My First 4 Edition Game

The fantasy movies I like best are the ones that suspend my disbelief. This is usually done through several methodologies. One of these is the threat of death. Nothing brings home life like the possiblity that one of the main characters could die. In a fantasy story this is usually conveyed through the death of a sub characters. Like for example in the Lord of The Rings, Boromir takes one in the heart for the home team. This sets the tone for the seriousness of the mission ahead and lets the reader know death is not out of bounds.

This threat of death makes role players sit up and take notice too. Losing a character you've enjoyed playing is not fun. This makes you cautious, makes you roleplay, search for clues and gather information.

In tonight's game there was never any real threat of death. As a result the game was only combat deep. We engaged in 4 hours of combat -- for which there are plenty of rules in 4th Ed. As a result there was almost no roleplay and no planning either with NPCs or between PCs. For new players that might be fun, but for old players we like to be more intellectually challenged by the DM.

Don't think that this lack of a threat was unique to the game event. The 4th Ed. game designers consider it a flaw that players and creatures could be eliminated in a single roll of the dice. So the chance of this occurring is minimized in the 4th edition. If your character dies you'll recieve plenty of advance warning to be sure! This was explained to me over the course of the evening by the other experienced 4ed. players at the games.

Maybe some day I'll be forced to play 4th Ed. because I won't be able to find players for earlier editions. For now I'm going to keep playing as old school as possible.