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Thursday, November 10, 2011

"Type IV D&D"

I've seen phrase "Type IV D&D" being used on various old school boards and blogs. It's extremely annoying. What's the maturity level of the people who use this? 12? Heck, I don't know if I'd insult 12 year olds like that. Why don't you guys grow up and just call it 4e or fourth edition?

Otherwise, the people who matter, i.e. WotC, won't take you seriously no matter what good ideas you might have. Lord knows, I dismiss you out of hand.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

The only place I've really seen "Type IV" used is on Zak's blog. He may have even coined the term.
I just see it as a clever turn of phrase - a pun on the demon types from the old 1E Monster Manual.
Nothing particularly negative or anything.

Could it be the context you're seeing it used in elsewhere that's putting you off the term?

Jeff Rients said...

WotC hasn't mattered to me much for the last couple of years. Besides, its a lot less insulting than The Edition That Shall Not Be Named, which had currency on Dragonsfoot as the term of choice for 3e.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I don't get what it so immature about "Type IV" either, and as far as I know D&DWPS is the only one who uses it. I think he coined a while back, tongue in cheek, when he posted about how much fun he had trying 4e for the first time.

James Patterson said...

Besides thinking it's pretty funny, I also think it fits since "4e" is not just a new printing, but rather an entirely different game usurping Brand Name...

Anonymous said...

Hmm, "type IV" also emphasizes that it is a different version, without the 'improvement' suggested by a 'new edition'. In it's way, it is a fairly value-neutral way of talking about 4e. "WoD&D" is dismissive; "Type IV" implies the other editions are type I-III, right?

Sully said...

Judging by Zak's most recent post here

http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/11/dear-wizards.html

he's at least being read around the WotC offices. The pornstar shtick aside, he's one of our most prolific and creative bloggers, so if you're dismissing him out of hand purely based on his completely unoffensive name for 4E, you're really missing out on a lot of valuable gaming material.

Hamel™ said...

Type IV becomes offensive only under a particular point of view: with it you compare the 4E to Magic: The Gathering (Type is used as a Deck Format).


BTW, strangely nobody has the testicles to call it AD&D 4th Edition as it should be. ^_^

The Grey Elf said...

Yeah, I don't get why "Type IV D&D" is offensive...as others have said, it just seems like a clever turn of phrase to me.

Dan said...

I've seen it on other boards than Zak's blog, so maybe it was just him or maybe other people were picking it up. Either way, it just annoys me.

Also, TETSNBN is also really stupid, and I always make a point of writing 3e when I'm on Dragonsfoot. Of course, DF has other issues that are just as bad, like their fucked up view of what "real" Greyhawk is.

Anyways, thanks for commenting, everyone.

Zak Sabbath said...

I made it up. I made it up to be fair to all sides--it's a kind of D&D. Not a bad kind either.

"Edition" implies progress in a way that bother some people so I thought Type IV was more value neutral. Plus I thought the demon thing was funny.

Next time you have an issue with some neologism I made up, it'd be nice if you could just ask a question about it rather than sniping at me in my comments.

I'm sorry if the term bothers you--it seems like a silly thing to call someone names about, though.