NYT article on the D&D reboot

[Wintermute]

Players Roll the Dice for Dungeons & Dragons Remake

[SpaceMonkey]

Also info on Wizards here:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx ... l/20120109



I can't say i'm really all that surprised, other than the timing (and it may still be a year or two till it comes out anyway). Many of the recent WotC articles have been very 'what would you think about a more 'modular' approach to the rules... this is all hypothetical. wink, wink' kinda tone to them.

I am glad they are at least doing a semi-open playtest. Hard to say without seeing the rules, but a streamlined core with many options for add-on subsystems could be very nice. Time will tell.

** At least i never changed my nick to dnd4eplayer though **

[Skyman]

probably add FATE rules...just saying

[cczernia]

I'm really curious what is going to come from this. The modular approach sounds like a " please all the people all the time" ideal which could backfire.

I'm also curious what they are going to release this year. With 5e coming out I'm not too interested in picking up new 4e books. 4e had Star Wars Saga padding the development. If we are lucky maybe we'll see some non D&D games come with experimental 4 & 5e mechanics.

Also, what is going to happen to DDi. Coming up with another character builder especially one that supports modular rules seems like a huge investment.

[Wintermute]

[cczernia]

Just saw this bit from Monty Cook.

Second—and this sounds so crazy that you probably won't believe it right now—we're designing the game so that not every player has to choose from the same set of options. Again, imagine a game where one player has a simple character sheet that has just a few things noted on it, and the player next to him has all sorts of skills, feats, and special abilities. And yet they can still play the game together and everything remains relatively balanced. Your 1E-loving friend can play in your 3E-style game and not have to deal with all the options he or she doesn't want or need. Or vice versa. It's all up to you to decide.

http://wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20120116

I knew the game was suppose to be modular but I was thinking something like if everyone decides to use the tactical part of the game than everyone uses it. The idea that a player can make a character as simple as complex as they want and be in the same game is very intriguing to me and something that I can't think other game have really tried.

[SpaceMonkey]

From that description, i assume the DM still needs to know his shit though. I don't really consider that a bad thing, but it is nice for the 'essentials' type editions that there is a somewhat smaller 'barrier to entry' for new DMs. If this takes away from that it may be a bad thing in that regard.

[Skyman]

I hope they can just make it fun

[cczernia]

I hope they can just make it fun

You ask for too much

From that description, i assume the DM still needs to know his shit though. I don't really consider that a bad thing, but it is nice for the 'essentials' type editions that there is a somewhat smaller 'barrier to entry' for new DMs. If this takes away from that it may be a bad thing in that regard.

Agreed. If they do this right it could be a great product that is an easy way to get into D&D without being overwhelmed by rules. The intro "red box" could just be the most slimmed down version of the rules with the PHB giving higher levels of complexity.

[BlanchPrez]

-Chris