If your friends are just looking for something different, they should check out 3.5/Pathfinder RPG from Paizo Publishing (www.paizo.com/pathfinderRPG).
Paizo published Dragon and Dungeon magazine until Wizards canceled the print editions. They now produce the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, and are the main support going forward for 3rd edition.
They're doing that by having a year long Alpha & Beta playtest of the Pathfinder RPG, which is designed to be a backwards compatible enhancement to the 3.5 rules - polishing instead of demolishing. The Alpha (and Beta next month) are available as Free PDFs.
If it sounds like something they'd be interested in, tell them to check it out - Paizo is responsible for much of the best RPG material available to date. They had similar concerns about 4th edition's focus, which is one reason they went ahead with the new system (and to keep an "in-print" copy of the rules available).
Re: 4e
Paizo published Dragon and Dungeon magazine until Wizards canceled the print editions. They now produce the Pathfinder Adventure Paths, and are the main support going forward for 3rd edition.
They're doing that by having a year long Alpha & Beta playtest of the Pathfinder RPG, which is designed to be a backwards compatible enhancement to the 3.5 rules - polishing instead of demolishing. The Alpha (and Beta next month) are available as Free PDFs.
If it sounds like something they'd be interested in, tell them to check it out - Paizo is responsible for much of the best RPG material available to date. They had similar concerns about 4th edition's focus, which is one reason they went ahead with the new system (and to keep an "in-print" copy of the rules available).
Take care - love MU!
TCM