9/30/2010: Conventions, Essentials, and Kickstarter
Posted by Keith Baker in UncategorizedSep 30th, 2010 | 4 responsesI’m working on a number of different projects that I can’t talk about right now, but things are going well. I just returned from Boston and Baltimore, where I ran Eberron games for people at Turbine, 38 Studios, and Big Huge Games. While I was at Turbine I had a chance to meet the developers of DDO: Eberron Unlimited, and I look forward to continuing the discussion in the future. I’ll post more about DDO in a future entry.
Now I’m back in Portland with a lot of work on my plate. In addition to that, I’m going to be at Conquest Oregon this weekend; if you’re going to be there, keep an eye out! I don’t know my schedule yet, but I’m planning to hang out as much as time permits.
On the novel front, the final novel in the Thorn of Breland series – The Fading Dream – comes out next week! But that’s not all. I’m also involved in another writing project – an anthology called Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero. If you’re an Eberron fan, you might recognize some of the other authors, like Jeff LaSala and Don Basingthwaite. There’s also a few other obscure writers, like Ed Greenwood and Ari Marmell; hopefully this will be a big break for these newcomers. Aside from the book itself, there’s all sorts of things you can pursue with Kickstarter contributions, including a game with me at GenCon next year. So check it out at this website!
Finally, I’ve been taking a look at D&D Essentials. I’ll post at more length on the subject when I’ve had more time to digest it, but I’ll say that after being underwhelmed by the Red Box, I’ve been having fun making Essentials characters and I’m curious to see how they play. In follow-up to the previous “Realism vs. Simulation” discussion, I’ll specifically note that I think the Knight’s “Defender Aura” is actually an improvement over the previous fighter’s marking system in capturing what I wanted. The aura essentially has the same effect as a fighter’s mark – -2 when attacking other allies, opportunity for the knight to make a basic attack under certain circumstances – but it automatically applies to any adjacent enemies. This removes the need for marking tokens and also avoids the “I mark you and then run halfway across the room, but somehow you’re still in trouble if you attack someone else” situation. Making it an aura that affects any adjacent enemy fits the image I was presenting before – that the character is simply a more competent melee fighter than the others, and if you give an opening he will take it.
So I haven’t formed a concrete opinion on Essentials yet. The Red Box left me cold, but Heroes of the Fallen Lands has some interesting ideas. We’ll see.
Let me know if you’re going to be at ConQuest!
4 Responses to “9/30/2010: Conventions, Essentials, and Kickstarter”
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What left you cold about the Red Box? I actually felt the same kind of underwhelming feeling but I’m curious about your reasons.
I don’t have it at hand, so it MAY be that I missed something. But the Fighter and Rogue were the things that troubled me, because what we saw was only a partial character. As I recall – and again, perhaps I just missed it – what we had was stances/tricks and power attack/backstab… but none of the class abilities, such as sneak attack or defender aura. As a result, I was left with the impression that marking had been removed without any compensation (as the full slayer at least has greater damage dealing power) and that sneak attack had been dropped in favor of the once-per-encounter backstab. Meanwhile, while I’m fine with the basic concept of fighter combat abilities being based around stances, the two stances chosen – +1 to hit and +2 damage – are mathematically useful but incredibly dull (as opposed to something like Tide of Iron/Hammer Hands, which gives you a lot of interesting tactical options). So I was left looking at the fighter and saying “This is it? Really?”
This impression is also what fueled my comments about marking on the Simulation post. As is, I think the Essentials Defender Aura is a better way to do things than the original fighter mark – but from the RB, my impression was that the defender role had been dropped.
Now, I understand why they kept things simple. Among other things, in a solo adventure the defending element is completely unnecessary and added confusion. But between this and the seeming absence of sneak attack in exchange for an encounter power, I was left with a very bad impression of these classes.
Now that I have the Heroes book and have been making full characters, I see that the Red Box only included partial info and that Rogue and Fighter have more depth than was immediately apparent.
As someone who was not a fan of 4e when it first came out, I find Essentials to be more appealing. Nearly all of the things I disliked in the original 4e release have been removed in Essentials. Maybe I’ve just played the same type of games for too long, but the classes now atleast feel familiar.
I’m curious, though, GG – if you’re not a fan of 4E now, I assume you’ve been sticking with 3.5 or Pathfinder (if you’ve been playing D&D). I understand that the greater familiarity of Essentials may appeal – but fundamentally, it’s still the same system as 4E. Does it actual appeal ENOUGH to get you to play it over Pathfinder, or are you more likely to stay with the more familiar system?