Newbie question...

[Davian Goliath]

Hi All,

I had not really played D&D since I was a teenager. Got re-addicted to it at GenCon this year and actually really like 4e (less complicated, good combat, etc.).

My first of I'm sure many questions is this: Does the 4e ruleset come with a monster manual or will I need to digitize or write in monsters as I need them?

Thanks in advance!

[Zoso]

The ruleset that is a available does not come with any "library" information due to copyright restrictions. However, Tenian has made a parser that allows you to create library modules without too much difficulty. Currently, he is working on adding functionality into the parser to use an active DDI subscription to scrape the compendium making things much easier.

[Davian Goliath]

That makes sense, of course.

When you say
allows you to create library modules without too much difficulty...
Could you go into a little more detail on that when you have time?

I'm just one of those guys that likes to have ALL the tools available for a given hobby etc. before I even get started (those silly neuroses...sorry).

[Griogre]

To follow on a bit from Zoso, you can also just add individual monsters yourself and you are likely to do that for custom monsters not in the monster manual.

Keep asking questions and make sure you download and play with the demo. The demo is for 3.5 but shows off a lot of the basic functionality. The 4E ruleset is built on top of that basic functionality.

[Griogre]

Not Zoso but,


Could you go into a little more detail on that when you have time?

I'm just one of those guys that likes to have ALL the tools available for a given hobby etc. before I even get started (those silly neuroses...sorry).
A parser plus being able to scrape the DDI Compendium means just about 100% automation for monster manual creation. The cost is likey to be a month's subscription to DDI, plus a few hours of your time vs. the hours and hours of manual data entry.

However for manual entry its fair to say that even if you had to do it - you only need to do it piece meal as FG has no requirement for completeness. In other words you only need to input enough monsters to run your current adventure at a time.

Also there is *no* requirement for a player to do any of this. A monster manual for a player is worthless, generally speaking.

[Zoso]

Griogre makes a good point. You don't to make the entire library module at once, it can be added to over time as you need to add more creatures for the adventure. This certainly cuts the time way down (and makes sense really). As mentioned, combining the scrape and parse functions means you have really nothing to do but wait :) The compendium scraping can take some time (up to an hour for some sources) but since it's automated it really doesn't matter. You can take the time to put your adventure module together for instance. Also, the parser has the ability to make adventure modules and a tool has been created to convert the Scales of War adventures from pdf format into a format that has all the markup for the parser done if you are planning on running those.

[Davian Goliath]

Wow...thanks - great input...

I haven't bought anything yet but...I have a group that wants to play D&D more than just once a year at GenCon (four separate cities). Since I am the most technical of the group, I would have to take the initiative as far as creating the adventures.

Yes, I will download and try the demo first - I'm sure that will be enlightening.

Yes, existing modules / adventures that could be parsed/digitized would be perfect for my needs. Not to be ignorant, but how would I get hold of this "Scales of War" thing? I take it this would be another thing that I would receive from the D&D Insider one month subscription?

[Griogre]

Scales of War is the latest Adventure path in Dungeon Magazine. It's a 1st to 30th Level 4E series of adventures. Dungeon Magazine is online now and you get it as part of the DDI subscription.

[Davian Goliath]

Although I still haven't gotten around to playing around with the demo very much, I'm convinced this is the VTT for me and I am buying 1 GM and 4 lites today.

Yesterday, I subscribed to DnDI and have already been downloading adventures including the first 'Scales of War'.

All I need now is to sit in on some kind GM's session to get a feel for flow and I'll be all set (well...relatively).

Thanks for the input!