Forum: Public Forum

Bob,

First welcome to the group.

From the edition list seen above, there was a 3rd edition before the 4th appeared of course.

• D&D 3rd edition was solid and one of its principal requirements was to "taste like D&D".
• D&D 3.5 was meant as a revision, at first it was slightly vilified and seen as a way for Wizards of the Coast to make some cash. However it quickly asserted itself and indeed solved some problems. Overall it was a move in the right direction, even if they introduced slightly annoying things with it too.
• The greatest thing about 3rd edition was the Open Gaming Licence. In short it allowed companies other than the licence holder (WotC) to make "D20" products. A lot of awful crap was produced but it also allowed for some gems to appear.

4th edition decided to remove the OGL, or severely restrict its replacement, basically putting all the cards back into WotC's hands. The requirements for 4th edition were to develop a faster paced game and a game open to new gamers. 4th edition is a shining example of a product optimised for its market. The design is based roughly on "Magic the Gathering": a limited, robust and easy to grasp set of rules, followed by "exception design" for the rest of the books... and they have been many already.

If you have only played D&D before, you will notice that a 4th edition book has "D&D" on its over, this is true.

Thanks to the fact that the OGL was given away for perpetuity, a publishing company named Paizo - they used to have the licence for the now defunct "Dragon Magazine" and "Dungeon Magazine" paper versions - decided to create the "Pathfinder RPG", this is 95% D&D 3.5 with some slight rule change and is fully compatible with 3.5 (this was the number one requirement). Again the positive changes far outweigh the negative ones in my view.

The Pathfinder RPG core rulebook does not have "D&D" on its cover, this is true.

I intend to run a pretty regular Pathfinder RPG game on the afternoon session of our monthly Big Meet, same format as the one presently advertised, hopefully different adventure.
So once you have tasted 4e, you will be welcome to play a PRPG game the following month.

I have been running a regular D&D 3.5 evening game at the Big Meet for nearly a year now. Attentive players may have noticed that I no longer bring my D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook, but use my PRPG Core rulebook. I keep the game 3.5 because most of my players are usually 4ed players in the afternoon session, players who used to play 3.5 before, thus may not be interested in buying even more books.

As for the edition war I shall say nothing except that it is common knowledge that people who play 4e have webbed feet with six toes, doubtful personal hygiene, do things with their dogs the RSPCA would not approve of, cannot hold their drinks, tend to be communists, or fascists, or both, and possess a myriad of other socially reprehensible mores and habits.

Pathfinder RPG or D&D 3rd Edition players tend to be attractive, athletic, academically qualified and display other socially enhancing qualities such as a touch that cures cancer and many other ailments.

Laurent,