-It seems like the default name for 5E is DnDNext. That is what WotC is using most of the time when discussing the next edition. I can see why they want to avoid the concept of "next edition". They are hoping 5E will bring all the older editions together under one umbrella, while still allowing for new edition stuff...without calling it a new edition.
However, I don't like DnDNext as a name for the next iteration of D&D. It feels transitory. It feels like it invalidates what has come before (which is the actual opposite of what their intended goals are). It feels like "New Coke". While I don't have a much better answer, I think I would prefer something simple like "Core D&D" as the name of the next edition.
-One major thing that will help 5E is backwards compatibility. It is one thing to bring out the "feel" of other editions. Does 5E "feel" like 1E? Can you play a 4E style game? I think that can all be accomplished through nomenclature and system add-ons.
However, the real question is...Can I pick up an old adventure module and run it using 5E? I am fine with needing a specific rule system add-on (i.e., if I want to run a 4E adventure, I would need the "4E add-on"), but do I need to do a full conversion to make use of my old materials? If WotC can make 5E capable of running older material, they will find more people getting on board the concept of 5E.
June 15, 2012
June 12, 2012
Snow White and the Huntsman is a D&D Movie
[Spoilers Follow]
I went to go see Snow White and the Huntsman expecting a retelling of the fairy tale. I got that, but so much more. To me, it is a D&D movie. It is filled with D&D tropes and, more importantly, filled with images ripped right out out of my D&D mind. The movie was able to visualize what I am usually at a loss to accurately describe with meer words.
It had a Dark Forest. Every world setting I've ever written has some form of Dark Forest, an aged forst deep, dark, mysterious and dangerous. This movie portrayed my concept of this accurately and well.
It had a fight with a bridge troll. Fights with trolls are always awesome.
The dwarves were cool instead of silly little people.
It had river villages with unique customs inherent to the setting (the self-scarring of the women to avoid the gaze of the Witch).
It had a hidden elven glade of faeries and fey creatures.
It had a band of heroes fighting and saving the day, while armies fought.
The castle interiors were narrow and looked like 5' wide hallways.
It had a sorcerous villainess, where the use of magic was explicit and effective.
Was it a great movie? No, though it is a good movie. And it is a D&D movie. Wanna see...
I went to go see Snow White and the Huntsman expecting a retelling of the fairy tale. I got that, but so much more. To me, it is a D&D movie. It is filled with D&D tropes and, more importantly, filled with images ripped right out out of my D&D mind. The movie was able to visualize what I am usually at a loss to accurately describe with meer words.
It had a Dark Forest. Every world setting I've ever written has some form of Dark Forest, an aged forst deep, dark, mysterious and dangerous. This movie portrayed my concept of this accurately and well.
It had a fight with a bridge troll. Fights with trolls are always awesome.
The dwarves were cool instead of silly little people.
It had river villages with unique customs inherent to the setting (the self-scarring of the women to avoid the gaze of the Witch).
It had a hidden elven glade of faeries and fey creatures.
It had a band of heroes fighting and saving the day, while armies fought.
The castle interiors were narrow and looked like 5' wide hallways.
It had a sorcerous villainess, where the use of magic was explicit and effective.
Was it a great movie? No, though it is a good movie. And it is a D&D movie. Wanna see...
June 8, 2012
5E Friday
-Played a test session of DnDNext. Because I did not want to stop my current campaigns to run the playtest, I put out an open invitation on Facebook with a set time and place. I got four responses and one didn't show up because he was in a car accident the night before. So I ended up with three players and each only took one character.
James: Duece, the healing Cleric. He has played every edition since 1E. He recently DMed a 3.5E (not Pathfinder) and is in my 4E campaign. He has also played a variety of other rpgs.
Tucker: Thad, the non-healing cleric. He has played 3E (which he didn't like because of its size) and most recently ran a 4E campaign. This was my first time in a table-top game with the player.
Carrie: Garm, the fighter. She has been playing D&D since 2E and is in my 4E and Savage Worlds campaigns (and she's my wife). She most recently ran 3rd edition Gamma World and has played in/run many different rpgs.
I used a couple of the suggested adventure hooks (the evil cultists have joined the humanoids together and now demand regular tribute which has caused a rise in humanoid attacks, and a neighboring kingdom has lost their prince who has been cpatured by the humanoids and want him found) to quickly set the stage and give the players some goals other than simply "go kill-loot".
I used a map from the website candlekeep.com, wherein he has created a map of the landscape without all the tunnels or hidden entrances being shown. I simply handed the map to the players and let them loose. I also printed out Weem's excellent map of the caves since it is easier to use for me.
James instantly knew I was running B2 and started to use his meta-knowledge to try and get an edge. He started to state which letter corresponded to which cave entrance ("That is A and that is J."). I didn't mind for two reasons; 1) I wanted the characters to start with the "easier" encounters and 2) His memory was faulty most of the time (it had been 15+ years since he had actaully run in the adventure).
They entered the goblin caves (D). James mentioned the pit that was right at the entrance and was surprised it wasn't there. He assumed the playtest was not doing traps. Of course, he was thinking of the kobold caves (A) but I let him wonder.
From there things got hairy. They went left and 30' in, ran into the group of goblins couriers. A fight ensued. Unfortunately, they were right in front of another room so that room's occupants joined in on the fight. Fortunately, the characters were triumpant and managed to kill both groups, mostly from the fighter doing lots of damage and the healing cleric keeping everyone healthy. After the fight, they looted the room and since they were low on hp and out of healing magics, they went back to town to sell. I was a little disappointed that the "15 minute adventure day" was already in effect (even worse is that the combat was over in 4 rounds, making this a "24 second adventure day").
Once in town, they sold the goblin's equipment and then bought another healers kit and healing potions. The clerics liked the themes that gave them free healing at the temple and room & board for the knight.
They went back to the goblin caves. They reentered the room they had cleared and quickly made short work of the few goblins that had replaced the slain ones. From there they doubled back near the entrance and ran into the room wherein the goblins try to hire the ogre to aid them. The fight became a doorway fight with half the goblins trying to hold back the characters while the rest opened the hidden door and grabbed the bag of silver. By now the non-healing cleric had determined he was a "tank" with his high AC and became the one in front. As he and the fighter killed the goblins at the doorway the healing cleric picked off the goblins at the hidden door (he was again meta-gaming the room as he figured this is where the goblins hire the troll to aid them).
The fight was interesting in that there were no special terrain/encounter rules as seen in typical 4E encounters but it was still an interesting encounter. In the end the healing cleric managed to kill all the goblins by the hidden door while the other two killed the ones in the doorway. The goblins did manage to toss in the bag of silver to the ogre, but they never had a chance to finish their negotiations with the ogre. The characters shut the door and the ogre simply took the free bag of silver and figured the goblins were foolish.
From here the characters were in good condition so they went on...and found the central housing location of the goblins. 17 goblins with 6 children (it would have been 22 but they had killed 5 earlier in the re-stocked room). And the fighter charged in. In the end they killed 15 goblins, but it was a TPK. And there the game ended. They said if the mage was there things would have gone easier, or if they had even one more player they would have won.
Analysis:
James: Healing Cleric- It was difficult to keep up on healing. With the low level of the characters one or two hits would put a character into peril and require immediate responses, eating up non-healing actions.
Tucker: Non-Healing Cleric- Disappointed he was not given a healers kit in his equipment. Seemed very limiting as to what could happen. (For the record he was the first to do an "outside action" not prescribed in the rules: he wanted to push forward through an enemy, so I simply called for a Strength check between him and the goblin; success meant he moved the goblin back 5' and took the goblin's spot.) He did like the themes and backgrounds.
Carrie: Fighter- Did not like the fact that all the fighter did was swing a weapon...and next round swing a weapon...and next round swing a weapon. She did, however, like the fact she was a killing machine.
Me- It took us a couple of combats to get used to the system and combat. Once we did combat was fast paced; it helped make combat feel more "authentic". Instead of bogging down in combat the pace was quick which helped get into the "feel" of combat. Overall, I got a sense that the players wanted more from the system (either character or combat options).
I think WotC needs to release more for testing and soon. This testing in a vacuum (no character options, no combat options, nothing to engage the players other than some hack-n-slash) makes the process difficult and slightly uninteresting. Did I like it? Did it give me "D&D Vibes"? I really can't say since the playtest was so limited. I, personally, need more to get a better handle on the system.
James: Duece, the healing Cleric. He has played every edition since 1E. He recently DMed a 3.5E (not Pathfinder) and is in my 4E campaign. He has also played a variety of other rpgs.
Tucker: Thad, the non-healing cleric. He has played 3E (which he didn't like because of its size) and most recently ran a 4E campaign. This was my first time in a table-top game with the player.
Carrie: Garm, the fighter. She has been playing D&D since 2E and is in my 4E and Savage Worlds campaigns (and she's my wife). She most recently ran 3rd edition Gamma World and has played in/run many different rpgs.
I used a couple of the suggested adventure hooks (the evil cultists have joined the humanoids together and now demand regular tribute which has caused a rise in humanoid attacks, and a neighboring kingdom has lost their prince who has been cpatured by the humanoids and want him found) to quickly set the stage and give the players some goals other than simply "go kill-loot".
James instantly knew I was running B2 and started to use his meta-knowledge to try and get an edge. He started to state which letter corresponded to which cave entrance ("That is A and that is J."). I didn't mind for two reasons; 1) I wanted the characters to start with the "easier" encounters and 2) His memory was faulty most of the time (it had been 15+ years since he had actaully run in the adventure).
They entered the goblin caves (D). James mentioned the pit that was right at the entrance and was surprised it wasn't there. He assumed the playtest was not doing traps. Of course, he was thinking of the kobold caves (A) but I let him wonder.
From there things got hairy. They went left and 30' in, ran into the group of goblins couriers. A fight ensued. Unfortunately, they were right in front of another room so that room's occupants joined in on the fight. Fortunately, the characters were triumpant and managed to kill both groups, mostly from the fighter doing lots of damage and the healing cleric keeping everyone healthy. After the fight, they looted the room and since they were low on hp and out of healing magics, they went back to town to sell. I was a little disappointed that the "15 minute adventure day" was already in effect (even worse is that the combat was over in 4 rounds, making this a "24 second adventure day").
Once in town, they sold the goblin's equipment and then bought another healers kit and healing potions. The clerics liked the themes that gave them free healing at the temple and room & board for the knight.
They went back to the goblin caves. They reentered the room they had cleared and quickly made short work of the few goblins that had replaced the slain ones. From there they doubled back near the entrance and ran into the room wherein the goblins try to hire the ogre to aid them. The fight became a doorway fight with half the goblins trying to hold back the characters while the rest opened the hidden door and grabbed the bag of silver. By now the non-healing cleric had determined he was a "tank" with his high AC and became the one in front. As he and the fighter killed the goblins at the doorway the healing cleric picked off the goblins at the hidden door (he was again meta-gaming the room as he figured this is where the goblins hire the troll to aid them).
The fight was interesting in that there were no special terrain/encounter rules as seen in typical 4E encounters but it was still an interesting encounter. In the end the healing cleric managed to kill all the goblins by the hidden door while the other two killed the ones in the doorway. The goblins did manage to toss in the bag of silver to the ogre, but they never had a chance to finish their negotiations with the ogre. The characters shut the door and the ogre simply took the free bag of silver and figured the goblins were foolish.
From here the characters were in good condition so they went on...and found the central housing location of the goblins. 17 goblins with 6 children (it would have been 22 but they had killed 5 earlier in the re-stocked room). And the fighter charged in. In the end they killed 15 goblins, but it was a TPK. And there the game ended. They said if the mage was there things would have gone easier, or if they had even one more player they would have won.
Analysis:
James: Healing Cleric- It was difficult to keep up on healing. With the low level of the characters one or two hits would put a character into peril and require immediate responses, eating up non-healing actions.
Tucker: Non-Healing Cleric- Disappointed he was not given a healers kit in his equipment. Seemed very limiting as to what could happen. (For the record he was the first to do an "outside action" not prescribed in the rules: he wanted to push forward through an enemy, so I simply called for a Strength check between him and the goblin; success meant he moved the goblin back 5' and took the goblin's spot.) He did like the themes and backgrounds.
Carrie: Fighter- Did not like the fact that all the fighter did was swing a weapon...and next round swing a weapon...and next round swing a weapon. She did, however, like the fact she was a killing machine.
Me- It took us a couple of combats to get used to the system and combat. Once we did combat was fast paced; it helped make combat feel more "authentic". Instead of bogging down in combat the pace was quick which helped get into the "feel" of combat. Overall, I got a sense that the players wanted more from the system (either character or combat options).
I think WotC needs to release more for testing and soon. This testing in a vacuum (no character options, no combat options, nothing to engage the players other than some hack-n-slash) makes the process difficult and slightly uninteresting. Did I like it? Did it give me "D&D Vibes"? I really can't say since the playtest was so limited. I, personally, need more to get a better handle on the system.
June 5, 2012
Should RPGs Remain a Niche?
In
one of the interviews with Mike Mearls about D&DNext he mentioned making
D&D more mainstream and accessible to non-rpg players. Taking it out of being just a niche game.
“If
you look at card games, board games, even video games, the trend is to get
people playing as quickly as possible. With our Lords of Waterdeep and Castle
Ravenloft board games, we wanted people playing within 15 minutes of opening
the box.
My
attitude is the same toward D&D. Open the game, and start playing. I think
that RPGs have grown more and more complex over the years, and we’ve lost sight
that the real fun of RPGs lies in experiencing a make-believe world through the
eyes of a character who isn’t you. The first RPGs fit into 64 pages or less of
text, with tons of that space given over to monsters and spells.
I
think for too long, people have sort of thrown their hands up and given in to
the idea that RPGs are this niche thing that few people want to play. That’s
crazy. Tons and tons of people want to play RPGs. It’s time we let them!”
Will
WotC be able to make a D&D that can enter the mainstream gaming market?
Will they be able to create a game that can reach the iconic level of Monopoly,
Battleship or Risk?
Whether
or not they can, I have a side question on the topic. Do rpg gamers want
D&D to be anything more than a niche? Are there some who do not want the
game to hit the mainstream?
Playing
D&D, and rpgs in general, is a form of “geek cred”. It is something that
can make a person feel unique. “I am part of the minority that plays rpgs,” is carried
by some as a badge of honor. Some people like that feeling of being different (dare
I say “hip”) that comes with playing rpgs.
Would
these people look upon a mainstream D&D as an intrusion into their
uniqueness? Would they be hostile to the proliferation of their niche? And if
some are, should they?
June 1, 2012
5E Friday
- I've been trying to get a pick-up game for 5E, since I don't want to replace my regular games with the playtest, but so far having no luck in actually running a game of 5E. However, there have been a plethora of 5E reviews, play analysis and other comments on a variety of blogs. With a lot of good analysis two things have struck me...
1) "5E is not innovative." I've seen a few people mention this (some do mention the Advantage/Disadvantage die system as innovation-though some also mention it's been used in other games before 5E). However, 5E is an attempt to unify and simplify D&D. If they start to add a variety of innovations then it is not a true simplification. Instead, it would turn into what 4E was, a D&D with so much innovation it no longer looked like D&D to some people. Innovation is not what WotC is trying to produce with 5E. The rule set is meant to NOT be innovative. The true innovations will be how 5E will allow a wide selection of play styles from old school to new school and in-between, sort of a meta-game innovation (assuming they can pull it off).
2) "5E does not exactly reproduce my favorite version of D&D". Sort of the opposite of the first point. Some people want 5E to be a retro-version of their favorite D&D. That is not what 5E will be. Again, 5E is more of a meta-game which will allow each group to customize it to their own group's play style. It is not a reproduction of that play style.
1) "5E is not innovative." I've seen a few people mention this (some do mention the Advantage/Disadvantage die system as innovation-though some also mention it's been used in other games before 5E). However, 5E is an attempt to unify and simplify D&D. If they start to add a variety of innovations then it is not a true simplification. Instead, it would turn into what 4E was, a D&D with so much innovation it no longer looked like D&D to some people. Innovation is not what WotC is trying to produce with 5E. The rule set is meant to NOT be innovative. The true innovations will be how 5E will allow a wide selection of play styles from old school to new school and in-between, sort of a meta-game innovation (assuming they can pull it off).
2) "5E does not exactly reproduce my favorite version of D&D". Sort of the opposite of the first point. Some people want 5E to be a retro-version of their favorite D&D. That is not what 5E will be. Again, 5E is more of a meta-game which will allow each group to customize it to their own group's play style. It is not a reproduction of that play style.
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