Over the weekend, I got some gaming in. I didn't think I would at first. Steve had tried to rally the troops for Sunday games, but then Pat and Alex had a big all-night drinking double birthday party Saturday night, so as I suspected, Steve's games were canceled.
Luckily, Joe and Tim invited me over to Tim's house for some Puerto Rico and Settlers of Catan on Saturday night, along with a woman named Ina. I've been a bit under the weather lately, so I had planned on skipping the late-night drinking fest. I had wanted to stop by for a bit earlier in the evening just to congratulate the guys, but with a chance to play some games, I took it.
I didn't do very well at Puerto Rico. I started with a build strategy, then the nature of the game made me try to switch to a shipping strategy. I did alright (tied for second with Tim). In Settlers, I was shut out from wheat for most of the game, so I came in last. Oh well, it was fun.
Anyway, for some reason or other, yesterday I started looking online to see what D&D resources are available here in Korea. Turns out most of the 4E core books and Essentials stuff is available. I'm now considering getting the Essentials Rules Compendium just so I can finally really give the rules a good read-through. I've played the game a bit, but never read the rule book.
I quickly passed over the new Red Box, though. It might be nice to get the accessories (more dice, the PC and monster tokens, battlemaps), but I don't need them. And the ERC would give me the basic 4E rules all in one book.
Who knows? I thought WotC wouldn't get any more money out of me, but I may just give them another $20.
I think you pretty much need at least one of the Essentials class books also and maybe the monster vault, if you intend to ever play the game. The rules compendium really is just the rules, not character creation info. Or monsters either.
ReplyDeleteI doubt I'd ever actually play it, honestly. Just curious about what they really did with the system.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't buy the rules, but I'd borrow them. Seriously, there's just something that rubs me the wrong way about handing hard-earned money over to a company that has designed a product with which one might have some serious issues. Aside from that, though, I don't begrudge anyone reading through them or even liking and playing them, my own objections be damned.
ReplyDeleteI've already read 4E. I had no interest in playing it whatsoever and there are plenty of entries over at Justin Alexander's blog that critique what's wrong with 4E way better than I could.
Gamma World convinced me to try some of the D&D Essentials stuff. It's different to be sure, but I think it could prove to be fun if you're going for a certain type of vibe.
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