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D+D Fourth Edition

edited August 2007 in Role Playing Games
No joke, it's fucking coming. It was inevitable. It will obviously be the Tuesday news.

All I can say is Burning Wheel motherfuckers!

Comments

  • Well, I don't know what I can say other than that I won't be purchasing it...
    I mean, I only bought a 3.5 PHB to replace my ruined 3.0 PHB.
  • Yeah, I heard about this as well. *grumble* Just bought my copy of Complete Champion, I'm not going to fork out more monies for v4. I might Liberate it however...maybe.
  • Agreed, no real surprise that it was coming. The only significant point of interest in the announcement is that they plan to create an online play service. If that somehow works well (I doubt it), 4th edition may turn out OK. I just don't think a rules update alone will cut it this time around, not with, as mentioned, Burning Wheel and other indie games gaining a wider audience.
  • Online play service?  Unless that entails a message board/chat system that includes support for die rolling, combat, and all of the other mechanics of D&D, it will be horrible and useless. ^_~
    I imagine they're going to change enough little rules and modifiers in enough places to make it nontrivial to simply adapt from third edition, much like they did with 3.5.  They'll probably add more complex actions to combat, and probably change the way spells work.  I imagine they'll make a bunch of new feats and skills, and probably add a positive/negative trait system.  They'll flesh out the item creation system more, probably by releasing it as a seperate book entirely
    They won't change the 3-18 ability score metrics.  They won't drop the d20 system.  I doubt they'll go back to hexes.  They won't remove any standard classes, though they might add a couple.  They'll rework prestige classes, possibly making them easier to jump into and out of.
    Of course, I'm just guessing.
  • Yeah, but there are plenty of Die Roll programs out there. Two of the guys I play on our Sunday game have everything on their Laptops. From what I have heard, it is supposed to be simpler for combat and rolling characters. Everyone cheer, more Quarters!!!

    As for adding more standard classes, it might be surprising to see what they can pull off. I think that we pretty much have everything you could possibly think of as a class/prestige class out there.
  • I didn't even bother to read that article, but when I skimmed it I saw something about improving familiars. That's one good thing at least.
  • All I have to say is that Bittorrent is your friend.

    I'll certainly look at it and see what they're doing, though.

    The article did say they were making changes to make games go faster, so maybe they're going to try to tighten things up a bit. Also, it sounded like the online thing might actually be useful, though I imagine it will have a subscription fee. There are already free programs that do that, so why bother?
  • It sounds like they're putting a concerted effort behind sucking all roleplaying out of the game.
  • It sounds like they're putting a concerted effort behind sucking all roleplaying out of the game.
    Well, there isn't any roleplaying inherent in the D&D; system, which is one of the issues. You sort of have to rework things a bit to encourage more roleplaying, and that probably won't ever change.

    If they tighten up the mechanics end of things, though, that could leave you more free to add in more roleplaying elements as well. We'll just have to see what they wind up doing.
  • edited August 2007

    Online play service? Unless that entails a message board/chat system that includes support for die rolling, combat, and all of the other mechanics of D&D;, it will be horrible and useless. ^_~

    Actually, that is exactly what it is for. There is a map that you can move mins around on and expose areas based on LOS, light, etc.. And dice rolling, etc. as well. It looks intriguing, but we won't know much more until the end of the year.
    Post edited by psiclopz on
  • edited August 2007
    You know, ever since I got back into miniature wargaming, my desire to play D&D has fallen considerably. The current form of D&D is really just a miniatures game with a bit extra roleplayed tacked on - what with the grids, threat ranges, and AoOs. Honestly, I'd rather get my tactical gaming fix from a game thats design specifically for just that- say Battletech or Warmachine- and get my collaborative storytelling experience from an rpg that better facilitates that - say Burning Wheel or Dogs in the Vineyard.



    For me, D&D just kind of straddles the line between these two types of games, providing neither the most fun set of tactical experiences or really encouraging collaboration. It's the spork of tabletop gaming.
    Post edited by Rym on
  • A rather apt description, actually.

    Being a hybrid is hardly an inherently bad thing. The market decides when it is best to combine things and when it is best to specialize. Sometimes the thing that straddles the line proves more successful than the combination of the two specialized things.

    Of course, if you're a fan of tactical miniatures games, by all means, play something else. The same goes for pure roleplaying. Long before Burning Wheel, there were many systems that focused far more on roleplaying than on combat and other objective encounters. Hell, that is the very essence of LARPing.

    Personally, I tried those systems, believing my preference for roleplaying would make those systems more enjoyable. In the end, I found the loss of objective goals to sap the purpose out of the game. As a writer, I can easily put to paper scripted dialogue that is far more entertaining than what a bunch of nerds doing improv theater. Is it more fun? Perhaps not the same kind of fun, and it isn't a group activity, but if that's what you're looking for, take out the middleman (the rulebooks) and just try out some actual improv theater.

    I don't think Burning Wheel is a specialist system either. It certainly isn't a hardcore tabletop wargame, but it also isn't improv theater either. It's a hybrid, like D&D, that simply endeavors to do the same job better, by removing the hassle of rules where it was overburdening and adding some rules where they were sorely needed. Because it allows for a better collaborative storytelling experience, that doesn't mean it doesn't also offer improvements in combat and objective encounters. For me, I need both for either to make sense.
  • In these books lies the path to salvation.
    image
  • I have been following the 4E news via my industry contacts and a few things that have come up are as follows:

    1. The online component is being designed with a subscription model. The idea is to mash up the old Core Rules CD-ROM with a client like GRiP to allow people to play the table top game online with people far away. The other aspect is to make battles easier by allowing for a 3-D battle board on line. Yeah, it's all going back to Chainmail!

    2. Scott's Burning Wheel reference is more apt than you may realize. D&D is going further and further from being a game where the DM and player's play adversarial roles to a story telling game. Fudging of dice rolls to insure the "story" gets told are being folded into the rules.

    I do not find story telling games to my liking. If the story has a railroad plot you can just email the story to me and I'll read it over lunch or something. Why waste my time playing a "game" that is just a story telling session?

    One of the mistakes of Second Edition was the removal of Demons and Devils from the game. You are only as heroic as the creatures you overcome are evil. No one will give you respect for knocking a couple of high school bullies around but, if you can knock out a mob boss and take out his whole organization you gain respect.

    I still feel the 3E turned D&D into a video game on paper. 4E Is continuing the decline by turning it into a a story telling game where you can never lose because the story is the most important thing.
  • I do not find story telling games to my liking. If the story has a railroad plot you can just email the story to me and I'll read it over lunch or something. Why waste my time playing a "game" that is just a story telling session?
    Storytelling games aren't a railroad: they're collaborative storytelling. You fight within the rules of the game to make the story go the way -you- want it to, and the other players/GM fight within the same rules to make it go their way.
  • edited December 2007
    I do not find story telling games to my liking. If the story has a railroad plot you can just email the story to me and I'll read it over lunch or something. Why waste my time playing a "game" that is just a story telling session?
    Storytelling games aren't a railroad: they're collaborative storytelling. You fight within the rules of the game to make the story go the way -you- want it to, and the other players/GM fight within the same rules to make it gotheirway.
    The excerpts I have been reading from the future 4E books do not read that way. They read in a way to suggest that it is up to the DM to make sure the story follows the path the players want it to follow.

    EXAMPLE: If the players want to have a session where they slay a dragon it is up to the DM to insure the players do slay a dragon and no characters die.
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on

  • The excerpts I have been reading from the future 4E books do not read that way. They read in a way to suggest that it is up to the DM to make sure the story follows the path theplayerswant it to follow.

    EXAMPLE: If the players want to have a session where they slay a dragon it is up to the DM to insure the players do slay a dragon and no characters die.
    Do I have to repeat myself?
  • 2. Scott's Burning Wheel reference is more apt than you may realize. D&D; is going further and further from being a game where the DM and player's play adversarial roles to a story telling game. Fudging of dice rolls to insure the "story" gets told are being folded into the rules.
    WTF? Where do you get the idea that "storytelling" games like BW allow the GM to fudge dice rolls? Burning Wheel actively encourages the GM to be totally transparent in his dice rolling. For example, if a player wants to jump across a chasm, the GM has every right to tell the player that if she fails the roll, she falls to her death. Simple as that. And there are no rerolls in BW. None. If D&D; 4th goes down that path, then I'm a little bit more interested in it.

    Oh, and if you don't think BW is adversarial, you haven't played Burning Empires. Ohmans.
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