D&D 4e -- my thoughts part 1
Due to advanced pdf technology and the kind heart of some geek in the print-chain at Wizards of the Coast who probably doesn't have his job anymore, I ran 4e off of the 3 core books last nite.

I need more involvement in the game before a final opinion (hence the "part 1" above) but I do have some comments about it.

First off, let it be known I haven't run anything called Dungeons & Dragons (Advanced or otherwise) in over 25 years. I played it as a kid for a while and then turned my back on it. I never found it all that fun and, importantly, it didn't make much sense to me. If I became interested in a D&D setting, I played it using another rules-set altogether. I played 3e a few years ago but the DM threw out the majority of the rules so I never got much experience with the actual system with him. I had other DMs eventually (damn, it's weird typing "DM" but it actually applies here) and, frankly, the rules-fest, rules-referencing feeling of full-bore 3/3.5e was fairly craptacular.

D&D 4e is very encounter based as a means of progressing characters and these encounters are entirely battle-map based. You will be fighting an uphill struggle if you don't use a battle-mat or some other grid map to show spacing. Seriously, it wil be very difficult to coherently describe the scene given the amount of information that needs to flow between participants.

All that tactical play, however, results from the large amount of powers and abilities that characters and their opponents can bring to bear on the battlefield. The rules are explained *very well* and the encounter mini-game replicates a fast-moving, board-game and minis experience. If you're looking for that, this game delivers. It's fun to play and fun to run; I wasn't house-ruling anything and playing with every rule presented and it still ran pretty quickly given our brief read-through of the rules and nascent experience with 4e. Play was dynamic with many options for both players and DMs to take; also, the old-fashioned "sit back and wait for your turn" style of play has been abolished; game play is very back and forth as you can interrupt other turns for a variety of reasons (powers, combat options, etc.)

I'm looking forward to improvising an encounter at our next 4e try-out to see how easy or how hard it is; improvising is my default style of play -- I don't have encounters planned usually -- but the clearly presented rules and the excellence of the core book Monster Manual write-ups would seem to lend itself to putting an encounter together on the fly.

I'm also looking forward to running a skill challenge which, as it reads, is part Duel of Wits from Burning Wheel, part Extended Contests from HeroQuest, part Bringing Down the Pain from Shadow of Yesterday. Skill challenges in combat are even trickier but any D&D rules system that let's you use bluff skill while fighting in order to get a combat advantage is a big plus in my opinion.

Reports that 4e is very close to being a story game are hogwash -- 4e's default premise is kill things and take their stuff and game mechanics in between encounters supports no particular style of game -- but I can see that 4e hasn't been designed in a vacuum. Then again, all that talk about 4e being a video game is nonsense as well. 4e characters are more kick-ass, their powers more dynamic and battles more fantasy-gonzo-exciting than 3e. As long as the folks involved with playing the game (either as PCs or as a DM) are imaginative and want to tell a participant-inclusive story, there's no video game here.

Is it my favorite fantasy rpg system ever? Nah. Did I want it to be? I couldn't really care. I'm not trying to validate D&D in any way and I have no agenda to resurrect my childhood gaming experiences. I think a lot of people trying to find the ultimate system will judge it according to absolutes. I won't be giving up Heroquest rpg or Fate 3 or Adventure, etc., to play 4e exclusively. If, however, you're looking for a game that has sandbox-style roleplay punctuated by a high-power tactical encounter mini-game, it seems as though this game will pop for you. If you're looking for In a Wicked Age with more strategy, move on. One thing is for certain -- if "fun" is defined by exciting and coherent game play, 4e is funner than any previous edition of that venerable beast called Dungeons & Dragons.

Part 2 next week.