Scrying The 4e Crystal Ball - On Fearlessness

Dragon is edited in its new online incarnation as part of Dungeons & Dragons Insider by Chris Thomasson. Fans of the Paizo era may remember that Chris is the editor responsible for Adventure Paths... that most popular of Paizo innovations that eventually evolved into the current Pathfinder series. In a time when the editorial is perhaps at its most important, we haven't been seeing regular editorials. They should be right out the gate with each digital issue (can we even call them that when they're not being compiled regularly?) to help reassure the readers that the leadership of the magazines really does know where it's going. That failure to me was made more inexcusable, rather than less, by my great respect and admiration for Chris Thomasson and his past work. Kudos to Chris for finally posting that editorial. Unfortunately, instead of providing the direction I was hoping, it talked at some length about gaming philosophy in 4e. That's great for us, since we get to hear about 4e, but no so great for the fans of the magazines who are still, I think, wondering what the hell is going on.

Yes, you knew I was going to be getting to 4e, this is, after all, a column about the changes we will be seeing in 4e. Chris writes in his editorial at length about death in Dungeons and Dragons... but more particularly, how character death influenced the game, how people played their characters as a result of the ease with which characters, especially low level characters, could die. It's an interesting article, though honestly I felt at times like I was reading about Exalted rather than D&D. I'm hoping for heroes with 4e rather than superheros... and I'm not sure if that's what we're going to get. I'll let you all judge for yourselves at the full article, located here.

[via Dungeons & Dragons Insider]