Sinister said:
MRoxs said:
3X is different 1E and 2E and in fact has one thing in common with 4E, at least if you believe the "this game is WoW crowd":. its design intent was to make it compatiable with computer games. The rules of 3E were created with computer games in mind, according to one of the designers who I've had the fortune of being friends with for years. The removal of negative math and skill proficencies was to help people at bioware just as much as players. It's very easy to see it was designed by old school gamers with an eye to the future as a battlegrid and 5 foot squares became common and made a game for the common sense add on of minis. Of course 4E takes this idea and just says "we don't need to define a square as a 5 foot area because it's a game, it's a square." Now that we've seen 4 edtions of DnD you start to see it's progression to what it is today, and how it changed between all editions.
The one thing that 4E is NOT, which designers of 3E wanted. was a game for simulationists. If you wanted to play a gnome barbarian, who is trained as a monk, and is a good swimmer but a horrible climber, and who knows a few cantrips he learned from a wizard, while spending time as a jewlers apprentice learning how to appraise gems, while one of the customers taught him how to forge documents, well that's not what 4E is a about. In fact athletics, which now is a skill for both climbing and swimming, is a good example. It's frutstrating to some not to be able to define their character with a much fine detail as making a difference between climb and swim, while other players feel the times that distinction was needed in a 20 level game could be counted on one hand, so why not make it easier, quicker, and less to track?
It's really hard for me not to compare this new version of Warhammer to 4E, at least for the idea of action/power cards. The new way of organizing modern RPGs is great. With cards, you take full and complete text which was often shorthand written on a character sheet and place it on the table without the need to look up rules. Say what you will about power and action cards, but for me it's less confustion, debate, and look up time, compared to traditional RPGS. As for the set up and take down time, if FFG would make a Character Builder like Wizards you could add the actions cards to the character sheet, which would seriously make the game quicker to set up and take down.
Of course there are differences, for instance, 4E has done things to create a wide open "generic" settings, going so far as to do things like pull the Vistani from Ravenloft to use them in any setting. This appeals to many as a nice "player option" while to some, particularly setting purists, it's seen as ridonkulus. I think that the new version of warhammer keeps the same tone, setting, and fluff, as it always had and players like that and that's a big difference between V3 warhammer and 4E DnD 's "here's a canvas, play anything" approach. And of course DnD central mechanic of d20 stays the same while Warhammer went a different direction to try some interesting new dice ideas.
Personally I think AD&D peaked at 2E after all the Complete Class Books came out. After that it became to much.
And there is a strong Old School market out there. Just check out the sales rate of some OOP D&D books as well as the minor gaming companies producing revised versions of classic games. Hackmaster, Castles & Crusades, Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, GORE, OSRIC, HARP and even the return of BRP and RuneQuest.
Now if someone would make a revised recreation of AD&D 2E!