WTF: Excerpts from the new DMG

[terraleon]

So I follow a link to look at a chunk of text from the upcoming 4E DMG, and I'm greeted with this section on commerce:

"Even small villages give characters ready access to the gear they need to pursue their adventures. Provisions, tents and backpacks, and simple weapons are commonly available. Traveling merchants carry armor, military weapons, and

Comments

[bookishgrrl]

"It becomes apparent to me that no one over at WotC has run at a table with players who believe that everything is treasure, and your dungeon is about to become their base of operations, once they've stripped it for scrap."

Heh. Awwwwwww.

Totally see what you're saying, though.

[trevorstamper]

I agree--and have the same worries that you do about 4e. Also, I agree on the Ars Magica issue--I am thinking I would rather have 3 new books from Atlas than 4e, period! I just picked up the Ars Magica Academics book--priceless!

Oh well, at least there is a proponderance of 3e material and you can always write your own new material!

Trevor

[expeditus]

I haven't been following any of the 4e stuff since I don't expect to be playing it anytime soon. The Final Fantasy comment seems just right. Reading that excerpt you linked to gave me the feeling they are moving to gameplay that is more like computer based RPGs. This isn't really the type of experience I want to have if I am playing a tabletop game.

A couple weeks ago I did a practice run of a D&D session using maptool (see rptools.net) with people from my old group who moved to other states or outside the US. It went pretty well, but I think running a voice chat program with it would have worked a lot better.

for online play...

[terraleon]

I've found that gametable is pretty good as a whiteboard substitute-- and it's easy to make custom pogs. It allows for a lot of built-in, customizable rolls and drawing wasn't too tough. Someone does have to run the gametable server, but that isn't overwhelming.

For talking, we found skype works well as long as you don't have more than six people-- conference calls are limited to that many people. If you are curious about them, let me know...I'll put you in contact with a guy I know who's a real expert at running with them.

-Ben.