More D&D 4E Gossip

I have not got round to checking out 4th Ed yet… I am practically foaming at the mouth with enthusiasm but again and again I’m coming across little items online that really, really worry me! Greywulf says here that it’s as if “they’ve stolen our first three levels to get to that much-vaunted ’sweet spot’ right from the start” and that there’s no sign of “starting heroes with single-figure Hit Points and their father’s rusty sword”. That would be a real shame! I have always loved the “starting mook” feel of D&D and AD&D. You are the cowering kid hiding behind the bar for your first few fights (if you’re a mage) or a bravo who has more guts than go if you’re a fighter… You don’t start off with butt kicking abilities, you start off just learning the ropes and survival is a struggle! People who don’t want to go through that have always been able to accelerate and bump their starting characters a level or two in character generation (DM approving of course).

That said – even as starting mooks with little or no oomph you’re still harder than the average group of city watchmen (NPC: soldier – 1HD Thac0 20, AC 9 or to modernise a bit 1st level soldier CR2) who have on average 4HP and can just about beat up a dock worker. That brings me to another point that terrifies me however – the idea of scaling the NPCs so that the same NPCs get harder as the players progress… Why would you want to do that? (I’ve heard speculation but have no basis to assume this is in 4E – I’ll just keep hoping it is not until I get myself a copy!)

Watch out for the new “Bullet Stopping” D&D GM Screen!

I can’t get off YouTube! Someone quick I need an intervention!

I don’t know how newsworthy this is (most people have probably seen it) but I haven’t seen much of the 4th Ed stuff yet and there are a few classic moments, like when they show the GM Screen made from heavyweight gameboard stock “capable of stopping thrown dice and bullets”!

I especially like the look of the special editions and the idea of the starter set – brings back the whole “Red Box” concept where you buy a cheaper less complicated version of the game to get people started. I just hope the starter set is really fully playable unlike some starter sets we have seen in the past…