I finally managed to get a group of people, albeit ones who are very new to tabletop roleplaying, together to test the playtest materials, using the reclaiming Blingdenstone adventure:
Characters:
Name: Z. (Real name unkown)
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Fighter (Archer)
Background: Spy
Specialty: Magic-User
Name: Rebecca
Race: Human (I tweaked the race to give an extra feat at level 1, since, surprisingly, the "+2 to one, +1 to all others" ability adjustment, by itself, is pretty weak)
Class: Sorceror
Background: Commoner
Specialty: Necromancer
Name: Gemlin
Race: Hill Dwarf
Class: Fighter (Protector)
Background: Bounty Hunter (also, Z's contact)
Specialty: Survivor
Name: Hamza
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Cleric of Pelor (Sun)
Background: Noble
Specialty: Archer
First of all, character creation was great in that it took up a lot less time than previous editions.
We established that Gemlin was already in Blingdenstone, gathering information. When the other characters arrived, I told them that they knew thay Blingdenstone's further reaches were infested with orcs, kobolds and purple worms, an unkown terror (Ogremoch's Bane) lurked in in the furthest reaches of the caverns, and that Burrow Warden Kargien might have work for them. After being given the quest of retrieving the crown from the House Center, the players agreed to do that first. They dispatched the zombies and fire beetles easily with magic missiles and weaponry, and sprinted through the guard post before the portcullises fell by making successful dexterity checks.
==END OF SESSION 1==
Up until now, I like the current system. The combat, being short due to low HP, doesn't get in the way of the story, although more combat-oriented campaigns would benefit from WotC making rule modules for high HP campaigns ("multiply base HP and base HP gained every by 3, and multiply monster HP by 3" would suffice, and, on the flipside, there could be rule modules for wounds, limb loss, etc.). Advantage/Disadvantage is a nice mechanic since the DM can give it out easily.
