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This should be an interesting ride. - Blogs - Loremaster
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This Side of Entropy

This should be an interesting ride.

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3 Comments
by
Rev. Lazaro
, 01-11-2012 at 03:53 PM (3856 Views)
Right. 5e is a go.

I can't really be mad at this news. I wanted to be, believe me. I just purchased Essentials, reluctantly, a few months ago, and there's already a new version being discussed. My book shelf is filled completely with RPG books, and half of them carry the D&D brand on them, across many editions. I'm tired of the buy in, I'm tired of the retreads. And I'm not going to lie: I feel a little irked, since I felt like 4e still had so much ground to cover.

But 4E also has warts, big warts that I can't ignore when I look it in the face anymore. We've all heard these discussed time and time again: Character creation becomes a bit heavy on the paper work. Combat encounters are quite lengthy. Powers seem to distract opportunities for creative maneuvers in combat. The math starts to buckle in higher level play, so on and so forth.
Tack this on with errata after errata, and tons of cool concepts that seem to get neglected (rituals, character themes, etc.)

Yeah, it feels like this engine has been pushed a bit hard off the tracks.

Cautious Optimism

I can't gripe about 5e, at least not yet. The approaches and design goals they want are exactly something I want to see. A modular system, intended for the DM to check list what's in and what's out for his campaign. As an RPG tinker gnome, this sounds right up my alley. Hell, the game I've been working on has turned towards a modular "plug and play" design, so how can I bitch about this?

And of course, the open play testing and community feedback. If they really take advantage of this, it could do wonders of actually tuning a system that incorporates the best of old school and new school play. And for all those peeps lambasting WoTC for "copying Paizo"....get real. There's nothing wrong for copying a design approach when it's proven to work with flying colors. Also, remember that Paizo is currently making a name off a modified version of WoTC's baby.....turn about is fair play.

That said, I am going into all of this with a 10' Pole and constantly checking for traps.

Echoing a Plea

Many of said it, and I'm going to echo it:

If, at any point in your life, you were passionate about D&D, if the game to you is more than a branding but an experience and fond memories, then sign up for the damn Open Playtest.

Give feedback. Be constructive. Regardless of which edition was your favorite; tell them what you love, what you hate, and what you would like to see. The worst that happens is that 5e turns out suck, and we go back to either older editions, retro clones, homebrewed hacks or, hell, a whole different system entirely. But, there is a chance that maybe we'll finally get an edition of the game that feels complete, and we can all sit down at the table for it again.
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Broad-Stroke Banter , Dungeons & Dragons

Comments

  1. shauno's Avatar
    I agree, D&D needs to stick to an edition and quit changing it to something else. Those books are expensive and take up a lot of space.
  2. D'karr's Avatar
    I'll simply repeat the comments that I made to my regular game group, and that I posted elsewhere.

    The changing of games really doesn't bother me much at all. If I like a game I buy it, and if I don't like it, then I don't buy it. Gaming, to me, is more about sitting around a table with a bunch of friends than about what particular game we're playing. Besides I get a lot of freebies from running games so I spend less, and less over time. When a new game gets announced is also a great time to get some "bargain bin" deals on the previous game if you liked the previous books, and are a cheapskate like me.

    How often they update games is a commercial decision for WotC, so I don't let my emotions get the best of me when WotC announces their new business goals. By the same token I don't let their business goals affect my gaming. If I had liked Pathfinder better than D&D I would have migrated in that direction. I didn't, mostly because all of the niggling details that bothered me about 3.x were not really taken care of in PF, IMO. I just didn't see a whole lot of reason to support something that I personally did not enjoy running. That doesn't make PF a bad game, it's just one that I don't prefer to run. D&D scratched that itch, and PF didn't. Had it been the other way around I would be running PF instead of D&D.

    We took our sweet time enjoying other games before jumping to 4e, so we've never really been on a path to jump to the new shiny. So I don't think we'll be in a hurry to jump to the new shiny whenever it comes out.

    The fact that they are using an open playtest is both a marketing gimmick, and a good way of finding out what seems to "please" more people. They will never be able to produce a game that pleases all. So I'm not even bothered by that. But if it pleases me enough I'll probably buy it. If it doesn't then I'll skip purchasing it.

    When 4e was announced my 3.x books didn't spontaneously combust. As a matter of fact, I still use quite a bit of them for reference material. Which is a good thing because my wife keeps wondering why I keep buying more books... LOL

    The open playtest lets people look at several iterations of the game as it goes through development and let's them provide comments if something seriously bothers them. It's a good idea from a design standpoint and from a marketing standpoint. You start to see how much "buy in" people are having in your game.

    I wish WotC the very best of luck with this game. I've enjoyed D&D in all its forms since 1979, so I want the game to grow and be relevant to my children too. I'm sure the "ink" won't be dry on my comments before someone, somewhere is already complaining that WotC made them buy more books, that it's a money grab, that Publisher X Rules and WotC sucks, or that they (WotC) shot their dog. It's simply the noise of the internet. I plug my ears and go, "la, la, la" all the way to a great time playing games with my friends.
  3. gaming tonic's Avatar
    What we are asked to pay to actually play the game is a fraction of what many other hobbies would cost, especially if you are a player. This idea that you have to buy every book a company produces is ridiculous. A player needs a player's handbook. Those are usually between $30-40. Even if they print a new edition every five years you are paying between $6-$8 a year to play. If you pay attention and use the web there are piles of free ideas to be converted to your game.

    The books are heavy and if there is any reason to be upset it is bookshelf sag. This is just a dangerous condition that role-playing game publishers have turned a blind eye to for years. I am starting a new organization, GASS (Gamers Against Shelf Sag) and take on the powers that be.