Yeah, it does.  

It kind of casts aspersions on my status as the first official 4th edition collector when everyone seems to have a better collection than me.  

That's me down on 1st avenue with the shakey hands and the wild hair:

"Hey, Buddy!  Can you spare a brain?"

FormCritic wrote:I liked the cover art on the 3.5 Monster Manual the best....although 1st edition is the champion for nostaligic, old-school feel.

I am reserving judgement on 4.0 until I see the rules.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: "Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, announced at GenCon in August of 2007 and on Wizards of the Coast website with a countdown clock, is set to be published in May of 2008. This edition will include, for the first time, internet based content and support for playing over the internet. This edition also boasts character levels going up to 30, more defined character roles "to make sure the party members know their place on  the battlefield", easier DM-ing, and expanded online content."

I have mixed feelings about the internet bit.  It sounds cool, but what's the point of playing a pen & paper RPG online?  One of the big draws for me has always been getting together with friends and family.  You just can't replicate the "Pass the cheetos" factor online.

Going to level 30 might be fun, but I wonder how that's gonna look as far as character power at those higher levels.  What the heck kind of monster is CR 30??  

I wonder what they mean be "easier DMing?"

I have heard that the new edition will include character creation programs and DM tools to use on your computer, like they tried (and failed) to set up with 3.0.  That would be great if they pull it off this time.

I watched a bit of the WOTC 4th Edition presentation on YouTube.

I suspect that the "easier to DM" part will have to do with several factors:

1)  Easing up on the sheer magnitude of rules.

The rules for grappling were specifically sited as bogging down the game, but I suspect other aspects of game play will change.  

A few less technical terms would help.

Getting rid of the current crop of splat books would be a big help, even if that only means a momentary respite before the next wave of splat books surges in.

2) An electronic character creation system that allows players to come to the game ready to play.  

It would be extra cool if players could store their characters electronically and print them out at any location so there is no "I forgot my character" problem.

3)  Electronic tools to help the DM create and manage monsters, including printable monster stats and visuals.

Because monsters in 3rd edition are all decked out like player characters, it is usually not possible to carry stats for every monster in one's head (as many 1st edition players commonly did and still do).  

A printable monster, that does not require me to hold my book in my hand, is a huge help...avoiding the wrecked spine and pages that go with this practice.  (Hell, just a way to avoid having the players see which book and roughly which page I am holding is what I would look for.)

The monster advancement rules in 3rd edition were brilliant, but they also required a considerable amount of time and DM know-how.

A tool for squishing templates onto monsters would be really useful.  (I call a template-altered monster a "squish beast" because it is much like squishing Playdo through one of those Playdo presses   I have had fun in the past just squishing template after template onto the same monster to see what the final result looks like...and then use it against the PC's.)  

4)  A tool that racks up likely spell lists for spellcasters would also be really time-saving.

5)  I suspect that the online component will also include nifty things like printable dungeon layouts for miniatures and pre-made adventures that a DM could plug in (the downside being that players will surely read these adventures in advance, but certain dork players have always done that).

Simply an enlargement and continuation of things like "map a week" and the downloadable adventures already available would be very nice.

With all of these features available online and easily accessible, I could see the DM's job getting lots easier.

Mark  

FormCritic wrote:2) An electronic character creation system that allows players to come to the game ready to play.  

It would be extra cool if players could store their characters electronically and print them out at any location so there is no "I forgot my character" problem.

I suspect from what I saw there will be.  It would be nice to be able to generate characters and keep them online and move them from game to game.

SH60B wrote:There is online resources available to do this now.

This is one that I use:

http://playrpgonline.net/3eprofiler/

Thanks.

While this tool does allow you to create characters it does so with a very flat form.  By that I mean it may be online but is really no different to a sheet of paper.  There are no real smarts built in.

I am hoping (although not expecting ) WotC to design something that is a lot more integrated with far more functionality .....

SH60B wrote:
SH60B's quote of the weeK!!

silver_beetle wrote:


I've noticed a trend: the more posts someone has, the less organized their collections seem to be.

Thats me to a tee!

Badmike wrote:I have a Gleemax rubber brain they were giving away at the booth...

I didn't see any specific 4th ed swag.  The line was always so long though at the WOTC site I never bothered to get in it to find out what was being given away.

Dammit, man, how are we to start 4e collecting if you don't do it for us?

Looking back on 3e, did anything 3e become valuable apart from the GenCon DCC 12.5?  Any WotC or third-party rarities?  Will the last products produced for 3e become rare?

serleran wrote:Rappan Athuk #3 is rare. The GenCon release (multi-autographed) PHB is also rare/valuable.

Return Temple Elemental Evil will get you over cover. I have a feeling the boxed Rappan Athuk set is going to get very, very pricey now...only 1000 copies anyway, and now with 4th ed coming no reason to reprint it.

If you ever wanted to buy some 3rd ed stuff next year will be the time...lots of companies will dump their stock right before the summer.  In a similar vein, I doubt you see a lot of 3rd party 3rd edition released in the next year except for what is already in the pipe.  

Mike B.

How are companies supposed to start writing for 4th edition when it is, like 9 months away from publication?