What is Fourthcore?

For two years, Save Versus Death has published traps, monsters, advice, and adventures in a genre I call fourthcore. I believe the design speaks for itself, articulating fourthcore better than any lengthy treatise. However, with the proliferation and increased popularity of fourthcore design in the last year, I felt compelled to produce a short primer that would lay out the essentials of fourthcore while addressing some points of confusion.

Fourthcore

Fourthcore is an unusual genre of DUNGEONS & DRAGONS that departs from some aspects of the game’s design philosophy. While fourthcore doesn’t require different materials or use different rules, it does embrace a set of assumptions that may not be obvious at first glance. It’s important that these assumptions are made clear to everyone playing, as fourthcore can be very jarring and unpleasant for those who aren’t prepared for or don’t understand it.

For a thorough introduction to fourthcore, see C1: Crucible of the Gods and Fourthcore Alphabet.

Difficult

The challenges in a fourthcore adventure are designed to be especially difficult, requiring players to multitask, balance risk, adapt their strategies to complex and unpredictable scenarios, and decide on courses of action with incomplete information while under a pressing time limit.

For more on difficulty, listen to episode 3 of our fourthcore podcast (57:50, 53 MB).

Deadly

Crusaders will die quickly and often during a fourthcore adventure, sometimes as a result of instant death and save-or-die effects. Monsters and traps deal significantly higher amounts of damage than normal, and the consequences for failure are severe. Permanent afflictions, such as curses and disease, are not uncommon.

Lucrative

With great risk comes great reward. The treasure and magic items found in fourthcore adventures are numerous, valuable, and extremely powerful, often outmatching their traditional counterparts. Magic items play a much greater role in a fourthcore game, and many have dramatic secondary effects such as moving the sun and moon, sending whispers through time, or destroying entire worlds.

For more on this subject, see Fourthcore Armory.

Over-the-Top

Fourthcore adventures are brought to life with extravagant threats and adventure sites that are both evocative and gruesome. Realism and coherency are pushed aside in favor of the outrageous, entertaining, and chaotic.

Bleak

The world in which fourthcore adventures take place is an unhappy one. Tyrants stoke the flames of civilization with the ashes of criminals, rebels, and the many who have succumbed to the ravages of plague and war. Priests offer the blood of heretics and infidels to violent, jealous gods. All that lurks in the darkness between empires loathes humanity, and the ‘heroes’ that venture out to face such threats are little more than murderers, zealots, and privateers. Alignment is a meaningless concept and thus is not used in fourthcore.

Deathtrap Dungeon-Centered

All fourthcore adventures are traditional dungeon delves in the spirit of Tomb of Horrors, Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, and other classic tournament modules. Fourthcore adventures fetishize deathtrap dungeon tropes, such as lethal traps, nefarious tricks, elaborate puzzles, unique monsters, and nonlinear exploration of an enclosed mazelike setting.

Game-Oriented

A fourthcore adventure emphasizes the players’ struggle to ‘win’ the module by overcoming the challenges presented to them by the Dungeon Master. Player ability takes center stage in many fourthcore encounters, and metagaming is expected and encouraged. Storytelling is not particularly important in fourthcore.

wizards.com/dnd

Questions & Answers

Below are some common questions about fourthcore and their answers.

1. Isn’t fourthcore just Killer DMing?

No. A killer DM creates unwinnable scenarios in which he can punish unwilling players in ways that are capricious and self-aggrandizing. By contrast, players in a fourthcore game are knowing, excited participants in the formidable (but not impossible) challenges crafted by the DM, who very much wants her players to succeed.

2. Then what’s with all the talk of killing dungeoneers?

It’s a tongue-in-cheek gimmick to create atmosphere and encourage friendly competition. Much as the players step into role of dungeoneers, a fourthcore DM embraces the part of the villain.

3. Is fourthcore just about fighting monsters?

No. Fourthcore adventures prominently feature tricks, traps, puzzles, roleplaying scenarios, and exploration both in and between initiative. In fact, many fourthcore dungeon delves have far fewer combat encounters than ‘vanilla’ D&D 4th Edition.

4. Can you roleplay in a fourthcore game?

Yes, though perhaps not as much as you would in a narrative-driven game.

5. Doesn’t dungeon delving get old?

In the absence of variety and innovation, any campaign theme grows stale.

6. If storytelling is de-emphasized in fourthcore, does that mean all the adventure sites are plain and boring?

Not in the least. Fourthcore dungeons contain strong thematic elements that make them evocative, unique, and frightening. In addition, fourthcore delves highlight emergent storytelling, or the gradual revealing of background material as it is inferred from clues found during play.

7. Why did fourthcore come to be?

Fourthcore was conceived as a reaction to claims that D&D 4th Edition was too forgiving and ill-suited for deadly dungeon adventuring. It has since evolved into a friendly counterbalance to the ‘D&D-as-story’ sensibilities articulated by many 4th Edition bloggers and designers.

8. Is fourthcore an ‘old-school’ project?

While it’s no secret that fourthcore takes many of its cues from the classics, it is not specifically an old-school undertaking. I have no interest in being faithful to the principles of old-school gaming, and fourthcore is not trying to authentically replicate the experience of playing OD&D or AD&D. That said, fourthcore often appeals to veterans of classic D&D, and their presence is both welcomed and encouraged.

9. Is fourthcore the best and only way to play D&D?

Absolutely not. It’s one of many styles.

10. What do you mean by ‘hardcore’?

The hardcore in fourthcore is a reference to the genre’s difficulty, excessive lethality, and violent subject matter that puts it outside of many people’s comfort or enjoyment zones. Fourthcore crusaders have weighed in on this subject in detail. The term hardcore is not intended to imply that those who play other styles of D&D are less engaged or invested, nor does it exclude other interpretations of ‘hardcore’ play (which is why the generic term ‘hardcore D&D‘ was abandoned early in this blog’s lifetime in favor of the more specific ‘fourthcore’).