Just ran my first session of DW with my regular 4E group. Everyone seemed to like it. We spent a lot of time with character building and story foundation so there wasn’t as much time for adventure as I would have liked but overall, it went well. High points were the Bard serenading a sorceress by playing Careless Whisper on his tablet speakers. Everyone was roaring. Also, the 15 minute combat that actually felt satisfying and that helped frame future bonds and character development. Everyone really liked the End of Session XP tallies where we went back through the evening to look at what we accomplished. I like the idea that not everyone levels up in unison. Really makes characters feel more weighty when their individual actions dictate the rate at which they level. Also, the alignment XP stuff is fantastic. Great job guys.
Just ran my first session of DW with my regular 4E group.
Just ran my first session of DW with my regular 4E group.
You should get XP as well. You’ve rescued your friends from the horror that is 4E ;p
Eric Nieudan ahahah, very funny. Although I’ve run a one year long campaign of 4E, after many years away from games. Then we had relegate the manual on the bookshelf, and never played it again. Never.
We started playing Aw (and Dw) weekly. My doctor says it is ok, good for my health.
Heh, and here I am, thinking DW and 4E have lots and lots in common.
But yeah, a lot of people played D&D looking for something it didn’t offer : epic, story-heavy medfan gaming. And DW is exactly what the doctor ordered for these people.
All my firends dislike the 4E but I had more fun with it than with 3.x
I don’t say it is a bad game, but it just don’t suit my needs as a roleplayers. There’s a lot of cool stuff, and sometimes it seems you are playing a video game, but has way too many things you have to keep in mind about the mechanic/rules (I was the Gm) that in my opinion set you further from the story/fiction. In the end I prefer other games, for many reasons.
I didn’t like myself when I played 4E =)
It’s exactly that, Lenny Pacelli – I felt like I was playing a very slow, very demanding team-based video game.
Grégory Pogorzelski I’m just finishing a blog post about D&D vs DW. But I can see where you’re going talking about common things.
Eric Nieudan
My friends and I actually have really enjoyed 4E. We’re 2 years deep in an ongoing campaign. I would say my group has liked it more than I have but I’ve had a lot of fun. In particular, the way we run skill challenges. It’s essentially exactly the same way DW runs. You set up a situation and then ask the players what they do. You then interpret their actions into a skill check. That’s what turned me on to DW, when I realized, the most fun with 4E we were having was with freeform skill challenges and that the entire DW game is like that. I understand 4E is not for everyone but I don’t get the constant bashing it gets. My group and I have now played Pathfinder, 2E, 4E, 5E playtest and Castles and Crusades. And C&C and 4E have been our favorites. I think I’ll be adding DW to that list as everyone had a good time last night.
In forgist jargon, I’d say DW does for narrativist fantasy what D&D4E does for gamist fantasy. DW is all “so, how’s that going for you? How is it changing your character and their place in the world?” and D&D4E is all “will you manage to get past THIS? Will you still be standing after this one? Can you take it!?” but I find the same clarity of intent and streamlined gameplay in both. It’s just not the same gaming style.
(D&D4E also gets a lot of flak for being miniature-heavy, but I found miniatures take as much place in the game as in 3.X, except it’s far more fun to use them in 4E. Swapping places! Pulling stuff! Tagging shit! Weeee!)
(It helps to see D&D4E less like Indiana Jones and more like fantasy football. Teamplay is fun! Synergize those strategies! Pace yourself! Get your star player here, now!)
Grégory Pogorzelski
I try to avoid forgist jargon at all costs but I agree with you. 🙂
For what it is, 4E is very good. And again, I really liked the way the skill challenges open up the non-combat gameplay to a style very much like Dungeon World. I just want the combat and non-combat to be all part of the same stuff. The transition to and from combat in games like 3.x or 4E is just too jarring for me.
Mike Beacom Yeah, feel the same about combat. For years I was like what do you mean, of course initiative and turntaking is a vital part of combat in any RPG ever and it turned out I was so, so wrong.
And yeah, I met some people who could at the same time diss 4E skilll challenges for being “too abstract” and praise extended conflict rules in HeroQuest for being “dramatic”.
(They are the same thing but shh.)
4E is a very good game, no deying that.
My mixed feelings come from the fact that I joined a campaign with new characters and seasoned players. I kept studying the PHBs to make sure my character performed as he was expected to. In game, I was feeling the same kind of pressure I’d get in a League of Legends game online. Which goes against the fun of RPGs for me.
Grégory Pogorzelski I think that also came from the fact that combat is often the only sort of conflit in RPGs. Years ago, when I was hacking The Puddle into a sandboxy build-the-world-as-you-go-game, I felt the need to refine the simple conflict resolution rules, to give them more granularity for the sole purpose of running better fight scenes.