Rise of The Runelords via 4th ed. D&D

I'm currently preparing to start the Rise of the Runelords Pathfinder adventure pack with a small posse of friends. I'm really excited. The gents at Paizo did a very good job with this. I had been out of the scene for some time and when I came back, all the talk at my local comic/game store (Hairy Tarantula) was about Pathfinder. Everyone was saying how Wizards had made a big mistake in "abandoning" all the old school fans with their latest version of 4th ed D&D. I didn't pay much attention. Game geeks love to complain and generally they don't take to kindly to change. So, I marched right up to the Wizards area and picked up the boxed set of D&D 4ed. Let's see what all the hub bub was about.

After the first browse through read of the Players Handbook I was sold. I really like the new rules, with the more elaborate Fighters, the simplified yet exciting and combat rules. The whole At-Will/Encounter/Daily simplicity of power usage frequency management. The fact that you could just look at a monsters template and throw them right into combat without having to read too much.

I got a few friends together and we tried the first "Keep on the Shadowfell" module from Wizards for a 1st level party. Yes the combat was exciting and my players were enjoying the new fast paced rules of 4th ed. - but where was the story? This module really lacked soul. It just seems a movement from one combat encounter to another. There wasn't much of mystery to be unravelled. That stuff was important to me. Any way... we went into a hiatus for a while and didn't play anything. Then we tried GW's 40k Inquistion RPG one evening and that was well received - but I had my issues with that as well (will blog at another time) - followed by another hiatus of almost a year.

The time has come again - the urge to role play overcame me recently and I'm gathering the gang again - this time, I thought I'd give this Pathfinder phenomenon a try. I purchased the core book and the PDF of Rise of The Runelords #1 - Burnt Offering (it's out of print). The feelings were mixed. Although the Pathfinder Core Book was really well executed - wonderful artwork - and a seeming improvement from previous publishing of D&D (it's OGL: version 3.8 essentially). I couldn't go back after tasting 4th Edition. I really enjoyed the mechanics re-write that Wizards had made.

Burnt Offering is a different story. It's fantastic. I can't remember the last time that I have read such a well written, robust world, with a plot that was intriguing and elaborate. I'm really impressed. So there was my dilemma. The Pathfinder Adventure Paths were top shelf - best in class campaign settings - but I didn't want to go back to previous generation of mechanics.

Luckily... I wasn't the only one that felt this way. I cam across Tales from the Rusty Dragon. I fan blog - with the same exact sentiment as myself. Scott our blog master there, has taken it upon himself to convert the entire first set of the Rise of Runelords Adventure Path series into 4th Edition rules. Although, I'm not sure I agree with all his decisions - It's great. Check it out.

rustydragon.blogspot.com

We are playing in two week.... I can't wait...eeeeee.