D&D 5E Playtest packets -- keep em coming until the release! + some release day surprises!

Gorgoroth · Sep 27, 2012

the subject title says it all. I think you all are EXACTLY who should be vetting the D&D next edition. I wanna play it for ten years. I want it to work through all levels of play without breaking down. I want it to be fun, fast-paced, not frustrating, logical, elegant, streamlined, yada yada.

You're on the right track, design then vet, feedback, critique, then design again, and so on and so forth until the product is perfected. I work in software and WISH we had 2 year beta periods to perfect the core design and all the implications of "this", and "that".

okay I'm a little drunk but this is META. This is just about *the process*. Humans working towards an optimal solution of an INSANELY complex combinatorial problem. Reading some of you guys' posts here makes me happy that there are kindred and no-so-kindred spirits who think differently but towards a common goal. That is EXACTLY what's required in fact! A synthesis of playstyles, biases, and ideas. The sum of critiques should find some eigenvalues where the right blend of combat speed, danger, excitement, storytelling and roleplaying all amount to an experience that NO videogame can ever achieve.

D&D Next must not just survive, it has to be GOOD. It has to hit all the major notes.

Don't let us down. We'll help correct the course, if you listen. But in the end, it's up to you. Because AI and MMOs and VR are coming, and we still need a reason to get together on a wednesday night and hang with the bros and just kick it old school. Let's keep it going! And I say this as a videogame programmer who has a personal stake in people using computers more, not less.

heptat · Sep 27, 2012

Rock on drunk man!!

The Shadow · Sep 27, 2012

On the subject of release day surprises, I can pretty much guarantee they'll never show us their full hand in the playtests.

If they did, there would be much less motive to actually buy the game.

slobster · Sep 27, 2012

The Shadow said:
On the subject of release day surprises, I can pretty much guarantee they'll never show us their full hand in the playtests.

If they did, there would be much less motive to actually buy the game.

Along that line, I wonder if post-release we'll be seeing stuff like "I thought that D&D Next was looking great during the playtest, but hate everything they did to it for the final release, so I've been playing a game using the combined playtest rules . . ." and "Recruiting for a D&D game using the rules from playtest packet 6, but using the bard and ranger from packet 8 and the races from packet 5."

I mean, two things I know about us RPG folks.
1) We love free stuff.
2) We love drawing our line in the sand about our favorite version of D&D, then not budging from it.

The Shadow · Sep 27, 2012

slobster said:
Along that line, I wonder if post-release we'll be seeing stuff like "I thought that D&D Next was looking great during the playtest, but hate everything they did to it for the final release, so I've been playing a game using the combined playtest rules . . ." and "Recruiting for a D&D game using the rules from playtest packet 6, but using the bard and ranger from packet 8 and the races from packet 5."

This wouldn't really surprise me at all... but it's kind of self-limiting. In theory, all the players would need to download the packet to legally play, which means you can't openly recruit new players.

It would work within a group that has been playtesting through the whole process, though.

I also won't be surprised if somebody eventually writes up the playtest ideas in new language and publishes them under the OGL, which would do an end-run around the legal issues.

Libramarian · Oct 3, 2012

I think you said elsewhere and more soberly that design by committee produces suckage. I am more inclined to agree with that.

Jeff Carlsen · Oct 3, 2012

The Shadow said:
On the subject of release day surprises, I can pretty much guarantee they'll never show us their full hand in the playtests.

If they did, there would be much less motive to actually buy the game.

I'm pretty confident that we will see just about everything before final release. The SRD's didn't stop people from buying the core books. Most of us want the final books with art and typography and all of that. Especially if we already like the rules.

Gorgoroth · Oct 3, 2012

of course we'll buy the books if we play

The cost per hour of D&D is next to nothing compared to the cost of virtually any other form of mass entertainment. I mean, in our old AD&D group, we must have spent a total of thousands of dollars among us on books and whatnot, but divided over 20 years of playing it (many of my friends still do), it's nothing.

And yes, I did say in other threads that design my committee is fail, but there's a subtle but real difference between the users being the designers (too many cooks), and a feedback loop that acts like a hone to sharpen the edges that should be sharp, and a buff other parts that should be smooth but have bumps and imperfections.

My old AD&D DM is intrigued by this edition, since 3rd and 4th both do not appeal to him and his players. Another friend of mine, who was a DM and a player at various times, is now prepping a 5e game for next year, full rules or no full rules. So I'm one of those guys who'll slavishly devour the free stuff, and still buy the official stuff once it comes out, because we don't want to wait two years for the final product.

Longer + wider beta periods can build hype if the product is inherently good, even a cult following. But I still hope when it finally comes out there are some aspects to the game that are still unknown...who doesn't like surprises! Especially ones that are...gah, awesome.

The idea of chosing your magic system in Core would for example go a long way to establishing that as an option, rather than rely on DM fiat only in some later volume like Unearthed Arcana. There's a lot of good stuff happening, and having the game be a success on all those fronts we've already mentioned could re-kindle regular hang out times with several gamer factions in my life that have long since gone their own ways (==editions)

One edition to rule them all, would rock. It won't be perfect, but the lofty goal of merging the rifts by making a game that different styles of D&D players can enjoy at the same table is really, well, important to me. ..

//yes I am a dork (and not drunk 2nite!! "not I'm not gonna get liquored up tonight.")