5E Public Playtest Launch at PAX East?

It’s prediction time!

We know that the public playtest is supposed to commence sometime in the spring. WotC has also publicly stated (in their Twitter feed) that it definitely wasn’t going to be before PAX East … which is nearly upon us. PAX East is put on by the Penny Arcade guys, who have a pretty good relationship with WotC. And PAX East has become a pretty big deal in the gaming industry.

Given all that, it is not at all beyond the realm of reasonable chance that WotC will use the opportunity at PAX East to announce the official release date for the 5E public playtest. It’s a big, D&D-friendly venue, run by guys who like D&D. What better opportunity to announce what must surely be coming soon? In fact, it’s prbably a safe bet that by the end of the weekend, we’ll know when the public playtest is going to begin.

But … what if they go further and actually launch 5E at PAX East? Think about it: everyone who came to the convention and played in the demos would walk away with the playtest documents, a reward for coming out and playing. And then on Monday morning, the documents would go live on a website for all to download. It would be a way for WotC to make the weekend playtests special, and turn the launch into a special event for attendees.

Okay, so this prediction isn’t such a sure thing. And logically, one would think the design crew would want to tweak the playtest documents based on situations that might come up over the weekend before starting the public playtest. But I’ve just got this … feeling about it. And I know I’ll be eagerly watching the news fro mPAX East this weekend.