First Session - First Impressions

So, I ran my first session in ages yesterday, and you know what? It wasn't a catastrophe! I more or less had an answer for anything the players wanted to do, and despite having to thumb through the DM guide a few times to look up a rule on inclimate weather or the specifics of how a trap works (next time I'll use post-its), the game went pretty seamlessly. And most importantly, all my players seemed to have a damn good time. The intro went off well, along with the typically awkward "how do you know each other" or "let's play out you meeting for the first time" scenario, and the players seemed to be enthusiastic both about the campaign, and about getting into the mindsets of their characters.

So how does 4e play? I gotta be honest - I'm digging it. While building encounters in 4e can feel a little clinical, they play out well, and so far the pre-planned encounters I made with WotC's encounter builder delivered what they promised. They gave my players a good challenge all around, while not being insurmountable. At one point each of my three players was on death's door, with the fighter down to 2hps at one point, the rogue at 4, and the cleric I'm unsure of, but I know he blew through a lot of healing on himself at one point. And yet they all managed to come back from the brink to achieve a meaningful victory. That's the kind of balance I hope scales with levels.

The only real difference from previous editions, beyond the inclusion of miniatures, is those pesky healing surges, which actually seemed to be a blessing in disguise. Why, you ask? Well, after the first major encounter the party faced (2 kobold slingers and six minions), they were looking as if they'd seen better days, and in previous editions they would have had to head back, or camp up until the cleric could heal them all. But in 4e, they could heal up and press on. They played it safe and opted for a six hour rest, and then dove right back into the dungeon. I'm starting to think that healing surges actually give the DM more control in terms of pacing, because if I feel my players are advancing too fast, I can always take those healing surges away by making sure they can't get in their extended rests.

Now, I've only put the new system through its paces with a grand total of four encounters, so I'm sure there's some rough edges I've yet to discover, but I gotta admit, most of my apprehension has melted away. Now, who knows, it could all come crashing back potentially, but I'm starting to warm up to 4e. We'll see what happens at the second session next week.