A huge number of people have purchased the Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon masters Guide from the fourth edition of Dungeon and Dragons. We were duped. The fourth edition is horrible. We need to end this branch of D&D and we cna do this by refusing to purchase any additional 4th edition D&D materials.
Fourth Edition:The Fourth Edition completely breaks with Dungeons and Dragons tradition. This is no longer a game about imagination adn creativity, but a combat oriented war game. Everything about the traditional D&D game that involved role playing has been stripped out of the game and combat has become the only factor of importance. Character classes give options similar to fantasy card games and combat is the only focus of the entire game.
Fourth Edition: Bill Slavicsek, lead designer of the 4th edition of D&D, and Richard Baker, a senior game designer on the 4th edition of D&D, called the new edition of the game "Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition for Dummies" in their first book on the new edition. This is not a game for players who want to play a fantasy role playing game. This is a watered down game for the bear and pretzels set.
Closed-Ended: The fourth edition of D&D is a closed-ended game. Dungeons and Dragons previously was always an open-ended game that inspired imagination. There was no end or victory conditions. The 4th edition is a closed track leading to a specific ending imposed by Hasbro. Bye, bye imagination and creativity. Hello corporate profits.
Combat: The designers of D&D clearly think that combat is the only part of fantasy role playing games that is of interest to players. They consider all other factors to be background dressing. And they treat combat as a card game that has no connection to reality. It is impossible to simulate a real Medieval combat with fourth edition of D&D. The game is just like a typical fantasy or anime card game, but without the pretty collectable cards.
Opinion: The Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons is a travesty. I was hoodwinked into buying it, mistakeningly thinking it was an improvement. It is instead a bastardization of the game. The designers admitted that their goal was to make it easier to quickly create new supplements. They completely ignored the needs of real players and view as solely as a cash source to be exploited. Don’t make the mistake I made. Boycott the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Force them to return to version 3.5 or some logical improvement of 3.5.
Note that there are a few things in fourth edition that may be worth salvaging, but in the context of additions to version 3.5.
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