4ED

Yesterday I had the chance to peruse the 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons materials that Wizards of the Coast recently published. The writing and artwork of the books are top-notch, and it seems that Wizards has gone a long way to both simplify the game and make the feeling more epic.

I was impressed with the DMG, perhaps the most comprehensive guide of just how campaigns are practically run. Previous books dealt a lot with mechanics, but the new DMG has more to do with player styles, the type of character roles needed in play group, how to create and run adventures, really practical stuff.

New and different races and classes in the PHB were also wildly different and somehow more sensible. The new cleric has abilities at will and a more focuses style. I loved how the PHB addresses the ideas of builds, similar to video game analogues, describing how a battle cleric or a party support cleric might pick skills and abilities.

I'd love to get back into play the game, but it's so hard for me to find the desire to create and run a campaign. If Wizards supports the game with excellent published adventures and campaign settings, I may go that route and run through an adventure with some of the old gang.