Friday, January 27, 2012

What I think D&D 5E is going to look like.

Well listening to everything so far it appears that D&D Next is going to re-energize the hobby but disappoint a few edition fanatics. If they can pull this off I think it is going to look more like a modular version of D&D Essentials. Essential got a very harsh rap but it is an attempted olive branch to the older version players. Regardless someone is going to get left out in this attempt. I wish they would quit jabbering and get the freaking play test material out there to try. Are they going to keep the overly HUGE amount of hit points that bogged 4th edition down? Are they going to get rid of needless complexity such as +27 to hit an Armor Class of 32 instead of a +1 to hit an AC of 14? Yes I know you can add but it slows down the game for just a second and these seconds add up. Math makes your mind break from the imagination. Another problem is many players are good role players but terrible rule players. The burden of the player now having to know the ALL the rules is totally wrong for some gamers and wrong for the game. Some people want to play a game not read a freaking huge rulebook. I hope they put the Dungeon Master back in the seat of having to know the rules and the players just to have fun with the story. Will that happen? Most likely not. On that, the rules need to be easy to run a game. Full page monsters are a worthless addition to the realm of the DM save a few important NPCs. This seems to be the wave of the future but we shall see.

4 comments:

  1. I'm interested in what they produce BUT I am very skeptical of the ability to please all edition fans and players during a session at one time. I just don't think everyone is going to have a worthwhile and rewarding play experience.

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  2. I think 4e fans have the most to lose

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  3. I was initially excited, because in spite of what has been done to it over the years, I love D&D. But, the more I read about 5E the more I am afraid it will collapse under its own weight. I'm not a designer, I don't get paid to build a new edition brick by brick, so I don't pretend to think that I know all the angles. There are some very talented individuals on this project. Still, the design goals they've set for this seem not only over ambitious, they seem downright contradictory. I hope I'm wrong, because even if it is an edition I never play, I still want to see D&D on the shelf when I walk in the store.

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  4. "needless complexity such as +27 to hit an Armor Class of 32"

    That sums up a big problem with later edition D&D in a nutshell. If they can rein in the bloat, they'll be on the right track.

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