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The Starter Kit looks to have been envisaged as a second chance to introduce the new edition to gamers turned off by its original hamfisted 2008 roll-out ("Zee game is zee same"). Clearly, this was meant to appeal to older gamers who never really warmed up to D&D IV. Though I'm no fan of the Mentzer edition of the Basic Set from 1983, seeing its Elmore cover art gracing a WotC product did pique my interest. Still, when one of the players in the Dwimmermount campaign, who has played D&D IV, brought over a copy of the Starter Kit last weekend, I can't deny that I was intrigued. For me, D&D IV isn't generally on my radar and, if others are having fun with it, that doesn't impact me one whit. This is not a game I play, so why waste any energy in loathing it? Sure, I'd have preferred if WotC had adopted a more genuinely old school approach to their new edition, but then I wish the Star Wars prequels were better than they turned out to be too. Dismayed as I am by the turn the game has taken since 2008, I can't really muster any real hatred for it. That said, I do have decidedly negative feelings about D&D IV, but they're mostly of a very muted sort. D&D IV only solidified my already-existing opinion, which is why, for the most part, I've not had a lot to say about the game since its release, as you can see if you look over this blog's nearly-2000 posts. So, if anyone is to blame for setting me down the path to old school gaming once again, it is Wizards of the Coast, but it was the previous "half-edition" that did so, not the one available now. I was happy enough with the early days of D&D III, but my mood changed for the worse around the time that v.3.5 was released, kicking off a quest of exploration that eventually landed me where I am today. As long-time readers of this blog already know, I'm not a big fan of the current direction of Dungeons & Dragons, an opinion I've held since before the release of D&D IV.