Writer@Large

Friday’s 5E Seminar: Rolling Back 4E

Jan 272012

As a fan of the older editions of the game, I must admit that I followed today’s DnD Next Seminar reports with some glee.

Just about everything I heard today makes me eager to start playtesting 5E.To whit: just about everything they said made it sound like 5E is going to do away with many of the changes 4E wrought. A return to iconic races and classes. A doing away of AEDU Powers for all. Elimination of keyword-heavy meta and Power Sources. It seems to me that, if it was new to 4E, it’s likely going away in the early build for 5E. And, man-oh-MAN, does it make me want to get my hands on the first playtest build of the new ruleset!

But I will admit, not everyone shares this feeling.

5E Blue Balls

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Jan 272012

Ho. Lee. Crap.

Here were are, nearly 24 hours after Dnd Next / 5E previews began at DDXP, and I have not seen a single comprehensive Internet leak concerning rules, mechanics, or other details of the playtest. I don’t know what sort of golden hold WotC has gotten over those who’ve playtested 5E already, but damn if they haven’t let the rest of us down. Come on, fellow gamer geeks and nerds! Share the love!

So far, the closest thing to a comprehensive report I’ve found is this post from Geeks’ Dream Girl, which offers up some overall impressions of play but no hard facts. The post’s sentiment has been echoed on Twitter, where every reference to the playtest I’ve seen has been positive (but vague). In fact, as far as I can tell, the amount of crunchy facts that have slipped out about the games from various playtesters — assuming they’re all telling the truth — is this:

Skills, 5E, and Trying To Avoid Edition Wars

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Jan 262012

Ugh. I have to say it: on the whole, I can’t stand the 4E supporters on theDnD Next forums. They’re hyper-defensive about 4E — the least successful, shortest-lived edition of the game — such that their solution to every question is “Well, just do it like 4E does it!”

Witness, for example, this thread: “I’m a blacksmith”: So how do you represent that mechanically? Skill/Feat/Practice/Background/Theme? My contribution begins here. The point that I’m trying to make — and that I feel is absolutely true — is that 5E will have to design a whole system, not just a Skills system; that skills will be reflected in other places; and that, therefore, the kind of Skills system in place must depend on how much the designers want “character skills” (i.e. non-combat skills) to generate tangible, in-game benefits. But all I’m getting in return is “3E sucked! Look at how 4E does it! You don’t want to role-play, because role-playing begins and ends with imagination!”

I’m not advocating for a 3E system here. I’m trying to get everyone to think forward about what a 5E system might look like. And all I’m getting back is, “But 4E does it this way!” It just makes me want to scream:

“I don’t care! 4E is a failed edition!! 5E is not going to be 4E with a new label on the cover!!!”

But I don’t, because I really don’t want to get into an Edition War. But man, it’s hard to have a conversation that goes anywhere when the only place they want to go is back to 4E.

My D&D 5E Wants

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Jan 252012

I’ve got a list over on the side of the page where I’ve been tossing in things I’d like to see in D&D. I thought it might be time to elaborate on some of them, as I’ve gotten a couple of questions as to what I mean …

A New System: Let me preface this by saying that I want 5E to be a new system. As much as I can be a 3E fanboy on the DnD Next boards, and as much as I’m happy to see Monte Cook — one of the people who designed 3E — back on board (and as lead designer!), I neither want, nor do I think Cook will deliver, some sort of retro-clone of the 3E system. If I want to play 3E, I’ll play it, or I’ll play Pathfinder. And if Cook wanted to develop 3E again, he’d have gone to work on Pathfinder, or created his own system based around the OGL. No, what I want, and what all hints are pointing towards, is a new system of play. Good.

Unpacking Monte Cook’s Latest L&L

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Jan 232012

Another Monday, another vague and teasing hint at what to expect from D&D 5E, courtesy of Monte Cook’s Legends and Lore column. I know that this is an exercise in maddening futility, and that the truth will become apparent soon enough, but I just can’t help but read as much into these things as I can. Join me, won’t you?

The FLGS and the Success of D&D 5E

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Jan 222012

Where do you play D&D?

When I first started playing, I played in a friends basement (or occasionally a kitchen table, or even on the floor of the living room). When I went to college, most of my playing moved to a public space at the college, arranged each week by the college gaming club. But as the 1990s wore on, more of my role-playing days were spent in the back of the FLGS. [That's "Friendly Local Game Store," to anyone unfamiliar with the acronym.]

In fact, it’s been a decade at least since I’ve played a regular D&D game anywhere but a FLGS. And I get the sense that I’m not alone. In-store D&D games seem to be a fairly regular occurrence. In 4E, with their Encounters nights, playing at the FLGS is downright encouraged. While the FLGS has become less popular for many as a place to buy their rulebooks (why pay full price at the store when you can get it at a discount online, or subscribe and get the PDF for free?), the role of the FLGS in supporting the D&D game and community is undeniable.

Sadly, nowadays the FLGS is becoming something of a rarity. The last decade has seen many of these little local community builders go belly up. In my area, I’ve seen many stores close since the economy went all wobbly. Yet still, i know of far more games that get played in the stores than I do groups that play at home. The home game seems to be, in my experience, the hallmark of old-guard players; newer players prefer to play in public.

How important is the FLGS to the success of the game? How important will it be to the success of 5E? Technically, we’ve got so many online options now — options to purchase, to meet one another, to arrange to play — that it’s possible the next iteration of D&D could move back into the basements and dining rooms of the player base, especially if stores keep closing. But my gut tells me that without strong local community gathering places — in other words, local game stores — 5E will struggle for longevity the way 4E has.

Only time will tell, I suppose. In the meantime, I’m going to start cleaning out my basement, just in case.

Predicting 5E: What About Alignments?

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Jan 212012

The debate over alignments in D&D 5E has been fierce over in the DnD Next forums. There’s a small but vocal group who thinks that alignment should be eliminated altogether; these seem to be mainly 3E and 4E generation players. There’s an equally vocal group of folks who want to see a return to the classic 9 alignment system; these seem to be dominated by old-school types who cut their teeth on AD&D.

Predicating this one is a bit difficult. About as far as I’m willing to go is this: there will be an alignment system in 5E.

There has to be. Alignment is too much an expected part of D&D for it not to be in this “edition that plays like all the editions so that fans of previous editions will want to play it” edition. But what that system will be –classic Law/Chaos & Good/Evil or 4Es more generalized system, is harder to say.

Edition Wars Are Lame

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Jan 202012

I am almost to the point where I cannot read the DnDNext forums anymore. The Edition Wars are getting to be too much.

3E fans say 4E is too homogenized. 4E fans say 3E is too broken. 3E fans say 4E isn’t really D&D. 4E fans say 3E was too complicated. 3E fans say if 4E fans don’t like it, they can keep playing 4E when 5E comes out. 4E fans say if 3E doesn’t like it, they can keep playing Pathfinder. 3E fans are riding the 5E announcement as vindication for their hatred of 4E, and 4E fans are taking extreme offense at the 5E announcement and are getting super-defensive about the fact that their edition is about to be replaced. And it’s all ending up shit.

Gah! It’s bad enough there’s a dozen threads on the front page, but it seems like any thread about what 5E should be / what people want in 5E eventually descends to the same pit of nerd rage Hell.

Goddamnit, people, how is WotC supposed to take us seriously when we can’t even talk civilly without getting into a pissing match about whose favored edition is better?

Mearls Describes 5E Like a Lunch

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Jan 192012

Mike Mearls, current head of the D&D brand, gave an interview to Game Informer about D&D 5E. In it, he continued to message about the modular, multi-system nature of 5E as they’ve planned it. This bit particularly stood out to me, given what I’d just posted yesterday:

Players can pick their own style and complexity within a class. Think of it kind of like having a $10 budget to spend on lunch. Some people will go to a restaurant and buy a $10 lunch special. Someone else might spend that $10 by ordering a few different things off the menu, rather than a special. Someone else might take that $10 and go to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients for a recipe they like. The idea is to put everyone on the same scale, but then allow people to burrow into the level of detail they want.

When I was putting together my little Rogue mock-up, that’s a fair description of my mindset: I figured out what all a character needed at 1st level, then divided it into three categories: complete customization, assembly-style, and pre-made. It’s good to know that I’ve been reading what they’ve been saying right.

Predicting 5E: The Longsword

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Jan 182012

After two rounds of long-winded sussing out what 5E might look like, I thought I’d try a quickie. I think I got this one nailed. Ready?

I predict that in 5E, a longsword will do 1d8 base damage.

BOOM!

Older Entries

Writer@Large

Friday’s 5E Seminar: Rolling Back 4E

5E Blue Balls

Skills, 5E, and Trying To Avoid Edition Wars

“I don’t care! 4E is a failed edition!! 5E is not going to be 4E with a new label on the cover!!!”

My D&D 5E Wants

Unpacking Monte Cook’s Latest L&L

The FLGS and the Success of D&D 5E

Predicting 5E: What About Alignments?

Edition Wars Are Lame

Mearls Describes 5E Like a Lunch

Predicting 5E: The Longsword

D&D 5E Want List

D&D 5E Predictions

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