The actual dndnext playtest

So, we finally got around doing our first playtest. I normally have 5 players, but one is MIA for some weeks due to the Euro2012 and one had a late meeting, so we started the playtest evening with 3 players, with the 4th joining in a bit later. We have been playing dnd together since the beginning of 2e, with 3 years spent playing 3.x and then 4e since 2008. We normally play once a week. In general, there is not one preferred edition. Some like the more freeform 2e, while some prefer the more balanced approach of 4e, with the clearly defined roles, and again, one prefers 3.x, mostly because of the multitude of possibilities regarding character creation.

Anyway, we got started. Considering it was a playtest, the players opted for silly names, so we had Kit, the dwarven fighter, Bubba the human cleric of Pelor, Tyrone, the elven wizard, and Cupid, the halfling rogue (who joined later).

Kit, Bubba and Tyrone had gone south in search of adventures and gold. Especially gold, because they needed that for a better armor for poor Kit. He was not happy about his armor. Anyway, they had arrived at a lone keep in the wilderness, where the lord had asked them to travel to a nearby valley and find out what was happening there. The lord had intelligence that suggested that several tribes of humanoids had set up camp there, and  he wanted to know how many and which kinds. Since it was sort of odd for so many different humanoids to live so closely together without waging war on each other, he also wanted to know if there was someone behind them. So, not the most engaging plot, but it was all they needed to get on the way to the Caves of Chaos.

Arriving at the valley during the day, they encountered no patrols. They decided to check out cave B, one of the orc caves. They entered the caves, missing the orc posing as a fake head, and then went east, to deal with the end that created the least noise. They snuck up on the guard room, but decided to leave them be and scout some more, before making any moves. Unfortunately, the orc who had posed as a fake head had gotten his friends, and arrived from behind. The heroes were now stuck between two groups of 4 orcs.

That was pretty rough for 3 characters. They managed to kill 7 of the orcs, and only Tyrone the wizard was dying when the 8th and last orc bolted for the room where there was a lot more orcs. Kit the fighter and Bubba the cleric tried to stop him, but he dodged their attacks and managed to warn the others. Bubba quickly got Tyrone back on his feet, and then they all high-tailed out of the caves, with about 20 orcs after them. Luckily they managed to escape the orcs. The heroes badly needed a rest, and after chilling out a bit in the forest, they decided to return to the keep and get a bed at an inn. They were simply worn out.

The return to the keep went without encountering anything dangerous, but unfortunately, our heroes were broke, and thus had to sleep in the stables. But sleep they got, and then they returned to the caves.

On the way to the caves, they ran into 5  goblins. Or rather, they heard the goblins and ambushed them. Tyrone shone and showed off his magical arts, sleeping all 5 goblins who were then summarily executed.

Arriving at the valley, they chose another cave entrance this time around. They summoned an extra companion (Cupid the halfling), who immediately went into the cave on his own, and found 6 goblins in a guardroom. Cupid shot one goblin dead in the head, then ran as quickly as he could towards the exit. The goblins chased him, and were ambushed by the awaiting companions. Tyrone burned most to crisp with his burning hands spell, and the rest were quickly taken care off.

They all went into the guardroom, taking all they could find of value, then continued up some staircase they had found. There, behind a big oak door, they found a room with 6 hobgoblins. Once again, the heroes had the element of surprise.

Kit the fighter blocked the doorway, and the rest of the party snipped away while he held his ground against the hobgoblins. Soon they were all dead, which was a mistake. They had wanted to "interview" one, but forgot.

After taking a break in the hobgoblin room, Cupid the rogue once again was sent out scouting. Quite a bit away, he found a torture-room, where some hobgoblins were torturing some humans, an orc and a gnoll. He quickly went back and fetched the rest of the party, and the hobgoblins were quickly dealt with.

The gnoll, which had a bit of an attitude, was killed by Tyrone the wizard (zap-zap), while the humans and the orc were interrogated. As it turns out, the humans (Finn the merchant, his wife Arna and their two guards) would pay for a safe return to the keep, and although Tyrone briefly considered selling them to an orc chieftain in order to gain an alliance, it was decided to help them back, against the proper payment, of course. Meanwhile, the orc, called Iskar, told he was part of the tribe of the Broken Skulls, and going by his description, it was precisely said tribe that the heroes had "visited" the day before. Iskar talked of Arsk, the chieftain, and Urk, the shaman, who had driven the tribe here, and told them not to attack the other tribes. Apparently the hobgoblins had not gotten that memo.

The party returned to the keep with the 4 prisoners they had liberated and Isktar...

Normally, we play 5 hours (from 6-11), but today, we took our time eating and talking about the new rules (none of the players had really done anything but glance over the rules and pick a character) and we also ended early to talk a bit about how things had been, so we only played for about 3 hours.

After playing the game, I can conclude that many of the things I thought after reading the rules turned out to be true. There is indeed something off with the armor of the fighter, his AC is just too low. But on the other hand, he is a beast in combat, although against low HP critters such as goblins, orcs and hobgoblins, most of his damage is actually wasted. The freedom of movement due to the lack of attacks of opportunity was also something that came up. While we did all greatly enjoy the move-attack-move possibilities, all agreed that there needs to be something to avoid monsters dancing around without impunity.

The rogue on the other hand was absolutely awesome. The skill mastery made him a very safe scout, and the combination of advantage and sneak attack enabled him to pump out a good deal of damage. This was of course based on our interpretation of the hiding rules, so that if you ended your turn with full cover, you had hiding. We weren't 100% if he still had to use an action to hide or not, but went with not for the time being.

The difference between divine and arcane spellcasting made the two feel different, and each got to shine in different encounters. The wizard clearly dominated encounters where he could use his spells, as opposed to those where he could only use cantrips.

We had a lot of ambushing, so we really got to test surprise. I must admit, I am still not a fan. Just as mentioned, it creates combats where all the players (or monsters) go together, then the others. It wasn't as horrible as I might have thought, but I still think it's a bad way of doing things.

Overall, the pace was quick, and the rules were easy to get into. There were lot of things that didn't come up in this playtest, but that will have to wait until the next time. Overall people were positive to very positive, with half of my players talking about ditching 4e now and switching to dndnext.

It definitely felt like dnd. A lean and trimmed dnd, as one of my players said, with less rules and more room for roleplaying, more room for going off the books.

We will be playing more next week, maybe the week after that again. The we will re-evaluate and see if there is a new playtest on the way.