Tag Archives: DnD Next

D&D’s 40th Anniversary Has Been A Busy One

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2014 marks the 40th anniversary of the iconic roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, and thus far it’s been far more than a note on the calendar. Often, a major milestone for an entertainment product will be marked simply by a commemorative badge on covers or new editions in stores. But with the 40th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, the game is experiencing something of a turbulent year. For starters, there’s the issue of film rights, with various studios actually battling in court for the right to make a Dungeons & Dragons movie. But that’s a separate issue that likely won’t … Continue reading →

Every D&D Player Needs to Buy and Read the Rules? Why?

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It seems to be a truism of modern D&D: all players really need to buy a copy of the rules, learn them, and have them at hand during the game. Why should all players need to do this to play well? Only one person needs to buy a boardgame for a group to play it. Only one person needs to buy a deck of playing cards and a book of rules for poker, bridge or other standard card games. Why should D&D be any different? This is especially true when people used to play (TSR) D&D all the time with … Continue reading →

What Has WOTC Learned from the D&D Next Public Playtest?

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In the latest edition of Legends & Lore, Mike Mearls talks about what WOTC learned from the public playtest of D&D Next. Here’s what Mearls said: So, what did we learn from the public playtest? In some cases you confirmed things, in others you dispelled some notions that had become lodged in R&D’s view of you. You like simplicity. You want to jump into the game quickly, create characters, monsters, NPCs, and adventures with a minimum of fuss, and get down to the business of playing D&D. You like that every class has the potential to contribute in most situations, … Continue reading →

Monsters & Magic: High Praise For A Game I’d Never Play

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I had a chance to look at a copy of Monsters & Magic this weekend. It’s a new “OSR” game by Sarah Newton published by Mindjammer Press. It’s basically a set of new school rules that you can overlay on a version of old school TSR D&D so you can use TSR-era monsters, spells, adventures etc. but use them with new school rules. (Note that while I don’t really consider it an “OSR” game, whether it is or not is not really germane to this post — I’m just mentioning this to head off discussions of whether or not this … Continue reading →

D&D Skills: Tightrope Walking and the Cirque du Soleil — The Real Problem isn’t “the Math”

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There was a huge thread on supposed problems with “the Math” in D&D Next ([5E] The Maths is Wrong!) on RPG.net recently. One of the arguments that the math was wrong struck me as actually showing a completely different set of problem with WOTC editions of D&D in general: the way WOTC editions handle skills and set difficulty numbers. The argument in the thread went something like this. The 5e rules set the DC for walking a tightrope at 25, which means that even an expert thief, who has dedicated everything to tightrope walking, couldn’t amass enough bonuses to guarantee … Continue reading →

Design Theory and D&D: Why a Poor Design (According to Theory) May Sell Well

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One the major complaints I hear about D&D Next from many 4e fans (at least on the Internet) over and over again is that D&D Next has completely abandoned 4e’s stress on tight design and balanced math — what people making this complaint call “good design”. I’ll admit that 4e was the best designed version of D&D ever produced if tight, focused rules and balanced math are considered necessary for a RPG to be well-designed. However, well-designed according to these principles does not mean an RPG so designed will automatically be adopted. It still has to meet the needs of … Continue reading →

D&D Combat Length Poll: How Long Should the Average Combat Take to Play

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My post, WOTC Discovers Typical D&D Players Like Short Combats, a few days ago generated a lot of discussion both here and on Google+. I thought it might be interesting to see how long readers think the average combat in a D&D session should last. Note that I’m talking an average combat encounter in a dungeon room or wilderness area. I’m not asking how long a so-called “boss encounter” (a major combat with big villain the at the end of a series of adventures) should last. If you use minis and grids, please include the minis and grids setup time … Continue reading →

WOTC Discovers Typical D&D Players Like Short Combats

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Amazing Stories has an interview with Mike Mearls talking about D&D Next. From one of Mike’s comments it seems that WOTC has finally learned what many players have know for years: Most players like fast combats. In the interview, Mike says: What we found through the playtest process, though, was that people like quick fights. They like them a lot, it turns out. A battle is part of the game, a point of resolution in the grander scheme of things, not the entire point of the game. That kind of philosophical revelation has been really big for us in working … Continue reading →

D&D 5e/Next: One Year On

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It’s been about a year since WOTC announced that they were working on 5e (aka D&D Next). D&D Next Originally promised as some type of modular system when everyone could play the edition/types of D&D they wanted. I was skeptic then (see D&D 5th Edition Announced, What Will It Take to Get Old School Players to Convert to 5e?, Who really needs D&D 5e?, D&D 5e Playtest Issues: Hit Points & Healing, ansd more, I’m sure), and I’m still skeptical now. The first playtest set seemed like WOTC might actually be on the right track, but each additional playtest set … Continue reading →

D&D Next: My Interest in 5e Takes Another Giant Decline

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There’s a new Legends and Lore column out. I don’t normally read this, but someone posted about this one on theRPGsite. So i went out and read it. I wish I had not as it makes it yet more clear that the longer the 5e play test goes on, the less 5e is looking like a game I would want to play. Based on their latest feedback, they are making some changes: * People object to rogues being less powerful in combat, sio they are going to turn them back into a more combat-oriented class (like 3e and 4e). This … Continue reading →