D&D Next

So!

Yesterday Wizards of the Coast, taking a page from Paizo Publishing, launched the first "public" playtest of the 5th edition Dungeon and Dragons, aka. D&D Next. Despite the fairly draconian D&D Next Playtest Agreement (I have a new lawyer now? o.O), the bare bones of the system looks interesting, though I've only had a chance to skim it so far. I have a playtest scheduled for this weekend.

Anyone else planning to check this out?

D&D Next is the best name they could come up with? Really?

It will probably be something like "D&D 40th Anniversary Edition." D&D Next is probably just a working title just like "Stop" "Drop" and "Roll" were the working titles for the Innistrad block before they decided on the names "Innistrad" "Dark Ascension" and "Avacyn Restored."

I've personally taken to the trend of "Type 1," "Type 2," etc. or in the vein of Android (cupcake, gingerbread, etc)

Or... we could do both:

Type 5 D&D = D&D "Marilith"

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...

Wasn't a huge fan of 3rd (though there were a few things I liked). Don't like 4th at all. No, probably not.

Not crazy about WotC's business practices in general either, which pretty much makes up my mind for me. Besides, I have a ton of games/systems spanning decades to work with so that has a lot to do with it too.

Though I'm looking really hard at taking the plunge into Shadowrun 4th ED.

3rd edition solved a lot of the problems inherent in the system for ages (level limits, class choice limits, multiclassing limits, THAC0, convoluted saving throw system, etc). Unfortunately the way they did multiclassing brought in some severe problems of its own, mostly due to the infamous dead levels that would have people switching classes just to avoid that.

4e solved the multiclass issue and also solved some long term balance issues. The "it's a table top MMO" complaint always made me roll my eyes because....well...DUH...MMOs are basically direct descendants from tabletop RPG. They use the same basic mechanics and character advancement threories.

For other people the biggest complaint was "there's no rules for roleplay" which again has me shrugging since I've never believed roleplaying rules accomplish much, the roleplay is the responsibility of the player, not the game and D&D has always focused almost entirely on just the combat/physical action system and let the players determine the setting and social interaction.

Then there was "there are only 4 classes" or even "every class is the same", which is rather silly, looking within the various roles there were distinct differences between how different classes in the same role played. An easy one for me to point out was that paladin as a defender was better for a single powerful enemy than it was for a large group of enemies. Fighters, on the other hand, were generally the best for that large group of enemies and were almost as good at the single enemy tanking. The reason you'd take paladin was the inclusion of same ranged damage and healing abilities that the fighter lacked.

For me, my complaint was that it was very miniature dependent. Sure you could get by with a sheet of graph paper and some chits, but the powers were such that a simple thematic imagining of the area didn't feel like enough. I loved to play it when I only had to worry about my character and any summons they had, but running it was a headache when I had to deal with the other miniatures/placekeepers too.


However, the biggest problem D&D as a franchise has is that while it is still a strong franchise, it is no longer the only franchise.

HERO System, GURPS, BESM, Shadowrun, White Wolf and numerous independents like Fate systems have both brought new gamers into the genre and sapped some of D&D's audience. D&D is now looked at as a gateway game. It has more of a reputation for being mainstream among gamers and when I think of families playing, I think first of D&D and HERO system.

The main comment I hear when people are choosing not to play D&D is actually "we always play D&D let's play something else".

This is NOT a situation that D&D can fix by simply changing mechanics and setting around.

In fact, their frequent changes are starting to get them looked at as being unsatisfied and impatient with their gamers.

Look at what they did with Forgotten Realms, pretty much tore it apart. Their generic points of light setting was excellent in its simplicity, but they took a loved setting and introduced massive changes to it. Always a risky choice. Many FR fans reverted back to the old version of FR in response. And that setting is probably another reason fewer people took to 4e.

But again, the main reason D&D is not played as often anymore is because its not the only game in town anymore.

If they just let things be and watch as the gaming market grows, this wouldn't be a problem.

They could keep putting out splash books for d20 modern, 3.x D&D and 4e D&D and people would buy them because they're good reliable systems for people, and as long as they kept up all four lines, people would be happy. Most gamers play and purchase multiple game systems anyway, so its not like they won't be able to sell to the same people that play White Wolf or HERO system.

Constantly dropping lines and changing the brand is going to lose people.

Strangely, D&D Next seems to be a huge step backwards.

Maybe it'll improve with more expansions to bring back things that were introduced in D&D 3 and 4, such as feats and balance between the classes.

For everyone who thought those uppity fighters should be delegated to carrying treasure and blocking doorways so the wizards could get the job done, D&D Next is going to be great.

But those people have probably already left for Pathfinder so I don't know who's supposed to play this game.

I agree that Next seems like a big step backwards. It appears to try to fix how 3e mucked up spell casting, and how 4e tried to make everything nonsenscial. The extend of this is too early to tell though.

I don't know how anyone could argue that fighters are relegated to "carrying the loot", considering the first playtest doesn't concern itself with character creation or advancement. At all. The fighter included in the playtest package seems plenty capable.

WotC's major problem is that they try and tie everything together thanks to their parent company (Hasbro) insisting the game gets played with miniatures or some other tier of product that people really shouldn't have to buy. The sheer bull headedness of making a game system dependent on miniatures always struck me as ludicrous.

I actually play a 4th Ed game, but seeing as I'm not the GM, I've been able to opt totally out of buying the game books or anything beyond a miniature for my character. And it really is as every bit as boring as I thought it would be. If it wasn't for the fact I was hanging out with friends and generally goofing off, I wouldn't bother.

The biggest trend I see in tabletop gaming is customisation and doing what you want. D&D stubbornly clings to levels and ways of gaming people increasingly care less about, at least in my opinion.


S.

Personal, I think Tsrwotchasbro should pursue two product lines: D&D Core and D&D Advanced

D&D Core should OSR style, short and sweet old school D&D. One book is all you'll ever need.

D&D Advanced should include a lot of what worked/people liked with Type 2 - Type 4, allowing the inclusion of feats, prestige class system, The encounter spell system, miniature-based combat... all scaled as "plug-in" additions to the D&D Core system. Like the Type 4 magic system over the Type 1? Drop it in. Want Warforged as a Character Race? Drop it in.

Then they can add a DM's guide that's more concentrated on Dungeon Mastering and not including more rules. There can be Core and Advanced Monster Manuals, and specialty worlds can simply say things like "Dark Sun requires the use of D&D Core. If you;d like to add more features to your game, please check out the Advanced Dark Sun book, coming soon.

That way ever get's what they want, and Tsrwotchasbro can sell lots and lots of stuff to everyone.

IN a perfect world, I guess

It's 106 miles to Grandville, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing faceless helmets

... Hit it ...