Back to the GAME!

Finally! After two years away from Dungeon and Dragons, I am back to the game!

I began playing D&D on the first edition when it was released in Brazil in a boxed set by Grow. I had about nine years old and didn’t understand all the rules, but I played it anyways, for years. By the time I was 11 or so I bought the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons books translated in Portuguese (my English was even worse than it is now). I thought the game to some friends and played it as soon as I could. We could make and Elf Fighter, a Dwarf Cleric, we could do a lot of things it wasn’t possible in the first edition. It was a blast. But the Portuguese edition didn’t have all the supplements the original version did.

When the third edition came out I could read the English books without any problem. Wow, how much improvement! The game offered almost infinite possibilities for characters and surprisingly the rules were simpler! It was a great edition, even with the whole confusion of the 3.5 update and new books (the rules were really improved), but somewhere in the way the game became too confusing, too many supplements and variable rules. Handling high level characters was a hard work (trying not to say it was a pain).

In 2008 WotC released the fourth edition of the game. It was similar to the third edition in the aspect of liberty and open possibilities but it went further. The game is now simpler, more balanced, easier to run and it offers possibilities that the previous editions did not offer. In the past the wizard of the group would be useful for just a few seconds while he would cast his only spell for the day. The fighter of the group can do a lot of other things besides just swing his sword at the monsters. The concept of Skill Challenges made all character contribute to the success of the group in encounters with or without combat.

Recently I was reading some threads on the D&D website forums when I found a interesting saying about the D&D editions. It was something like this:

The first and the second editions challenged the players. The third edition challenged the characters. The fourth edition challenges the party. That’s why I love fourth edition.

That’s summarizes the whole evolution of the Dungeons and Dragons game for me. I loved all the editions I played, but my favorite is the 4th edition. It has all the flexibility it needs, but it keep the game simple and fun to play.

Well, as I was saying, I am back to the game now. In 2008 I only had chance to play a few sessions of D&D 4th edition. By April I had to stop playing. But now, after putting my life in the place I wanted it to be, I returned to my favorite RPG. A lot has happened in the time I was away. We had dozens of supplements, new classes, new power sources, new campaign settings, super adventures and a lot of material was released for D&D insider members. So far I liked all that I’ve seen. And one of my favorites releases happened last year. I was very happy to find out that Dark Sun was back in the 4th edition. I did not play it when it was released for the 2nd edition, but I read about it and always wanted to play it. Now I have that chance.

Well, this blog will be about Dungeons and Dragons. As it is now, it’s about the 4th edition of the game. I will write about lots of things such as optional rules, campaign ideas, adventure hooks, reviews and a lot of other stuff. I have some projects I would like to share with other gamers too (I am planning on making a character sheet and a map for Dark Sun with the locations around the Tyr Region, similar to the map on the second campaign boxed set).

I hope to see you around while we explore the Dungeons and Dragons game