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[sblock=Important Disclaimer]I have been paying attention to information about the growth and development of D&D Next. I read the first play test packet and ran two play test sessions. The second play test packet included fantastic stuff; I’m eager to run play test sessions. However, I have not yet run play test sessions of the second play test packet nor participated as a player in such sessions.

While I have read the packet with interest, I have not completed a lengthy perusal of careful detailed review. I am currently without a group to play, since I am soon moving to another area of the state. In time, I hope to gather a group for continued play test sessions.

Please do not discredit my post for lack of play test session experience to act as a tempering for my opinions.

Our group has decided that we're not very interested in continued playtesting through level 3. We'd prefer to wait for additional playtest materials to be made available before conducting additional playtest sessions. Keep me in mind for the future; we will be conducting additional playtest sessions.

My two previous posts tell the summary of our playtesting sessions. In this post, I'm going to summarize some thoughts of the experience after time to meditate on the sessions.

Session 1, purpose and problems

The thing to mention is I planned a session with a slight railroad, but knew my players well enough to expect anything.

Purpose: Exploration and Interaction

I wanted to present a session in which the players could discover a wonderful new niche of a known world. I started

[sblock=Preface]I wish to preface this play report by describing my group. We have been playing together as a group about two years. We meet in a dedicated room at one player's house; he often DMs. We have worked through several 4e adventures together and worked through much of a 4e campaign. Also, we have been working through a 2e campaign with loads of enjoyment as well; my own entry-point to D&D was through 4e and I have since learned 2e. In the past we've also played Star Wars Saga, Cyberpunk, and Mouse Guard; none of these games have led to a campaign. [/sblock]

[sblock=Setup]This past week, I used the playtest material to create an adventure which ran about four hours.

I used hobgoblins and orcs from the bestiary; later, we found it was worthwhile to use the humans and berserker