When reading D&D “4th edition”...

Perhaps few things drive role-playing grognards nuts as much as someone looking at an older game and seeing only the rules. Like many games, role-playing games are often more than just the rules.

So to my grognard friends—when you read the D&D “fourth edition”† books—I think this is an important point to keep in mind.

Not that I’m saying you have to like it or anything. I’m just saying: Try not to make the same mistakes in critiquing it that you would fault in someone else’s critique of your favorite game.

†I am, of course, speaking about the “4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game” that is being released next week—not the original D&D Fourth Edition from 1983.