Expectation, Surprise and Disappointment

Anticipating a New Edition

As anyone who reads this blog is probably tired of hearing, I have been enjoying this wonderful hobby of ours for over four decades now and during that time I have seen a few games come and go - at least in-print and out-of-print. 

The good folks at Wiz Bros announced this week that the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game will be getting a new treatment in 2024 just in time for a much anticipated anniversary party. News which brings to my mind a number of previous occasions where I found myself looking forward to what the next iteration of my favorite FRP game would be like? 

Wondering: How would it be different? 

What would be improved? 

Would there be things left out of the new edition?

What would it look like?

So many other questions. 

Like many, I look forward to what is "yet to come", and I can't help but speculate about what might or probably will change in the new material. Once the much anticipated product arrives, I will no doubt be among those rushing to purchase and see what it all amounts to.

Many of us have been down this road before. Most of us can look back on some earlier release and recall things that we love and things that we are/were less than happy about finding in those "new" versions. 

For whatever reason, I find myself returning this week to 2008 and the release of the fourth edition volumes. My first memory of this sometimes "controversial" edition is that I really enjoyed reading the text introducing a fresh new approach to an old subject. I recall how useful I believed the defender, striker and controller ways of defining character class roles could be. The "powers" concept - daily, encounter and at-will - was a fresh new way of looking at the actions that your character could take during your turn. And I must admit, I was really excited about playing my first fire-breathing dragonborn character.

The new fun was not limited to just player characters in 2008. The 4e MM I welcomed as referee/DM and found full of surprises, some of which still delight me, and some of which have become part of the way I run the game - any game - to this day. Scaling monsters, that is making bigger, more deadly versions of any monster, (orcs and goblins are good examples) was a widely practiced theme in this edition allowing creatures to stay useful at higher levels of play and incidentally making the game more consistent with some popular fictional sources in which some orcs are way more deadly than others! Boss monsters in 4e are frequently attended by a number of "minions" - creatures with a single hit point who are good at "spreading the love" and controlling the battle grid. Players will find such "minions" in most games that I have run since 2008.

The 4e DMG is full of advice and for my money is one of the best of this kind of book for explaining how to set-up and run a game at your table. I rank this volume (together with the AD&D 1e DMG) as an essential resource for anyone occupying the post "behind the referee screen".

Unlike some, I do not have disdain for 4e. I enjoyed playing the game regularly for a number of years and give it credit for the part it played in the rise of the "old school" gaming scene. And to top it all off, I really loved (still do) those awesome 4e Wayne Reynolds illustrations!

A Resting Problem

Healing the Natural Way (and other mysteries.)

Healing in the original little brown books is commonly interpreted as occurring at the rate of one hit point per day. This is likely based on the following statement found in Volume III of the Little Brown Books. "On the first day of complete rest no hit points will be regained, but every other day thereafter one hit point will be regained until the character is completely healed. This can take a long time."

The nature of hit points is often discussed among gamers and the question of "What do the hit points represent?" is frequently pondered. Returning to the original source, the statement in Volume III that immediately precedes the above quote refers to healing "common wounds" by natural means. Turning to Volume I we find the following reference to hit points, "being the number of points of damage the character could sustain before death." Reaching "zero" hit points must therefore mean that character death is imminent? That is the way it is often interpreted. As with many aspects of the original rules, much is left open ended and it seems the intent is for the referee to add additional detail where desired.

Under the heading "Hit Dice" the author of Volume I addresses this intent when he states, "Whether sustaining accumulative hits will otherwise affect a character is left to the discretion of the referee." will the character suffer a specific "wound" that limits their ability to move, engage in combat, cast magic or perform any other adventuring task is left to referee discretion - presumably by development of a personalized method (such as a random table) whereby the nature of any such injury will be adjudicated beyond the application of mere referee's whim (although nothing in the rules prevents just that). 

Let's suppose that our adventuring character is ruled to have sufferer a specific "wound" to their leg. (The classic, "arrow to the knee"?) Applying the rule that the character will recover no hit points on the first day of rest, but will "heal" one hit point each day spent resting following the first, we can imagine a somewhat natural healing of such an injury, especially if ours is an experienced adventurer with more than a dozen hit points that have been lost. 

An explanation of the "hit point" concept and the associated increase in HP corresponding with a rise in level can be found in many sources (and I have red and listened to a number) over the decades with a common one being something along the lines of the explanation given by the same author of those 3 LBBs in his Dungeon Masters Guide:

Because these (hit points) reflect both the actual physical ability of the character to withstand damage — as indicated by constitution bonuses — and a commensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and similar life-or-death situations, the “sixth sense” which warns the individual of some otherwise unforeseen events, sheer luck, and the fantastic provisions of magical protections and/or divine protection.

"Skill in combat", the "sixth sense" that would allow a character to side-step danger and "sheer luck" or "divine protection" are all factored into the danger equation as hit points - a finite sum that can decrease to zero resulting in the character's death. Obviously not every incident of "damage" being deducted from the character's hit points need represent an actual wound. Some could be explained by using up one's luck, or divine favor, or what-ever. The accumulated loss of hit points would expose the character to a point where the "fatal blow" is delivered as hit points reach zero.

I must query, "How does the character die?" Provided the final hit point is lost at the point of an enemy's sword, is it a thrust through the heart? Death by a thousand cuts? Decapitation?

Ultimately this doesn't matter - dead is dead. But suppose zero hit points means fatally wounded instead? It is common practice for players to attempt to stabilize or "heal" a character who is at death's door - usually through the application of some magical means. Healing magics are included in the game and the question of whether it's "too late" seems seems legitimate.

With the single exception of rolling dice for ability scores, no aspect of the rules-as-written have received more attention than death. It is therefore essential that the referee give some thought to how death will be handled in the campaign - preferably prior to the first session. A discussion with the players can ensure that everyone is on the same page and will go a long way towards building trust - an essential aspect in any relationship.

Alongside "death" rests the topic of damage and healing. While it is not strictly necessary to discuss the nature of hit points and what they represent, it is a good idea to establish and discuss how lost hit points will be recovered. It certainly helps players to plan use of their resources - including magical healing. My experience with various editions has emphasized the vast difference between healing a single point of damage overnight and recovering all lost hit points after a long rest (usually defined as a single 6-8 hour period of inactivity). 

Resources other than hit points are associated with "resting". The so-called "Vancian" magic system deployed in the original 3 LBBs and continued through subsequent editions is a traditional part of the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game mechanics. The authors of the original edition describe spells and character class levels in Volume I of the 3 LBBs in this way:

The number in each column opposite each applicable character indicates the number of spells of each level that can be used (remembered during any single adventure) by that character... A spell used once may not be reused in the same day.

The exact interpretation of the phrase "remembered during any single adventure" deserves close attention. The most common practice used in various editions that follow the original 3 LBBs is that a caster will consult a spell book and memorize a number of spells per day limited by level and may cast each memorized spell once. 

This method of handling spell memorization and recovery is explained in the Dungeon Masters Guide (printed 1979) to the first Advanced edition wherein the author states:

Spell recovery, whether cleric/druid or magic-user/illusionist, requires about the same period of time. In order to pray and meditate for a new spell to replace one used, or in order to study and memorize such a spell, it is necessary that the spell-user rest and revitalize his or her mental faculties.

The author goes on to establish a time frame for memorization as follows: 

Whether one or more spells are to be regained, the minimum time required for complete rest (usually sleep) is that required for the highest spell to be recovered. Minimum rest periods are shown below:

SPELL LEVEL    1-2        3-4        5-6          7-8            9

      Rest Time   4 hours  6 hours  8 hours  10 hours  12 hours

Thus we can see how the memorization method is established which has been followed since. Personally, I prefer to extrapolate upon the wording. Borrowing an idea found in sources of literature and other games, I wonder about the connection with certain supernatural beings who perhaps aid the magic user in acquiring the magic spell - in a manner rather similar to a cleric who prays to their patron deity for their spells. Is the magic user tapping into a relationship with some powerful entity which is assisting them in gaining their memorized spell (I am thinking about the Warlock class from later editions, perhaps)?

Once again while consulting the words I find in Volume I of the original 3 LBBs I postulate; what else might the phrase "during any single adventure" imply? 

I like to think that each spell is prepared in a laboratory or seclusium and involves a more extended and "magical" formula be followed than spending a few minutes with one's traveling spell book as described in the Advanced game. Once a spell is "remembered" in this manner, it may be cast once each day - at least as long as the material spell component supply holds out. This interpretation seems just as easy as the more popularized method and I find it more evocative of the tone I like to encourage in the games I run.

I hope this brief discussion highlights a couple of the interesting ways that our old tried and true rules can be re-examined and creatively recast to deliver a fresh and exciting new slant on fantasy gaming. The do-it-yourself spirit of the early days of role-playing is what grabbed my attention from the start and continues to keep me excited about the hobby forty-some years later.