4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons is Here! The New Ruleset is Awesome

The rules have changed! Last Friday, gamers all over the world eagerly awaited the release of the 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Core Rulebooks. The new ruleset had been in development for years, and those of us who dabbled into the Saga Edition of the Star Wars RPG already got a taste of what the new rules will be like. Personally, I am very happy with them and how they finally put in print some long-needed changes to the game system.

There are simply too many changes to break them all down into detail here. Suffice to say, the game has truly been streamlined. It would be wrong to say the rules have been simplified, because that would imply that the game had been dumbed down. Instead, I will say that many of the rules have been consolidated in a way that brings a lot more balance to the gameplay. The new methods of building up characters also cuts down on the problem of min/maxing, which is where nefarious players exploit rule loopholes to create characters with powers beyond their means. These type players usually ruin the game for everyone else. I've personally dealt with a couple of them in the past and they can and will make other people not want to play any more.

I have felt that the 3rd and 3.5 editions of D&D were a step in the right direction for the game, but the rules were way too buggy. It's pretty common for a role playing game session to come to a screeching halt as player's start cracking open books to decipher some vaguely written rule regarding a special move that a player is trying to perform. Heated arguments often arise out of what you can and cannot do in the game. You'll still be cracking open the books, but in doing so you will find a lot more things are better defined with this new 4th Edition.

These books are all made of extremely high quality and the graphic design is excellent. There are a great many pages within the books that feature brilliantly colorful and detailed full-page artwork. The pages are laid out mostly in a two-column format that is easy to read, and the wealth of information contained in them is put together in a way that is logical and makes things easy to find.

This Core Rulebook Set includes the three main books needed for playing Dungeons & Dragons. Not everybody needs to buy this set unless they plan to be a Dungeon Master or just want to know all there is to know about D&D. However, if you are part of a gaming group, at least one member of your group needs to have every book in this set. It wouldn't hurt for one more to have them as backup.

Here's what you get in the set:

Player's Handbook - This is the most often used book in the game, and as the title clearly states, it is the handbook for playing D&D. Every player should have one of these and should read the whole thing through at least once. No matter if you plan to play a fighter or wizard, you should make yourself familiar with the game rules and options.

Dungeon Master's Guide - This is another rulebook designed for Dungeon Masters to run the game. It offers a handy set of rules regarding everything not covered in the Player's Handbook, such as how to run the game, managing combat, dealing out rewards, and so on. It also has guidelines for building custom things like monsters or equipment. It wouldn't hurt for players to be familiar with a lot of the material covered in this book.

Monster Manual - This is a wealth of information about all the monsters you may encounter in the D&D world. It has page after page of monsters as well as nicely drawn artwork to depict their appearance. Each monster has unique statistics that can be used to weigh difficulty when encountered by players. It also covers all of the monster's special attacks and abilities. In many gaming groups, it has become a point of contention when players study this manual too much. If often spoils the gameplay when other players already know the strengths of weaknesses of monsters they'd never previously encountered before. Some dungeon masters won't let players study this book during the game session, since it is kind of like cheating.

This set of books also includes a lovely full-color slipcover to protect them as well as to make them look nice on your bookshelf. It also helps to protect the corners and pages in case you need to transport the books in some kind of bag. Since gamers tend to play at people's houses, that means everybody but the one who lives there has to tote their stuff around, and over time these books tend to get pretty banged up.

Right now (June 9th), Amazon.com has a great special going on where you can get this entire set of books for less than $60, and that includes free shipping. Individually, these books cost more than $30 apiece, and you won't get the slipcover if you buy them all separate, so get them while the deal is on and you'll be ready to play.