Dungeons And Dragons 5th Edition Announced!

Here is article in the new york times about it [1] and the official press release from wizards of the coast [2]

I've only got one thing to say.... OMG people!! OMG!

I dunno about this. D&D was a good entry into roleplaying but I can't get myself psyched for it. I've simply found much more interesting alternatives.

I for one welcome the chance to make a new edition that doesn't turn out to be so schizophrenic as fourth. "Alright, we have this edition, here you go OH NO WAIT WE'RE SUFFERING A SUDDEN FIT OF NOSTALGIA"

I BELIEVE IN THE FIFTH EDITION

So apparently they want our input to create the perfect D&D ...

Wait, what? already? Isn't 4E only...like, three years old?

Yes, but 4E was also one of the biggest base breakers edition wise. It was brought out in an attempt to pull more people toward D&D but pushed more people away from it.

Four.

More love for constructs, for one.

4e was released in June 2008, so more like three and a half.

I guess I'm torn. On the one hand, I didn't like 4E, so I guess I'm glad that a new edition will come out that might be more to my tastes... Although that basically already happened, in that I like Pathfinder a lot, so it's not like I'm hurting for 5E.

On the other hand, I feel bad for people who do play 4E, since... Well... Three and a half years! Three and a half years is enough for, what, two full campaigns? Maybe? If you're on the ball and play every week and your group doesn't disintegrate for some reason? And now all your books are about to be invalidated, AGAIN?

I dunno, man. Maybe this can work, but this could also backfire badly. I like both Cook and Mearls, and when they were together in Malhavoc, they did a lot of great stuff... But still, color me skeptical.

(I also like how they're doing a massive open playtest, in which gaming groups can use free beta versions of the rules and give their feedback to help make it the best game ever! ...which is EXACTLY what Paizo did before they released Pathfinder...)

It's not like an online games with patches where you can't go back and play once they update. I've been playing 3.5 this entire time with no issue towards 4e. Sure they're games changing but if they don't like it they don't have to go out and buy the new books.

edited 9th Jan '12 11:43:02 AM by Vyctorian

I'm in the same boat, but that logic generally only works with your own gaming group. And while it's great that you can PLAY 4E (or 3E, or White Box D&D) forever, you won't be able to get new books for it (3E being something of an exception due to the OGL.) So if you ever picked up new books for inspiration, or ran campaigns or adventure paths because you preferred having that option... Well, too bad, I guess. Nobody is going to write new 4E adventures once 5E comes out, which sucks if you liked 4E.

There's also the implications for organized play (at conventions, folks are going to play the latest edition most of the time) and for, well, the continued existence of the game (if everybody just shrugs and says, "meh, I'll stick with 4E/3E/White Box," then D&D collapses and quite probably takes the rest of the hobby with it except for indie developers who never expected to make a living at this in the first place.)

Thing is, Vyc, D&D cannot be played solo. If you can't find four or five people that play your edition, you're screwed.

That's up for debate, Most DM's I know run test campaigns, myself including at thats usually alone with some dice. Plus D&D can be run online via forum or email.

Sure no official 4e adventures but one google search online and you find hundreds if not thousands of ones done by fans. Also seeing as people still make 3.5 and even 2.0 campaigns I highly doubt 5e will stop that.

edited 9th Jan '12 12:10:04 PM by Vyctorian

What

At least it won't require a constant internet connection to play. Still, I doubt my current group will be swapping over from Pathfinder.

This probably won't end well at all, given that there are at least three different generations of grognards (supremely numerous 3.5 grognards, newly minted 4E grognards, and a small, mostly ignored, but still notably vocal 2E grognard group) who will all be out to make the new edition look as little like the other groups' favorites as possible. Someone will win, and then all the rest will start yelling on the Internet about 5E being a "shit Twinkie" or some other equally crude and meaningless gripe.

Meanwhile, the actual quality of 5E may or may not be of whatever degree any given person expects. Me, I'm mainly hoping that they don't cave to the demand to give one class the means to clear every single non-combat challenge and most of the combat ones all by their lonesome. (Hi, 3.5E Wizard!)

Are you counting the Old School Renaissance grognards in with the 2E grognards? It seems that they're a bigger concern than I thought they were.

Okay I've been into D&D for around 5 years now but what is a grognard?

Someone who prefers an older version of the game to the current version, more or less, particularly someone who chooses to boycott the current edition in favor of continuing to play the previous edition.

Soooo, is there any news one what they are going to do differently with this edition?

The big thing is that apparently the rules will be modular - there will be a simple "basic" ruleset, and then you can add more rules onto that baseline to make it more detailed/in-depth/complicated/FUCKING BULLSHIT to your tastes. Which sounds cool, in some ways - if it works, you get to build-your-own perfect D&D - but not in others... For one thing, how the hell do you write adventures for that system? What set of rules does organized play use? When you start a new campaign, do you give your players a checklist of all the rules modules you're using? Etc, etc. (And how does that affect the character sheet?)

I kinda like it like that, Granted I'm used to playing with people who tend to have many customized house rules =3

There'd have to be some standard ruleset, wouldn't there?