You've been telling us since 2008 that it's the in-print
version of D&D that's important, and it's the current version
bearing the name Dungeons & Dragons that's the best and brings the
most gamers together.
I'm sorry I disagreed all this time.
Really, I apologize. I was out of line.
You were totally right all along.
So on April 17, forget about your old, dusty, has-been, canceled D&D. Don't be an old grognard and look at its outdated and broken mechanics like feats and powers and healing surges through nostalgia-colored glasses, instead stop living in the past and pick up the brand spanking new, hot off the presses, official AD&D 1e books and start playing the newest and best edition of D&D available!
Our games together will be epic.
(Sorry, I know I'm being a bad bad edition warrior and I'm going to hell for it but I totally could not resist. I cared enough to be pissed in 2000 and 2008, so I can care enough to gloat a bit now. At least I didn't say "Your D&D is canceled and ours is going to be in print? How do you like them apples?")
(PS. Dear new Blogger interface: You are ass and should die. You suck. Fuck you.)
You're a very naughty boy.
ReplyDeleteAce!
ReplyDeletePersonally I thought 4e was a pretty neat, if misguided experiment. But it just wasn't conducive to old school gaming. Skill checks and 'narrative' (railroading) were overemphasized, and balancing encounters was not only essential but also a pain in the ass (such that making them up on the fly was pretty impossible, no rolling dice to generate some quick monsters). 4e is pretty much a tactical miniatures game where you level up. I feel like Wizards should have just gone all the way and officially licensed Fourthcore Deathmatch.
ReplyDeleteI only wish I had thought of this first.
ReplyDelete*golf clap*
Nasty. Really nasty. Kinda true too.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, all the 4e fans that said that in 2008 are now saying "Yeah, well, I never liked 4e all that much anyway...I'm more of a FATE fan."
ReplyDeleteLove it.
ReplyDelete"We know not who that masked man was. We know him only by the name El Batardo Magnifico."
ReplyDeleteAlso, fuck blogger.
ReplyDeleteWord varification: psyclano. Either a cool new psionic attack or a cheesy 70's DC comic character.
I've never understood this preoccupation with ongoing official "support." I've got enough 4e material to last me a lifetime, and it just might. WotC has given me an edition I love, and I kinda hope I hate the next one. It'll make my decision that much easier!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Principality of Vornheim would like it known that the opinions of its publisher do not reflect the opinions of its creator.
ReplyDeleteThough any 4Eer who ever did say anything resembling that first paragraph can, in fact, suck it.
...wow, when you put it this way, it's all so fucking...surreal...seriously...wow...December 21st has got to be the actual end of the world, for this shit to be happening, right?
ReplyDeleteJames, if your words were shorter I'd put them on a T-Shirt. Well done! :)
ReplyDeleteHow very well put!
ReplyDeleteNevermind the edition war between 4th Edition and AD&D, could this rekindle old flamewars like AD&D vs BD&D (with warring sects of Moldwayians, Mentzerites, Cyclopedians and some sorry Holmesians) vs OD&D?
ReplyDeleteMan, there's one guy I would seriously like to use this on. Just that one guy.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I know that guy.
DeleteWonder what he's doing right now?
If I had to guess he's keeping up a brave front, denying everything, hopping on the bandwagon and hoping like hell no one is digging up his old forum posts.
DeleteThough any 4Eer who ever did say anything resembling that first paragraph can, in fact, suck it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! But I've never actually heard anyone even remotely resembling it.
(...that I can remember.)
ReplyDeleteI doubt one person has said all this, but each thing in here was something that has actually been said about old edition D&D by not-old edition D&D fans.
ReplyDeletePeople say the damndest things on RPG.net, which is why I read that board often. :D
I remember the sputtering and outrage one time when I suggested that wandering monster checks could be a good idea.
DeleteMost 4e players I know also play 1st ed, Basic and maybe a half-a-score other games.
ReplyDeleteSo the mostly likely response I would hear from the 4e players I know is "cool. More books = more fun".
I doubt one person has said all this, but each thing in here was something that has actually been said about old edition D&D by not-old edition D&D fans.
ReplyDeleteI hate you and your kind but that nonetheless staggers me. The 'whatever edition is in print' thing is just so...empty. I readily confess to having argued that 4e is a superior design to all previous editions, which argument I now find silly, but the brand-name fetishism behind the 'whatever's in print' line is common to 4e kidz and OSR types (e.g. in Gary-worship and insistence on using TSR fonts and layout), and it's way way worse than fetishizing the Old Ways or the Ways to Come. Fuck that.
Wally
ReplyDeleteDoes the fact that you keep throwing huge paragraphs of pomo grad school prose at positions that you then reverse later ever lead you to think that maybe you should think a little harder about what you say before you write it down?
hmm...all I know is that I like a lot of different games. I own all kinds of 3.5 books Monte Cooks WOD, oWod, nWod, Flame Princess, Basic, Ad&d 2nd, Fate stuff, random stuff, hell I loved the Saga System with Dragon lance and ya know what I'm buying all the 4 ed books so I can have them all. I'm also buying all the books that go to Flame Princess (love Carcosa too) but when it comes down to it, I think all these Edition wars only hurt the gaming business. I really don't think anyone should tell anyone how to have their fun, heck I feel weird even typing this. But I know its about money for some of these companies, why would they be putting out AD&D 1st if not to capitalize on the anniversary. And I'm sure I'll buy those too. I don't see 4 ed as failed experiment. I think the people who like are still going to play it just like the people who liked 1st ED are still playing it and all the other games. We should want the games to succeed because Hasbro and WotC could just say "Let's cut our losses and make nothing" (which would be stupid). But I guess I'm crazy.
ReplyDelete4e isn't a failed experiment, it's just an experiment that will no longer be supported: like Microsoft Vista. If you want to keep using Vista, go right on ahead.
ReplyDeleteI still don't trust WOTC or D&D Next, but boy do I want me some special edition AD&D books!
I had all the 4th Edition books I would ever need in 1980.
ReplyDelete2nd most viewed post ever for the blog. INTERNET PEOPLE ARE WEIRD.
ReplyDeleteposting in a thread. :D
ReplyDelete- DYA
Well, technically, 4E isn't officially "cancelled" so much as lame ducked. Stuff is still being printed for it, and will continue to be for awhile, so even with the reprint of the AD&D books I don't think you can really say (yet) that 4E isn't the official in print D&D game. And when you can say 4E isn't the official game, it still won't be AD&D it'll be whatever they bill 5E as.
ReplyDelete(and for the record, while I play and like 4e I think the only important edition is the one you have the most fun playing.)