And in 2011...

[Aegeri]

Yeah, so long as the shadowfell boxed set adds some great new stuff I will not be complaining. They are going to have to really start showing me something to get excited about. I am not keen on Heroes of Sword and Spell because it sounds just like a bunch of PHB errata in a book with the fancy essentials format.

All I want is confirmation we're going to get a book like Demonomicon on Devils and such. Is this really so hard to just tell me Wizards? Do you actually want me to be excited about anything?

Not to mention I want to hear about tangible ACTUAL epic tier support. If Threats of the Nentir vale is all heroic tier monsters again I am not going to be forgiving.

 

[Incenjucar]

Based on the limited information we have:

Fortune Cards: Yeah. No. Not in a million years. A 52 card deck of happenings, sure, that could be cool. Collectible trading cards for my imagination? Pass.

Heroes of Shadow: Absolutely no idea. If they have a true shadow class, I'll almost certainly get it. If it's just more essentials builds for old class concepts, I'll almost certainly not.

Class Compendium: I am simply not an essentials customer. It sounds like it may be useful for people who ARE, though.

Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium: Maybe? Depends on how much of each kind of item it has. I have little interest in the new rarity system, but I am madly in love with boons and wondrous items like Folding Boats.

The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond: Definite maybe, but I'll have to wait until I hear some reviews. I loved all the books on the Underdark, the Astral, Demons, Dragons, and so on, but I'm not very keen on 4E's boxed set format, because it's mostly an excuse to charge me extra for less text, when the text is what I want more than anything. But if the book inside the junk is just that good, I'll gobble it up.

Monster Vault: Threats to Nentir Vale: I'll wait until I hear reviews, but monster books are usually something I'll pick up, despite the shabby boxed set format. At least monster tokens do have some genuine use. I'm a little worried about all the talk of groups though: the game has a disgustingly vast lack of magical beasts that aren't dragons. There's a limit to how many humans in makeup I want to pit players against.

 

[smtwtfs]

/snip

Who are you and what have you done with MerricB?

 

[blalien]

It looks like we're going to go at least a full year without a new non-essentials class. I really hope 4e isn't going to be like this forever.

 

[MerricB]

It looks like we're going to go at least a full year without a new non-essentials class. I really hope 4e isn't going to be like this forever.

Hmm. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the essential classes. Although there are some that are a low level of complexity (fighter, rogue), they wander upwards, and I expect that those we see in future will be far more subtle and interesting.

The main thing that the essentials classes do is remove us from the tyranny of the power acquisition table: they can do other things.

Cheers!

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I'm not seeing a lot of awesome in early 2011, personally.

I am something of an extremist when it comes to a complete rejection of "random booster packs" in my D&D games (and in a lot of other places). I'm not buying anything with the words "booster" or "randomized" on it, ever again (and "collectible" is on notice). I wish they didn't exist, but whatever, I'm not really going to begrudge those who want to give in to the Gotta Catch 'Em All compulsive consumer mindset their precious little cardboard cocaine. For now, they can do their thing without hurting me, so it's cool.

The Heroes books look pretty neat, but they're kind of standard "wait for it to bump to the DDI" stuff for me.

I'm hesitant about M2E. I'm a fan of rarities as a concept, but so far, WotC has given me no reason to lust for Rares other than "well, they're rare." If you're using a Wishlist anyway, you'll get what you ask for, and if you're not, then something you can't use isn't going to benefit you any more just because it's really super-rare. It's sort of a deeper problem with the 4e system here, that magic items are a player resource rather than a sort of shared toy between the players and the DM. If this is just a book filled with bland magic items, it'll be in the "Wait for the DDI kick" section. It could be more, though, in which case....cool.

The Shadowfell boxed set has definite potential, but I'm not sold by "It's a boxed set about the shadowfell!!!!" It'll take more info to persuade me. I like city-focused products, I don't have anything against Gloomwrought, it's probably not just a DDI kick, and toys are fun to have (but uuuuuuugh if they include those collectible cards!). All it has to do is convince me that it's going to be kind of awesome. Which shouldn't be hard, but man, I dunno, they've been effing that chicken pretty hard recently.

The product I'm most looking forward to is a functional DDI, though.

I think there is a difference between not begruding anything and comparing people who like to collect things to drug addicts. Because, y'know, it's not possible to just buy a booster because you like the cards. No, it has to be your "compulsive consumer mindset".

Nevertheless, i hope your hope for a fully functional DDI comes true. That would be the best "product" of all.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

It is in February next year that D&D starts getting products again, with the Fortune Cards of Nentir Vale. That's about 8 weeks away according to their site, and I don't know a thing about them!

Let's see what Previews has to say about them. Hmm - not mentioned. Oh well. Does anyone know anything about them?

It's been interesting watching my friends buying Gamma World packs (I'm not involved in a game at present). They really enjoy them. It will feel very, very odd buying packs of cards for a game of D&D. This is a product that has potential, but I'd like to know something more about it first!

They described them briefly in the GenCon podcast (Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (D&D Podcast: D&D Preview Show)) at 37:55. The general gists that I took from them were:

What they are:

They are elements of fortune or luck that affect how your character is acting and add randomness to the game.

They emulate in movies when a random twist or sudden change in how the combat is flowing that results in an interesting affect.

They are not pure power-ups. They wanted them to be rare random events that could affect a fight and make the combat take a turn that was not expected.

They are cards in booster packs, like Gamma World booster packs or Magic booster packs.

They can be used in organized play events (like Encounters) or in home games.
​

How they work:

You draw a card and if you meet the conditions on the card you can use it for some benefit on your turn.

They can define what sort of thing your character is going to want to do on their turn. (I assume so you can meet the conditions so you can use the card.)
​

How they buying them:

They are "totally optional".

Players are not meant to buy an "optimized 60 card deck that destroys everything" or "buy a case and collect them all".

Collecting them all defeats the random surprise element of them if you know what cards there are. In playtesting they were the most fun when they are unexpected and are a surprise to everyone at the table.
​

 

[Scribble]

The most exciting thing about this book is the errata. No, I'm wrong: the most exciting thing about this book is that it gives the rules for integrating Essentials characters with non-Essentials characters. Yes, I know how to do it and you know how to do it (I think), but the new Essentials character doesn't yet. But he or she will. Thanks to this book.

If I remember correctly it talks about how to pick up the non powers abilities from Essentials classes with Non Essentials classes, as well as Hybrids I believe?

 

[Wednesday Boy]

If I remember correctly it talks about how to pick up the non powers abilities from Essentials classes with Non Essentials classes, as well as Hybrids I believe?

That's what I think it looks at too and is why I'm interested in it. I generally like the core classes over the essential ones but the essentials have a lot of flavorful features that I think the core should have too.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

It looks like we're going to go at least a full year without a new non-essentials class. I really hope 4e isn't going to be like this forever.

I believe that they have said that the Essentials format is the format we will see going forward with 4th edition.

What you will see in support for the older classes will be in feats and powers etc that are available for everyone.