Hello fellow gamers, I’m Bryan, the newest writer in the pack of wild Dice Monkeys. I have a lot to say about the newest Dungeons and Dragons installation called 4th Edition. Some good, some bad, but all-in-all I believe 4th Edition is a step in the right direction; however, today I only wish to discuss one facet of my opinion.
4th Edition is not only a clean slate, it’s a brand-new one that has just been taken out of its box and bubble wrap. New game, new rules, new style of gameplay, new strategy…all of this is as welcome as the scent of a brand-new car just off the showroom floor. Unfortunately, classic head-thumping, heart-pounding adventures such as The Temple of Elemental Evil, Castle Ravenloft, and the epic series of Dragonlance adventures, may start to fall to the wayside if they haven’t already. I encourage DMs to go back through these legendary campaigns and breathe new life into them by converting them into 4th Edition. Currently I am converting an old 3.0 Ravenloft adventure into 4.0, and it really is a lot of fun. In addition, you can put your own spin on the classic adventures, custom-fitting them to your own tastes or that of your players. Creating monsters from scratch may be frustrating at first, but practice often makes perfect. Another interesting option may be to further the timeline of an old adventure, and bring the threat back into the limelight. Dungeons and Dragons did just this with their release of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, which I had the privilege of DMing for a short-time.
In closing, revamping old campaigns is also a good way for someone who has never DMed before to give it a try. The game is basically all set up for you, aside from the conversion, which is not difficult. For all you players who are a little timid when it comes to taking the helm and running the game, I promise it is just as fun running one PC as it is running everything else, if not more. I know this post doesn’t leave a whole lot of room for debate or discussion, but I’d love to know if any of you are already implenting this idea or if you plan to do so. Take care, everyone. Happy gaming.
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November 15, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Zachary
Welcome Bryan!
Yep, there’s a lot of modules out there that deserve to not be forgotten, that’s for sure. Right now, I’m more about Castles & Crusades than 4e, but whatever folks play (including the original intended system itself), its always good to hear of folks getting some use out of them.
November 15, 2008 at 9:33 pm
jonathan
In my opinion, 4E is playing more and more like 1E AD&D only with updated 21st century glamour. Our battles are fast, strategy is important BUT I play the “anything is possible” card all the time and the results are cinematic (and recently, unfortunately for the player, deadly) game play. Now that I’ve finally begun to get a solid handle on how to run so-called “skill challenges” (make them a seemless part of gameplay, the players dont even know they are in one, etc) the roleplaying and scenarios play out just the way they did in my early gaming days (fun!). We are having a blast with 4E – and we are running a homebrew / 1E AD&D modules / 3E FRCS combo campaign. So… 4E is the new AD&D in my experience
November 15, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Wyatt
I agree entirely with Jonathan. I just wish I could play more 4e, rather than just homebrew for it. I remember one time I nearly cried when a guy was starting this fantastic-sounding campaign using material from my blog, and I was so excited for him, then he said I couldn’t join because I knew too much about it.
I wanted to hurt him.
November 16, 2008 at 1:49 am
emptythreat15
Wyatt you make a great point…and you’ve inspired my next blog…I’ll discuss the ever-important “DM Leak” as I like to call it…thanks for the comments guys.