are promoting box/grid maps for adventures and battles, and the use of a 1-inch base model/miniatures when playing combat/encounters.
I made a level 1 warlord character for the adventure we ran. Took about an hour or so to throw the character together from scratch without having the material before me before I got to the session (so a clean slate). Relatively easy to understand how to make it and how to play it. In the playing, it was easy to play, and quite enjoyable. There isn't as much rule-mongering as there used to be in AD&D 2nd Ed and 3rd/3.5Ed because a lot of it has been simplified greatly. I think that to bring it to the masses and make it more enjoyable/enticing, it was a good move. The hardcore enthusiasts will probably whinge about it for a while to come, and then come to accept it, or fall away to other things ~shrug~.
I guess it will have to be seen how it pans out in future sessions if I get to play them, but I quite enjoyed it.
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