This blog will primarily be concerned with the Fourth Edition (4E) of the world’s most famous Roleplaying Game, Dungeons and Dragons!

4E Dungeons and Dragons

Why is this?

Well several reasons really, which I’ll cover over several blogs on this subject, but before moving on, a quick disclaimer:

This is in no way a dismissal of any other RPG Rules or Games! I’m focussing on 4E because that’s my choice, this is not an entry in any form of Edition Wars…

Ok, got that 🙂

So, the first reason is related to how I got back into the role-playing hobby. As I mentioned on my About pages, I had a near 15-year hiatus from the hobby, due to moving to the UK, first as a backpacker, and then just life really (work, kids … y’all know what I mean!). So in early 2008 I succumbed to a impulse purchase on Amazon (you’ve all done it, admit it…) and ended up with a copy of the Forgotten Realms 3.5 adventure: Cormyr, the Tearing of the Weave. The quality of the book and the adventure were excellent, but when I tried to read the encounters in more details, I soon discovered D&D had moved on quite a bit i.e. all the stats were completely foreign!

I then went to update my rules, only to find that 4E was due out imminently – so I decided to wait. It so happenned that soon after I got my shiny new 4E Core Rules, an old friend from school (and roleplaying) days was visiting us – so obviously we decided to give it a whirl! He had played WoW, so recognised (and liked) some of the influences, and I loved the consistency and flexibility of the ‘powers’ concept, both for characters and monsters. From a DM’s perspective, I also liked the way everything was given a cool back-story.

To cut a long story short, this really inspired us to get back on the role-playing wagon – it was new, it was fresh, and it really was fun! I think the quality of the 4e product is fantastic, and whether it’s for you or not in a role-playing sense, I think WOTC have really tried to put great quality out there. This is not to say I agree with everything they do, or publish, but I’m definitely along for the ride…