MCDM RPG - Yup, 4e on Steroids.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C1HNP0H3Zw

I have come to the conclusion that at present, this isn't for me. I cancelled my pledge on Backerkit and my Patreon subscription. I will revisit this in mid 2025.

MCDM RPG - 4th Edition on Steroids???

 If you have watched enough videos by Mathew Colville you may know he is quite fond of D&D 4th edition. To him 4e represented heroic high fantasy with a tight focus on tactics. Unfortunately for D&D, most of the existing audience was expecting to continue on with a mostly dungeon crawling, exploring, resource tracking style of system, and Wizards did nothing to advertise or explain this shift. So is the MCDM RPG 4e reborn?

I signed up to the MCDM Patreon for $8/month to get my hands on the playtest packet. It turns out that the games will have many aspects in common, but I feel from what little I have seen that the new RPG dice mechanics and design will separate it from the predecessor in all the right ways.  

The core mechanics in the playtest docs and as described in videos about the game have me intrigued enough that I will likely remain a backer despite my dislike of 4th edition Dungeons and Dragons. Note: I bought a lot of 4e books to give it a thorough chance before determining it just wasn't my thing.

Fourth Edition had too much of a video gamey, button pushing, Magic: The Gathering tap/untap/burn feel. I can still see some of that here, but the design choices so far have not fallen into that same repetitive rut. Unlike 4e the characters become more badass as play proceeds instead of wearing down to where the boss fight will be a slog, hitting the same at-will button every round.

Among the pre-generated characters in the playtest packet is a Conduit (cleric). This character is unarmed, carries no melee weapon of any sort, instead relying on a ranged cantrip. What happens if the enemy is in the Conduit's face? I do find this jarring since I would prefer to tone down the starting capabilities of these characters just a little.  Not everything needs to be conveniently solved with an overabundance of magic, even if the 1st level characters are already heroes.

I won't be able to pass judgement on this yet, though I will be watching closely till just before the crowd funding campaign on Backerkit ends.

 

You Own How Many Player's Handbooks?!

Four. This could be the end of the post, but of course it's not the end.

When 5th edition D&D launched in 2014 I decided to pick up two copies of the Player's Handbook, two copies of the Monster Manual, and one copy of the Dungeon Master's Guide. This was initially because I took advantage of a huge sale at a friendly local game store concurrent with my pre-order of the 3 core books from an online retailer, and having a spare PHB at the table has benefits.

It has always been the case that rules, spells, and other information need to be looked up during play. I have never met a gamer yet that can actually memorize and spontaneously recall everything in the book despite one who claimed she had an eidetic memory.

When I began playing AD&D in 1981 at least half of the large group picked up their own copies of the Player's Handbook despite being a bunch of cash strapped teenagers, and we always had plenty on hand at the table (and we read them too). Over the years that has not always been the case. 

During the second edition years I stuck mainly to 1st edition rules until close to the end of 2e. Within my group I was the only person to pick up the 2nd edition PHB. I suppose that was a good thing because less than two years later the campaign switched to 3rd edition (pre-official launch, I had an advance copy because I worked at a distributor and had to drum up sales) and more of the players picked up their own copies.

When 3e revised into 3.5e, most of the owners of the 3e version upgraded to copies of 3.5e so there wasn't a shortage at most tables where I played the game.

I did in fact pick up the 4e books and honestly tried to play, but over time it became apparent that it wasn't working for my group so I only know of two of us that had the book. This was what lead to me having a rekindled enjoyment of Old School Rules.

About two years ago I decided to switch my campaign over from using the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rule set to 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons to take advantage of the update of Monte Cook's Ptolus. We would have been playing 5e in the run-up to receiving the revised Ptolus, but COVID had other ideas.

Wait, what about the third and fourth copies of the PHB? Knowing it would take some time for my large group to get familiar with the differences between the OSR system and the modern game, I decided having ready access to the books was a good idea. 

My goal was not just to make the rules available at the table, but to have them available to the players between sessions. Besides myself, all but 3 of my potentially 10 strong player group (if everyone played at once) live under the same roof. By making copies accessible the thought was that the players could get a jump on class, race, and system knowledge. I don't know if that is working, but suspect not. 

Regardless, they have adapted quickly to fifth edition and enjoy playing with the newer rules. The books see lots of activity during the game sessions as players are seeking info on what their characters can do, what their spells do, and how to beat the crap out of their opponents. 

One of the four copies stays at home along with a copy of the Monster Manual and DMs Guide, for my use preparing to DM sessions. I also play in a Roll 20 group and find it handy then as well.

I'm aware that Wizards of the Coast are planning a special relaunch of the game to celebrate the 50th anniversary of D&D. What has been said so far is that this will not be 6th edition, but more like a 5.5e. I will certainly be picking up one copy of the book to join in the celebration of my favorite hobby, but I have no interest in trying to convert everything again.

So there you have it, four copies of the 5e Player's Handbook.

Flee, Mortals! -The MCDM Monster Book For 5e on Kickstarter

Matt Colville is a very productive individual. His current offering on Kickstarter is a book of monsters designed for 5th edition D&D. It joins a library full of monster manuals, tomes, codex, compendiums, etc, that are already out or coming out over the next month to two years. Don't let that stop you from investigating the details.

Here's the Kickstarter link https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattcolville/mcdm-monster-book?ref=nav_search&result=popular&term=flee%2C%20mort

At the time this is being written the campaign has funded at over a million dollars and still has a couple weeks to go.

The plan is to provide familiar monsters with some additional abilities in combat to spice them up, and to introduce new monsters to surprise and entertain the DM and players. Also, there will be new rules for retainers, companions, minions (remember minions from 4e?) and a few more things.

Matt has not been shy about admitting that he likes a number of things from 4th edition D&D. In this book he brings a few of them back such as minions mentioned above, but he makes them his own with a variant of the idea. He also uses the monster types from 4e like Brute, Skirmisher, Solo, Controller, etc. 

Don't panic, this is not a work designed for 4e, but squarely aimed at 5th edition D&D. His application of types, and of minions should actually be useful, and doesn't burden the game with the cumbersome aspects of 4e. 

Additionally this work aims to include rival adventuring parties, which might split out to a separate book to keep the monster book page count down (already expected to top 320 pages). Named monster lairs are another bonus along with the unique treasure items to be found within.

In the campaign info of the Kickstarter is a link to a free sample of the kinds of material intended for the book. Have a look and see if this is something you can support.

I presently have a ton of monster books for 5e, with more on the way, having recently backed Tome of Beasts 3 from Kobold Press (which means I'll have 4 thick monster books from Kobold). I am very interested in MCDM's offering, but have not made up my mind for a couple of reasons. 1) it won't arrive as  a complete physical work until about October of 2023, and 2) it is $40 just for the .pdf and $70 for the hard cover. Sure, that's not a lot more than the other ones I bought, but do I need another book of monsters?

Currently I'm experimenting and learning how to convert, modify, and create new monsters in 5e, inspired in part by Matt Colville and more so by my own curiosity and penchant for tinkering with monsters. I also already create rival adventuring groups in my campaign, so I don't need more at the moment.

MCDM produce plenty of good, entertaining material and Matt is a great presenter. If you don't already watch his Youtube channel, I recommend it highly. Check out the Flee, Mortals! Kickstarter campaign for yourself.