I have been reading “The Warded Man” and have found it extremely well written, entertaining, and filled with a great many intriguing possibilities. When I saw the book at my local Barnes & Noble, I have to admit the blurb in the inside dust cover was what finally sold me: “Raised on a steady diet of fantasy novels, comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons…”
The only sad part, of course, is realizing this is Book 1, which means waiting awhile to learn what comes next…
Sorry to hear you don’t care as much for D&D 4th edition; my group has had a fantastic time with it, but I just don’t see it being anything like a computer game. I do agree with you, however, about how much fun Skills & Powers was — we played the heck out of those rules.
Posted by Mark Hart, on March 23rd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I certainly don’t mean to say that you can’t have fun playing D&D 4. I think if you have a good group to play with, the version is kind of irrelevant.
That said, I think evening out the level-ups for all classes, and generally increasing everyone’s power-levels to ridiculous and flashy extremes took a lot away from choosing and role-playing your character class, because a lot of the inherent weaknesses (like being a first-level wizard) were removed. The changes seemed designed to put more focus on leveling up and acquiring treasure than on role-playing a well-rounded character.
Posted by christopher mac, on March 24th, 2009 at 5:45 am
Very nice review. Sweet and to the point. I should mention that I have lots of fond memories playing D&D way back when. I wish I had the time, I don’t even have time for a few games of Magic the Gathering anymore…
I have been reading “The Warded Man” and have found it extremely well written, entertaining, and filled with a great many intriguing possibilities. When I saw the book at my local Barnes & Noble, I have to admit the blurb in the inside dust cover was what finally sold me: “Raised on a steady diet of fantasy novels, comic books, and Dungeons & Dragons…”
The only sad part, of course, is realizing this is Book 1, which means waiting awhile to learn what comes next…
Sorry to hear you don’t care as much for D&D 4th edition; my group has had a fantastic time with it, but I just don’t see it being anything like a computer game. I do agree with you, however, about how much fun Skills & Powers was — we played the heck out of those rules.
I certainly don’t mean to say that you can’t have fun playing D&D 4. I think if you have a good group to play with, the version is kind of irrelevant.
That said, I think evening out the level-ups for all classes, and generally increasing everyone’s power-levels to ridiculous and flashy extremes took a lot away from choosing and role-playing your character class, because a lot of the inherent weaknesses (like being a first-level wizard) were removed. The changes seemed designed to put more focus on leveling up and acquiring treasure than on role-playing a well-rounded character.
But maybe I’m just acting like a grumpy old man.
Peter:
Love from librarians is ALWAYS a good sign.
Very nice review. Sweet and to the point. I should mention that I have lots of fond memories playing D&D way back when. I wish I had the time, I don’t even have time for a few games of Magic the Gathering anymore…
“Happiness Is… Warm Gun” ofc 🙂