http://company.wizards.com/content/wiza ... ummer-2014

In what could possibly be the blandest, least interesting, announcement I've ever read... WotC is announcing that D&D Next will be launching next summer. I guessed back when they started the playtest that it would be launching around that time as next year marks the games 40th Anniversary, but I was also curious to see if they tried to aim it for the Christmas break and such. But going back to the release its a terrible job, seriously, who do they have running that website these days? A few bits of text on a grey background? Nothing exciting at all to get people talking about the product. They should have trailers, and videos, and shots of the game be played, and Chris Perkins telling you what an awesome system it is, and the guys from Acquisitions Inc lauding it profusely... something. Even if it was just pictures of people playing the game with 'real trestimonials' ... but this was just...boring to be honest.

But lets hear what everyone has to say. Have you played it? Do you plan on buying it? Pirating it? Bothering with it at all?

What do you think of whats in the 'article' ? Thoughts and comments welcome!

It looks like it's just the press release. Presumably, they will also start doing more. But who knows.

Multiple gaming platforms? Most creature of all time?

Yeah, that looks like an announcement for shareholders rather than an announcement for the players. I expect something more flashy will go up soon enough.

Probably means the pen and paper game + a video game on PC and Console. Probably Wizards Of The Coast's site staff.

Because D&D video games have always been so great.

Actually, I was thinking they're probably going to release Windows, Android and iPhone apps to assist the DM's mostly.

~SE++

Well it would be nice to see a first party version of Roll20.net, but at this point all of WotC's work towards virtual table tops has been a disaster.

But if they pull their collective head out of you know where, and start doing things to inspire the community into using their site, products, and services ... you'd see exponential returns. Instead they are driving people away in droves. It's the digital age, as sad as it is a large chunk of the player base just doesnt have the time to sit down for in person games as often as they'd like, and if WotC were to start pushing out a ton of digital tools to aid in that they could keep people into the game.

Atm, I have no interest in it. I'm not especially interested in 4th either, but I play it because the rest of the guys I play with *are* into it. If the others get into Next, I suppose I would bite & play, whether I'm into it or not. Fortunately, it looks like we'll be steering in a different direction after our current 4th ed. campaign wraps.

Aye. I'm not terribly into 4E, but it does provide for an easy pick up game, and its easy to find people who play it, or teach new players how to play it. I've always refered to 4E as 'a way to get people into D&D so its easy to get them playing 3.5 (or Pathfinder)."

But regardless of what edition we play, the very nature of the game will be effected by the launch of a new edition of course.

((Also welcome to this area Void! Dont think I've seen you down here in the RPG sections. Fun fact, live within driving distance of Daly City))

The 4-player Co-op XBOX Guantlet-like game was loads of fun.

Consoles need more Co-op games. I'm still disappointed that GTA 5 doesn't have a Co-op mode considering the multiple characters.

So far 3.X has still been my favorite version of D&D, even considering the playtest material released. But I'll be waiting to see what feedback had been incorporated and just how the DDN system plays out for release. I'll also be very interested in what license they release the source material through. If it's anything like 4e's license, rather than OGL, I will very likely steer clear.

I had completely forgotten to mention this, thanks for bringing it up.

The OGL of 3.5 lead to several companies jumping on board and adding tons more content to the game, sure stuff was open for people to use, but by default it brought a lot of traffic back to the base game of D&D. 4E's license was so backstabbingly worded and set up so that WotC (well more likely Hasbro) could beat any and everyone they saw as a threat out of the running, or simply lawyer them until they gave up, that most of the 3rd party sources went completely elsewhere. This is more or less what led the rise of D&Ds biggest competitor now, in the form of Paizo's Pathfinder.

So just out on interest has anyone here played any D&D Next (which is a terrible name incidentally)? If so what did you all think? I'm currently in a campaign but have only played a few sessions since the DM had to flee the country for Christmas.

I'm in one on these forums, but so far it's just okay. Not nearly as streamlined for combat as 4E, which is a very good thing. Aside from that, I dunno, I haven't gotten to do much in it yet. Probably because I built a roleplaying non-combat character for a module.

~SE++

Im in the same game, but ive onky gotten one round og combat in so ...verdict is still out.

Character building was super slimmed down. ..but that is only the playtest so I dunno.

I've not even looked at it once, to be honest, and wouldn't expect to give it much thought after the official release, either.



I've heard rumor mill type stuff that it'll have a new license, more lax than 4e's piece of crap GSL but not quite as open as the OGL. I think one lesson WotC learned from the 4e era is that having 3rd party publishers is good for them, and doing things to actively screw over 3pp causes those companies to focus their market elsewhere. The terms of the GSL actually got a little more 3pp friendly during later revisions, which - to me - is also a sign that WotC/Hasbro recognized the mistake.

Not only did the GSL lead to the rise of D&D's biggest competitor, it also lead to other systems being created too. In the 3e days, companies flocked to create their own systems based off the OGL and d20 licenses. Despite what Hasbro's lawyers thought, that was good for WotC and good for D&D. Small games - Mutants and Masterminds, etc - all using the core mechanics of D&D make D&D more popular. 4e made it impossible to use the mechanics of the system for a different game; and so you get systems such as Sword & Wizardry (from Frog God Games) and Dungeon Crawl Classics (from Goodman Games) that use the OGL to make 1e clones. And then you see an explosion of whole new systems, each with their own mechanics. And all of that stuff could've been tied to D&D, and instead works to fracture the market.

So my hunch is the lawyers learned a lesson, though it had to be done the hard way (by beating them over the head with sales numbers). [My personal opinion is that the GSL is the primary reason for the failure - relatively speaking - of 4e.]

If the rules are released in an SRD, I'll take a look. I'd be crazy not to, if it's something that I can use to get more freelance work. But if, like 4e, the only way I can see rules is to buy books then I don't think I'll be getting sucked in again. [Another personal opinion: an open playtest, to me, is also a hint of a more open game system; those rules are already out there, so trying to lock them up afterward is difficult.]

Yeah, the playtest being out there makes me think it will be a more open system. I've not played in Next myself but I've got no real draw to do so; most of my games these days are 4E and the players in them are quite content with keeping them that way.

I haven't looked at the most recent update, but I knew I liked the different builds that were kind of brought in from 4e. The last time I looked, there were different kinds of paladins, which I liked. Mainly, I liked that you could be a good/neutral paladin of the forest and ride a stag.

When first I peered over the playtest, I feared the different builds were yet another step closer to 'talent trees' or mmo 'specs'.

I've only messed with the Monk in 5e though and not built other classes, nor progressed very far with said monk.

I like the concept of layering capacities, like all clerics can do A but clerics who worship sun gods can also do B and elf clerics can do C (and elf clerics who worship the sun can do D).

I find little reason to avoid something because video games do it, esp when those video games draw upon tabletop games so much in return. I just don't think the underlying mechanics can take away from the benefits of tabletop gaming.