D&D Game Day 1 - 2009

This past weekend we had game day at the Game Castle in Londonderry, NH. There were enough for three seperate parties to play at once, an adventure was provided that had 4 encounters, 3 combat and 1 skill challenge, with a variety of options to be done each one it relied on the creativity or lack there of to make the adventure fun or a bust for the table.

My table was a trial by fire because of pretty much one player not having a clue. It was amazing, the one kid who was there and hadn't played before had more of a grasp on what to do than the seasoned player of the same age. Our DM was good as well, but one player was making the table visibly frustrated. As a rule I think it's best to figure out your option prior to your turn so that you can rattle something off fairly quickly. Three hour combat for one encounter is completely unnecessary when it's caused simply by one or tow people reading off every option outloud and then waffling back and forth.

An egg timer should be essential.

Now that I've vented out my problems, I must say I thought the adventure provided was pretty decent, with some necessary tweaks. The drow adventure was as useless as tits on a bull, especially in the hands of the player previously mentioned. Everyone else was able to hold there own, the invoker seemed to do pretty well and the damage output of the besereker was nice.

I played the gnome bard, and I must say I had an awesome time playtesting that and using her skills to make situations go better. Feypath, thundering strike to push enemies off a balcony, the healing abilities, and even the skill in diplomacy all helped make her a fufilling character. The final encounter worked out well negotiating with the devil, sure thats what the designer intended, but figuring that out at the start was just a whim for me.

The ruleset for 4e should be treated like the great creators of D&D say, used as a basis, a suggestion. Allowing fun uses and rewarding great ideas should be what the game is about. Using the beserker to grab a troglodyte and dive into the sythejaw, though not expected in normal play, is brilliant.

I stand by my opinion that 4e is a viable gaming system, it takes a compenant DM willing to be flexible, and a balanced party with decent players. Just like with any system, the only mechanics I don't like so far is the skill challenges. If a player cannot explain why or how their rolling a diplomacy roll, then that'll be an automatic fail in my game, intellectual players need only apply.