I’m new to Dungeons and Dragons. A friend introduced me to the game in 2011 and my interest in the game took off from there. When I got involved as a Dungeon Master (go ahead and chuckle…it’s funny), I began to troll around on various forums and blogs to learn the tricks of the trade. As I did, I was shocked to learn that
I was not playing the REAL Dungeons & Dragons!
No, what I was playing was 4th Edition, the illegitimate love child of D&D and World of Warcraft, so the internet said. I was saddened to hear that I was not playing the “real” game, so I started exploring my options. What else was out there? Well, it didn’t take long to learn that every person who has ever played D&D has their own preference as to the edition that best represents the Dungeons and Dragons ideal.
In the meantime, it seems that Wizards of the Coast (who publishes D&D materials) realized that their fan base had become somewhat split on the issue. And now they have announced D&D Next. From what I’ve read, they hope to create a new edition that will have enough commonality with all the prior versions that all us kids will finally play nice with one another (and consequently buy buckoos of books). Because I don’t have enough things to learn in the non-imagined world, I signed up for the DnD Next Playtest to give the game a shot. Let’s see how this newbie, 4th Edition lover responds to DnD Next.
Last Wednesday, I met up with the crew at Big Easy Comics, where they are running a weekly game using DnD Next rules. The goal of the night was to create our characters for the season, which will begin this Wednesday. I decided to play a wizard, whose story I had been dreaming up for the Pathfinder RPG system (which I still haven’t tried, FYI). Here are a few thoughts on the character creation experience:
I don’t know if it’s the fact that I’ve been playing DnD for almost two years now…or if it’s DnD Next…but I feel I might be experiencing what I’ve heard from some of the really early DnD players. I have thought more about the motivations and the minutiae of this character than I have any other. Seriously. I could even tell you how his multiple daggers are different and what the buttons on his jacket look like. Here’s the bottom line:
I feel like 4th edition encouraged me to jump in and play (yes, like a video game). But in this edition, it feels more immersive. Maybe it’s the way wizards are created in DnD Next–maybe it’s because I’ve been dreaming up this character for awhile. Frankly, maybe it’s because I’ve been reading Lord of the Rings and writing short fiction for fun. I really don’t know. What I do know is that I’m highly anticipating what the first day of gameplay will be like. If it’s half as engaging as the character creation process, it should be a real treat. You can expect my thoughts on that very soon…
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