I realize that, since getting the core rulebooks for 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, I haven’t really said much about them. I’m still reading the Player’s Handbook, and haven’t really read either the Dungeon Master’s Guide or the Monster Manual an any detail yet, but my initial impressions are, as expected, incredibly positive. The artwork and layout is fantastic and incredibly attractive. Everything seems to be located in the place that makes the most sense, and makes it easiest to find. And the classes and races are really, really good.

That isn’t to say that they’re perfect. I’ve stumbled across some editing mistakes, and while most of them aren’t really a big deal and don’t make any of the rules unclear, occasionally you’ll find one that does and will require errata of some sort. A particular ranger power, for example, is listed as doing [W] damage, with no preceding number. It’s an encounter power, so it probably doesn’t do 1[W] damage, and I’d probably peg it at 2[W] myself, but I’d like to know for sure what it’s supposed to do (for those who have no idea what I’m talking about, [W] stands for “weapon dice”, so a power that does 2[W] damage when used with a 1d8 longsword would deal 2d8 damage on a hit).

What strikes me most is how different the classes are from each other, even within the same role. A fighter and a paladin, while both defenders, are both very different types of defenders. The fighter defends by getting right up in your face and saying “you could attack someone else, but I really wouldn’t recommend it”. The paladin, on the other hand, provides a lot of defense bonuses and healing, and has several powers that allow him to share an ally’s damage when that ally is hit, or to take all of the damage entirely. Same role, different play styles. Very nice.

Anyway, this isn’t really intended to be a full review, just my initial impressions so far. I will be reviewing the books as I read them, though, so stay tuned.

I’m using the standard character sheet from the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook, which is a pretty good sheet except that it doesn’t really leave much space for you to write what your powers and magic items do. That’s OK, though, because I plan on using power cards. Initially, I didn’t like the idea. I’m not really sure why, but something about it rubbed me the wrong way. The more I’ve thought about it, though, the more I’ve come to think that having a card on which all the relevant rules for a power is written, and on which you can make notes and record the specific modifiers and damage, would be a good, useful thing. I’m also going to be creating cards for magic items, and I’m toying with the idea of creating cards for quests, too.

Per a suggestion on the EN World forums, I’m using the Magic Set Editor to do my dirty work. The program is designed for creating your own cards for trading card games such as Magic: The Gathering, but it works equally well for this endeavor. I tried to install a template that turned the entire card into a text area, with no space for a picture, but for some reason the template didn’t work. However, I’ve come to think that actually having a blank white space where a picture should be is actually a good thing, since it gives players a good-sized space to write notes about the specifics of their powers. So anyway, below is a picture of one of the power cards I’ve created, specifically for the fighter at-will power Reaping Strike, complete with notes written in specific to the character. I printed these out on card stock, and they’re really very nice.

Alright, so three characters have been made for my upcoming 4th Edition game, with one more to be made at a later date. No names have been chosen, and little has been done as far as back-story goes; I figure we’ll take care of some of that (primarily the name stuff) on the first official session, and we’ll take care of a lot of the backstory as we play, in an improvisational way. But as far as the characters go from a broad-strokes prospective, here’s what we’ve got.

A warforged paladin of Avandra. He specializes in using hammers, and seems like a “righteous fire” type paladin to me.

A tiefling warlord who has made an infernal pact, multiclassing into warlock. He likes the scimitar and rides a horse, and he speaks Primordial, suggesting a certain antipathy for the gods.

A dragonborn fighter who wields a halberd, this guy is all about sweeping attacks and beating the enemy back, as far as I can tell. He also took the Enlarged Dragon Breath feat to make the most out of his draconic nature. He breathes fire.

Many of you are no doubt constantly afraid of the imminent threat of a zombie apocalypse. While it’s true that we’ll never be truly safe from that threat, and it will happen eventually, you can at least be prepared for such an event by observing this informative image:

I’m probably showing my age somewhat by posting this (not that I’m that old or anything), but I continue to be flabbergasted by my DS. I can still remember quite clearly when the original GameBoy was state-of-the-art portable gaming technology, and when people were amazed by the Sega Game Gear with its fancy color screen, backlight, and 16-bit graphics.

And now I’m playing an enhanced version of the original Resident Evil on my DS. This was originally a PlayStation game, requiring a CD ROM disk, and now they’ve managed to fit the entire game, cut scenes and all, with added content, on a tiny little DS card. And it looks just as good (actually, probably a little bit better because pixelated graphics are less noticeable when they’re small) as the original PS version.

Like I said, I wouldn’t consider myself old (I’ll be turning 29 in July), but in terms of game technology I’m probably a centenarian.