I'm looking at starting a game with a bunch of friends. Between us, we have very little RPG experience; one of the party has played a little before (Pathfinder, I think) and I played a handful of short sessions a few years ago, but I've never run a game. We've been looking at D&D 4e, but recently some of the party members have heard, or read online, that 4e has been criticised for placing too much emphasis on the dice and mechanics and not giving the players power to RP. I've been browsing the questions here and I've found comments like "players look at their power cards rather than thinking of their character's intentions" and "4e has the slowest combat I've ever played".

These comments have us a little concerned, but there's also a lot of contradictory testimonials around, and we're aware that it's largely subjective and depends on play style, so we're looking to gather more info before making any decisions. If we decide to move away from 4e, we'd probably switch to Pathfinder; it was our second choice after 4e when originally choosing a system.

For reference, we were planning to start with Keep On The Shadowfell. So far, I have:

• picked out a few things in KotS that can acts as hooks for further quests
• written the top-level plot arc that describes what's happening in the world at the time
• outlined two and a half other quests that would further the major plot
• outlined one and a half other unrelated quests that could lead into their own plots
• sketched out some world-building, including some rough locations and general descriptions of society and politics.

Main concerns:

• Are the things we've heard correct? Is 4e so heavily mechanic-driven? Will the players be able to RP their characters fully, or will the dice constrain them?
• Some players have already started planning their characters. How much of that work can be carried over?
• As DM, I already have some plot and stuff worked out. How much of the D&D material (monsters, pantheon of gods, maps) is built to fit the mechanics, and how much will transfer smoothly?

I'm looking at starting a game with a bunch of friends. Between us, we have very little RPG experience; one of the party has played a little before (Pathfinder, I think) and I played a handful of short sessions a few years ago, but I've never run a game. We've been looking at D&D 4e, but recently some of the party members have heard, or read online, that 4e has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on the dice and mechanics and not giving the players power to RP. I've been browsing the questions here and I've found comments like "players look at their power cards rather than thinking of their character's intentions" and "4e has the slowest combat I've ever played".

These comments have us a little concerned, but there's also a lot of contradictory testimonials around, and we're aware that it's largely subjective and depends on play style, so we're looking to gather more info before making any decisions. If we decide to move away from 4e, we'd probably switch to Pathfinder; it was our second choice after 4e when originally choosing a system.

For reference, we were planning to start with Keep On The Shadowfell. So far, I have:

• picked out a few things in KotS that can acts as hooks for further quests
• written the top-level plot arc that describes what's happening in the world at the time
• outlined two and a half other quests that would further the major plot
• outlined one and a half other unrelated quests that could lead into their own plots
• sketched out some world-building, including some rough locations and general descriptions of society and politics.

Main concerns:

• Are the things we've heard correct? Is 4e so heavily mechanic-driven? Will the players be able to RP their characters fully, or will the dice constrain them?
• Some players have already started planning their characters. How much of that work can be carried over?
• As DM, I already have some plot and stuff worked out. How much of the D&D material (monsters, pantheon of gods, maps) is built to fit the mechanics, and how much will transfer smoothly?