Hi, I'm really new to d&d. I know the rough workings and I have several d&d books (players handbook, DM guide, starter set, minitures, dice) but I've read that 4th edition is really bad... everyone on here seems to be using 3 or 3.5... have I made a £60 mistake? I'm reading through the players handbook to get a grasp on it and It does seem kinda confusing... though judging by the amount of 3.5 books there are this seems easy. Could someone shed some light on the topic for me? Please?

(oh, and how do you play 4th edition on the forum? I don't understand how you would do combat encounters without tiles!)

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

Hey, Justmyflawedlogic!  Nice to hear from you.  DnDorks has a very snazzy application which lets you upload a map and other images to use as minis and them move them around the board.  Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how to go about setting that up.  There was a thread around here somewhere.  I'll see if RichardM can point you to it.

As for 4e, it may really annoy some people, and it might be bad for what some people want to do, but it is FAR from a bad system.  It is honestly the most thoughtfully designed version of D&D to date.  D&D has always been a combat game with a story painted over it (or, depending on how you play, a free-form puzzle-challenge game with some combat and a story painted over it).  Like most RPGs, it tried to be everything to everyone and as such was kind of a mess.

4e is very much a roleplaying GAME, and it focuses on what D&D has always focused on, mechanically, and that's combat.  It feels different from 3.5, because it's not trying to "simulate" anything.  The rules aren't game physics, they're the vehicle for tactical challenges.  Much of the rules are abstractions, and some people can't get their heads around that, though if they can deal with HPs in older editions, then the other rules shouldn't be a problem, in my opinion.

That said, their's nothing necessarily wrong with 3.5 if it works for you, but it definitely fell a smidge short of its design goals.

Honestly, if you're interested in character development, drama, story, etc, then D&D of any edition wouldn't be my first choice.

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"If you fudge dice rolls, your system is failing you!" -Sons of Kryos

"I genuinely think that some people measure their free will by reading how unhappy their GM is." - TonyLB

So 4th edition takes it in more of a game direction? That's ok... if I wanted roleplaying, I'd finish writing the second edition of Dragons Head (a tabletop RPG I made... but only a handful of people have played it. It focuses more on roleplaying and what a PC does out of battles. But everyone who's played it likes it!) so game works for me. It's sort of confusing so I'll probably play my first game on here (no-one I know plays D&D. The only thing that comes close is a girl that played Dragons Head with me... we played it a lot) and she'll probably agree to play D&D. My only problem is that she'll probably only be a PC... so I need to learn to be a DM... but before I do that I want to play as a PC at least once... hopefully until I get the hang of it.
I wannah roll a die!! 1 *yeah!!*

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

justmyflawedlogic:

a girl that played Dragons Head with me... we played it a lot

Man, I wish I could get a girl to play "Dragons Head" with me, too.

Anyway, there are several games going.  You might Private Message the folks that are running those games and see if they need another player.  Or you might want to announce your need for a game in the "Have Dice Need Game" forum.

For what it's worth, 4e isn't all that complicated.  It's just different than what many people are used to.  Good luck!

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"If you fudge dice rolls, your system is failing you!" -Sons of Kryos

"I genuinely think that some people measure their free will by reading how unhappy their GM is." - TonyLB

I personally prefer 4e, though I'm playing in multiple 3.5 and running a 3.5 game right now too. 

The reason I prefer 4e is that I feel as a DM that I can tell a better story, that the game is there to support me, instead of having my players smacking me over the head with 40 books.  The most common reason I see people saying they prefer playing 3.5 is that they like having more options, because there are 40 books out there with all manners of races and classes.  The most common reason I see people saying DMs saying they don't like 3.5, is that the game quickly gets unbalanced and pretty soon either the players are defeating everything without challenge (and thus no fun, since the challenge IS the fun) or the players are getting wiped out randomly in unfun ways.  The best way to fix 3.5? Restrict the number of books allowed by the players, which oddly enough, negates the most common reason people say for why they like to play 3.5.

Anyways, 4e is fantastic, I prefer it and the kinds of stories "I" feel it helps to unfold.    To see a game in progress, as well as multiple usages of the combat grid application I developed, read through this thread: http://forums.dndorks.com/forums/1/808855/ShowThread.aspx#808855

There are many examples, for instructions on how to set it up, I've posted instructions here: http://forums.dndorks.com/forums/permalink/810560/810579/ShowThread.aspx#810579

Thanks and good luck!

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Richard M.
Grimfang
"Whisper"
Xaeraes

Good god Justmyflawedlogic, your first roll was a 1! This is certainly an omen, not sure if it is a good or bad one though.

For what it is worth, my preference is 4e, because it is so easy to write up a character. It may lack the flexibility that 3.5 had but it is a fairly safe system.

Also I started playing dnd about a year ago on this website and from my experience 3.5 is great but it is way more complex than 4e. I understood 4e fairly well after i asked a few questions. This is impressive seeing as how i don't have any of the books. 3.5 on the other hand took me months to understand but also in any you can get the 3.5 material online so buying 4e probably wasn't a mistake at all if you want to play both. For 3.5 (for which i have only my sisters players handbook) go to http://www.d20srd.org/ and it should have all your 3.5 needs.

ArtMonkey:

Man, I wish I could get a girl to play "Dragons Head" with me, too.

No. Just no.

Anyway... thanks for all the feedback and stuffs. (On a side note, I posted this in another thread but what the heck... all you 4e players: check out http://www.tinwatchman.com/chargen/ for an awesome starting character creator. It's really helped me and I'm sure it'll make playing online waaaay faster!!  )1 come on... another one!!! (^-^) please?

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

no. way. (^-^) awesome!!!!

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

oh, and one more thing; what book should I get next?! I'm just getting 4e, and I can only get one a month. I have: DMG, PHB, the starter set, minitures and dice. I'm considering PHB 2... what do you think?

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

Depends on your needs.  I'm pretty sure you're going to need monsters, and it's harder to "fudge" monsters, I think, at least mechanically, than before.  So, unless you really need a Bard in your group or something, I'd kind of vote for the Monster Manual.

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"If you fudge dice rolls, your system is failing you!" -Sons of Kryos

"I genuinely think that some people measure their free will by reading how unhappy their GM is." - TonyLB

I'd get a D&D Insiders account next, best software character creator out there for any RPG IMO, all the rules that ever come out, and you can get cheap pricing if you can buy it today.

If you were really against that idea, despite modules from Dungeon magazine to help you run games, great articles from Dragon, all the rules from all books, all the monsters, a monster generator for custom monsters, etc, etc, then I'd vote the monster manual.

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Richard M.
Grimfang
"Whisper"
Xaeraes

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no... 5 no... ™... ... if anyone knows of a way to poll, tell me... otherwise all advice welcome.

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YOU ROLLED A 20?! WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!
...
about one in twenty.
Roughly.
...
*cough*

$9.95 for 1 month
$23.85 for 3 months (save 20%)
$71.40 for an annual subscription (save 40%)
(+ 15% VAT in the EU).
Some UK guy "though with VAT the new yearly price is $82.11 which is £49.64 as a straight conversion at today's money-market price (slightly more given the costs of currency transactions, I expect). That's £4.14 a month."

The reason I think the DDI is worth it is that for £4.14 a month you get the rules for creating all kinds of characters from all the books that are ever released or will ever be released, plus software to make your characters with just a few clicks, including power cards, with all descriptions, customized for "your" character, and mostly right unlike most other people's attempts out there.  You also get the stats for all monsters, if you play with a laptop at your table, all the rules are searchable through the compendium, its all there.  You can get the books later, but its much more expensive to buy the books 1 by 1.

anyways, I created a poll here: http://forums.dndorks.com/forums/ShowThread.aspx?PostID=810898#810898

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Richard M.
Grimfang
"Whisper"
Xaeraes

Ah, cross-posted with Rich!

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"If you fudge dice rolls, your system is failing you!" -Sons of Kryos

"I genuinely think that some people measure their free will by reading how unhappy their GM is." - TonyLB