Four (soon to be five) sessions into 4e, I’ve learned the following bits as GM:
- Rangers deal massive damage. Return volleys…not so much.
- PCs can deal with creatures a good deal above their level. If you throw a big nasty at the group, be prepared to see at least one PC drop.
- Rogues are much more finesse now. Players need to make opportunities to deal damage to realize the classes full potential.
- Ignoring the Paladin’s Divine challenge can kill your NPCs pretty quickly.
- Slyblade + a bin full of minions = pin the tail on the kobold, and is good times.
- Skill Challenges are a black art, but can be worth it.
- It’s not the size of the fight in the bugbear, it’s the size of the bugbear.
- My current battlemap doesn’t cut it.
- Dungeon Tiles almost do, but are an indescribable pain to store and work with.
- Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. Loners get mauled.
- Minions are a great mechanism to add weight but not impossibility to your encounters. Plus the squish real purty like.
So 4th ed GMs, what have you learned running 4th edition so far?
A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e.
By day he is a technologist.
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4E pwnz 3E.
nuff said?
OK… I’ll add: All you GM’s that are complaining about 4E being a ‘single-miniature’ miniatures game (all battle, no role play) are a bunch of ninnys. The game is whatever you make it – the rules should never be in the way of a good game. 4E has IMHO the lowest barrier to a good night of gaming. As a father of two, and a full time researcher, I have barely enough time to game as it is. Our game nights are packed now that we playing 4E. I probably won’t forget the 2nd game night using the new rules: 3 hours = 3 combat encounters and 3 ‘non-combat’ encounters = 6 things done. All the players shined both in combat and out, and everyone had an awesome time.
Finally, I 100% agree with “Minions are a great mechanism to add weight but not impossibility to your encounters. Plus the squish real purty like.” For our very first encounter (5 level 1 characters with zero xp) we fought 20 minions. I’ll never forget the look on the faces of the players: WTF? Are you Trying to Kill us?
It was awesome. I’m hooked.
I think you touched the important part of 4e –it’s productive!
It’s easy to pack a lot of adventure in only a few hours. I like this.
A lot has been said against 4e, but I really am enjoying the heck out of the system.
Dungeon Tiles, One Word:
Tacklebox
Well, a few more…
For the Big Ass tiles: Large Ziplock Freezer Bag
Good point on storage. What do you do with them in play, though? Wilderness scenes have been fine, but do you lay out all the pieces of a dungeon at once, or build as you go? Some good layouts seem like pains to recreate.