I bought the 4E books the day they came out despite initially turning my nose up when it was announced. It's returned to its roots and I think that's a good thing. D&D's rules were always focused on beating up monsters and now they've made that way easier than it was in 3.0/3.5.

I've heard a lot of people say "4E takes a lot if its ideas from WoW" and they say it as a critique. I think people are forgetting how much WoW took from RPGs in the first place so if 4E is WoW-inspired then turnabout is fair play.

A lot of people on them other forums are panning it but it's all so much self-indulgent wankery with people moaning, "it doesn't do [insert non-combat element here] as well as [insert some other RPG here]." Well, no shit, Sherlock. If you go to a sushi restaurant and order a pizza you're going to be disappointed. If you play 4E hoping to have social interaction backed up by nuanced mechanics you're going to be disappointed in the same way.

As you made of heard in the GRD mailbag today, I just started a 3.5E D&D game here in Montana. I haven't looked at 4E yet, but probably need to check it out, but I have heard it is so different from the previous editions that there would be a tremendous amount of work to transfer my homebrew campaign world to the new edition.

And if I am going to put that much effort into transferring my world I am going to go to Burning Wheel or some other game (Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying System also intrigues me).

So for right now I am going to stock with 3.5

I'm running a 4th ed game right now and everyone loves it. It's easy to run, it's fun to play and it's just more of all we love.

I've played 3rd and 3.5 and I thought they were better then 2nd, but man... I'm going crazy for 4th. They seem to have cut out the unnecessary complication and just give you more of what you need. Plus they actually encourage cool and creative role-playing.

It's really just really fun.

Cool and creative roleplaying are in no way tied to system. I think I've had some pretty amazing sessions of lots of different games, including many versions of D&D. Some games have some very clunky systems (Rifts comes to mind), but I've still enjoyed running and playing them.

Right now I am sticking with 3.5. I may check out 4E, but admit I am in no hurry. Burning Wheel or similar to it would be where I would be looking if I was going to convert my game world and my campaign.

That being said, thanks for the opinion. Definitely keep sharing them. I am definitely looking to hear lots more about 4E. If enough is positive, I'll take some time to check it out.

No way tied to the system? May I guide you to page 42 of the 4th ed Dungeon Master Guide.

"Actions the Rules Don't Cover" Check it out, you wanna have your character flip over a cart and roll it towards a group of thugs? The rules support these kinds of things now, where as before the DM just goes.... uh... make an attack roll... -4?!? Maybe there was something like this in 3.5, but I don't remember it.

Check out page 28, under 'Saying Yes.' This is some advanced role-playing techniques they are dropping out here.

This game, with a few problems, is honestly the next step in the evolution of D & D. They have really tried to make the game more fun and given some pretty sweet tools to do so.

Again, not perfect. But a definite improvement.

Ok. Does it still feel like D&D or is it an entirely different Fantasy RPG?

I am glad to see there are some rules to cover the strange and amazing contigencies that come up in a session of gaming, but i've been able to make due with other versions.

I still say that system doesn't matter to a good game. It can be helpful, but it is about the players and the GM/DM/Storyterller/Judge/Keeper/etc. working together to create a story.

For instance, I've had politics and intrigue and the like in my games before I ever heard of Vampire: The Masquerade.

The system can be helpful. There needs to be a framework for the game to hang on. I just don't see me going 4E unless I hear something more about it that's positive and interested and that hasn't been done better by some Indie games like Burning Wheel.

Yeah. It really feels like D&D. I feel that it feels more like D&D than any version of D&D that I've played in the last 15 years. It's just fun, but in that D&D way. I play a lot of indy games like Spirit of the Century, Dog in the vineyard and the like, but I really dig this D&D.

The Sons of Kryos podcast (great podcast) talks about it as does Paul Teves of 'Have Games will travel" also gives it a great review.

Check it out. Play it before you judge. I read it, wasn't impressed, then played it and had a ball.

I'm glad you feel that way and THAT is the most import thing. Whether I like or not is immaterial. And judging from what I saw at GenCon, I doubt I will ever play this game. I watched for 40 minutes as 6 experienced and newbie players flustered their way through the demo game. Maybe the DM was just that bad, but it looks to me like everyone was paralyzed by the shear number of attacks they had. I saw 3 rounds in that time. That is WAY too long for a game that was supposed to speed things up. THEN I listened to the Theory from the Closet podcast ([url]http://theoryfromthecloset.com/
[/url]) with designer Mike Mearls and the basic game design just throws me out of the game. In short, every player is the same. The Powers are just flavor text to disguise the effects. Some of the goals the team had were admirable, but I just feel it falls apart. Cortex, True 20, Savage Worlds, Burning Wheel all address the problems BETTER than 4E.... but then most of them suffer from poor character advancement (I don't know enough about True 20 but the rest don't handle advancement well).

I felt from reading through the 4E rules that it could be a fanteastic convention style game, but since I've yet to see a DM run it well, I would not use up any of my precious con time to play it. The free beanie, mini and dice bag were cool though.

I wanna go.... It is pretty good looking.

For those who might be curious, Penny Arcade is doing a second series of a podcast D&D game, this time featuring not only Scott Kurtz, but also Wil Wheaton.
(conveniently each episode page also links to the first series.)

4e D&D might not be for me, but these people make it sound like so much fun I actually gave the books a second look. I promptly put them away again, when I was reminded how much work it would take to make it useful to me...

I've also gotta announce my deep burning envy of their DM Chris Perkins' voice!