D&D 4E continues to amaze me

As I continue to study the new D&D 4E, and read design notes from various designers, I continue to be amazed at the design.

I had noticed at one point a lack of durations. Spells end at the end of your next turn or on a successful saving throw. Monsters have "recharge" powers that come back randomly without tracking how long it's been since the last one. As a GM, I discovered that all I needed to do was track hit points (and not of Minions) and drop markers on the miniatures. As long as the marker reminded me what was affecting the character, I didn't need anything else… just to know if it was to end this turn (simple because it was there at the beginning of the turn) or if a saving throw was needed to get rid of it.

It does mean a little extra rolling, but it's reduced my paperwork for myriad effects that could have required lots of little time "ticks" to keep track of. For a game this complex (the most complex game I've played in a really long time), that is a real boon.

D&D is still about levels and hit points and a core story of killing monsters and taking their stuff. But it's clearly been design by people not sitting in an ivory tower of "I've never played anything but D&D".

When 3E came out, I thought, "Finally, the game is catching up to the late nineties in its design." That is to say, it had a lot of great ideas in it, but nothing in it was ground-breaking… they were borrowed ideas. Nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't a game that made players of other games sit up and take notice. But 4E seems to be really innovative… it is making players, and designers, of other games sit up and take notice.

In my current group of five, I'm the only one who played (a smattering of) 3E. My wife has basically never played D&D. One of my players has only played 1st edition, and two have played 2nd. This new edition is drawing in players who had given up on D&D, even given up on gaming in general. That's quite an accomplishment.

Bottom line, we're all having a lot of fun, and that's the most important measurement.