On Sunday, we finally managed to get together for some tabletop roleplaying. Originally, we had plans for an epic 2 day weekend of gaming, but Will ended up flying to see his family and thus, we were left with the option of playing without him or not playing at all. Playing without him was the only choice, obviously.
Instead of doing our normal game, I suggested that we could play our side game of DND 4E (Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition). I’ve been running Keep on the Shadowfell – the free introductory adventure. We started the game because Mat wanted to see how it stands up against 3.5 and Pathfinder. I can’t speak for Mat, but so far, I think it’s a perfectly fine system. Of course, I’m pretty new to the whole tabletop RPG thing, so I don’t have much experience with other rulesets to compare with.
One of the things that people complain about 4E is the lack of rules for non combat roleplaying, but so far in the game, we’ve done plenty of that without any issue. There was one bit where Millie wanted to pry open a floorboard to hide a relic in the floor. She didn’t know what she’d have to roll for that but I think it’s pretty silly to have rules for every single thing in the game. There is a general rule for various tasks depending on their difficulty, 10 for easy, 15 for medium, etc – I just gave her a secret bonus to her roll. Not terribly hard.
Roleplaying is still perfectly doable as well. Robynne’s been able to use diplomacy to convince the town lord that there was imminent danger to the town. Mat’s choices in the game have led the town blacksmith to hating him. Will’s unsuccessful intimidation attempt to bargain down the price for a pair of magical gauntlets have landed him in jail.
We’re trying to play again next Thursday. Which will be exciting, because the party will finally be reaching the Keep on the Shadowfell, encountering things more devious than swarms of kobolds. Ooooh.