New Pathfinder Game

So my group and I are starting a new Pathfinder Campaign.  The world is being made from scratch with a fairly abstract take on it.  The PCs will start in a small-ish city, and depending on which way they go from there, I'll know where to expand.  I know there's two elven kingdoms who are very cold to each other, a feudal empire run by knightly orders, a viking-esque conglomeration of tribes, and halflings from the desert.  Dwarfs are going to be pretty standard dwarf fare, what with the underground and the fortresses and the beer.  I'm thinking some vaguely Asian culture in the mountains, and a Gypsy-like group of outcast humans, elves, halflings, and other assorted oddities wandering around.

The history of the world, I think is going to be less than normal.  I've always enjoyed settings where some event took place, and society suffered a setback from it.  Not a backslide into living in caves, but something that causes the big kingdoms to collapse.  Instead of having huge feudal kingdoms for different groups of humans, most of the campaign is going to take place in and around city-states.  They'll have trade and interlocking alliances of course, but there's not going to be Kings and such to worry about.  The military forces are going to be town guards more worried about their city than others.

Of course, this means that there aren't any huge Orc tribes to invade, but that's because no suitable leader has managed to unite the smaller warring factions.  And bandits don't stray too far away from the cities, so they get caught if they start becoming too big.  Rather simple explanations, I know, but they should work fine for my group.  They aren't the type to question stuff, and usually accept that it's just "the way the world is."  Unless it's really out there.

I also want to downplay organized religion.  Not that there isn't any organized religions, but they're kept on a small scale.  And rather than having a pantheon for each race, I think I'm going to have one group of gods, but each race, and different culture, revere different ones to differing degrees and would know them by different names.  This one small pantheon would be supported by a number of 'local' gods.  Hero-cults, worship of sacred locations, or animal spirits that are powerful enough (and have a portfolio that they can be identified with.)

Obviously this is likely to be a fairly low powered campaign, at least until I get back into the swing of being a DM.  The world creation is feeling familiar already, so I have faith that it's going to be good.

Why I don't play D&D 4e

I liked AD&D.  I found it fun, but restrictive.  Something about what seemed like random class/level restrictions.

When 3rd edition came out, I thought the game was going to be ruined.  It had been simplified to an absurd level.  Only three types of saving throws?!  Insane!  No more THAC0?  How arrogant!  Challenge ratings instead of XP progressions?  No way!

And then I played it.  The game was smoother for us.  It ran better.  I could play a halfling paladin if I wanted to.  Prestige classes were pretty cool, too.  In the end my only problem was the way the game handled making magic items.  When I ran the game, I still used the old method laid out in the Spells and Magic supplement for AD&D.  Get special/unique items for a magic item, the difficulty getting them based on the power of the item.  Not only does it keep the mage from burning experience points, it adds flavor to the items they make.

Now for Fourth Edition, after having made the transition from AD&D to 3.0 and then 3.5, I was curious.  I didn't rant and rave about how the game was going to be ruined.  I had a bit of faith in the people making it.  I'd seen what they did with the game I'd played before and how much I hated them for it, but then I liked the game they put out, so I figured it would happen again.

But when I picked up the Player's Handbook for 4th edition...I wish I never opened it.  We tried playing it for a while, and it just never felt right.  The game felt more like a pen and paper version of a video game than a real tabletop RPG.  Almost all of my customization options were gone, as were some of my prefered characters.  Sure, they had playable dragon-people, but elves could overpower anyone of the same level.

Now, I still have a D&D night, but it really just refers to my 'random game night.'  It's easier to tell people that aren't in the group 'we play D&D' than say "Well, we get together and figure out a game to play from the selection that we each carry.  Sometimes it's Warhammer, other times we throw down on a single session adventure from 3.5, or we just go crazy with Munchkin, Kung Fu, or any number card games."