Today is the Day

Sign up for DnD Next play-testing here. Whether you are waiting anxiously for, are perturbed by, or indifferent to 5th Edition DnD, it is finally open to the general public. At Pax East there was some open play-testing (I believe) on Friday night. Unfortunately I missed testing by a few hours. I have faith that WotC will finish a worthy new edition even if this preliminary draft doesn't indicate that. In all likelihood I will mine the new edition for elements that I enjoy and will implement them into my home-brew. I doubt that I will use the new edition as a main source, because even now I don't think there is a DnD tome I use primarily over the others. I might arrive on a favorite one day, but I'm in no rush.

DnD Next

I'm a sucker for DnD. I got into it as a kid with the third edition box set. Before that I had only played Advanced one time, but it was absolutely that first experience that got me hooked even before I fully understood the fundamentals. I had heard my friend talk about his older brother's cleric like the character was real, someone my friend knew personally. The claims of struggle, leadership, and jewel encrusted weaponry fascinated me, a seventh grader infatuated with the Redwall series and who considered UFO spotting a brave and admirable endeavor. 

As I got older I began exploring DnD's roots. Initially I didn't quite recognize the "old school's" appeal. Now I can't seem to get away from it. Unfortunately my knowledge of old school systems is largely second hand hearsay from various blogs. My actual old school credentials aren't technically credentials at all. My connection to the school is a tenuous one, bridged by various retro-clones. But I've sort of fallen in love with two in particular, Crypts & Things and The Adventurer Conquerer King System. 

At Pax I attended a Q&A session with two Wizards of the Coast DnD game designers. They were keen on reiterating two fundamental points. First, DnD "needs to be about the people rolling dice around a table -- not about rule mechanics." Perhaps this is why Wizards touts 5e as a unifier system. They mentioned that everyone seems to like "at will spells," but no one likes cumbersome rules nor inadequate challenges. 

Secondly, the designers suggested that the new system would be "modular." This is something I find appealing, and especially if they mean the core books will provide an adequate section on advice for creating custom DM content. But as of now it is much too soon to make any rash predictions. The designers noted that 5e is roughly between 15 and 20 percent done. They also mentioned that in the last play-test clerics did not have "turn undead." I found this highly odd, but I laud the design team's willingness to push conventions for the sake of experimentation. 

*I have paraphrased the Wizards reps' statements to the best of my memory's ability. 

- J.B. Geany

Dungeons & Dragons

Yes this is a sci-fi RPG blog but...

        

        Some recent news from Wizards of the Coast has reverted me to a sub-human forum lurker again. I first heard about Wizards' plans to re-release the first edition ADnD core rulebooks in a post at Grognardia. One of the reasons I play retro-clone roleplaying games is because I do not have access to the original source materials these retro games mimic and alter. 

But even with 1st edition  ADnD soon at my disposal, I certainly wont stop playing retro-clones. For me, getting this first edition is about discerning what Gygax had in mind from the start. My contact with Gygax's writing has been limited. I've leafed through a tattered Advanced DM's Guide at a local hobby shop, I've read a few of his quotes online, even read up on Gygaxian Naturalism - yet I've never owned nor read any of Gygax's works in full. I have only ever played (non-clone) AD&D once, because my roleplaying youth was spent in the 3rd edition era. Even with around a decade of DnD experience, I'm certainly a youngin' compared to the veterans. 

My hope is that this re-release will open a market for other early edition products. I've always wanted to play the original Ravenloft setting (which is AD&D I believe), so my hope is that Wizards is cautiously moving towards this direction. White Wolf Publishing's, Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition seems to be selling quite well in PDF format online. I've seen it featured on DriveThruRPG's "Hottest Items" list for a while now, and I believe Wizards certainly has potential in a similar old school market. 

Wizards has also announced that a fifth edition of Dungeons and Dragons is currently in development. The official announcement is here. I applaud Wizards' approach to the consumer in this endeavor. I've signed up to play-test the upcoming edition, and have been keeping an eye on the forums. Because the wait for news is killing me, I've spent my time developing a list of my most immediate hopes, concerns, and solutions for the edition in development. 

1. Release the fifth edition in an affordable single volume. Impossible? No way. The Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia contained everything needed to play the game within only a few hundred pages. I think Wizards would be wise to consider PDF and paperback options as well. Also, release a limited number of leather-bound 5E tomes with a gold leaf title (I'm actually kidding about this, and wouldn't buy it, but it would be cool to know such a thing exists). 

2. Present the "heart" (or skeleton, or frame) of DnD as the "core rules." In addition offer "optional" rules in another section that expand upon the basic. Also be sure to designate which rule options reflect which edition. In this way, a group can custom tailor their game to be exactly as complex or house-ruled as they want it to be. 

3. As far as the art goes, keep the style as cohesive as possible. Alternatively, use a range of art to reflect whatever edition's content is being discussed on the page. Thus, all the decades spanning RPG art could be showcased. Now picture this leather-bound (kind of kidding).

4. Standard races are boring. Offer multiple sub-races. For instance a "wild elf" should differ from a "high elf" if only minutely (I believe 3rd edition started to tackle this issue in the DM's guide). To reflect these differences, different skills and feats should be available to different sub-races. I also want Orcs (not half orcs), gnomes,  and goblins as playable races. 

5. Class trees > prestige classes. Players should be able to craft their rogue in the style of a 3rd edition skill-jockey, a 4th edition striker, or something in between. 4E "multiclass feats" should be fitted into the 5E. Ideally, no one should complain about their fighter "never learning any magic." 

6. Offer DM advice for house-rules, world-building, creating custom classes, creating custom spells, creating custom monsters, and playing monstrous PC's. 

7. More XP should be awarded for completing parts of the story or for getting treasure, and less XP for killing monsters. 

8. Make every level meaningful for every class. Attempt balance, just don't be overly concerned by it.   

9. Ultimately this ruleset should allow "rules light" and "rules crunchy" potential.

10. I want the necromancer and the psion to be playable classes. 

11. Narrative Pace > Rule Realism