D&D 5E D&D Next Design Goals (Article)

[Doug McCrae]

the vast majority of talk coming out of WotC sounds to me one-sided against what I want out of D&D as a 4E fan.

Most of D&DNext's modules will not be 4e modules.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Maybe, but I'd say it's arguable whether their goal of uniting the D&D community under a single game is possible given people's downright conflicting desires. I'd also add that while they started there, and keep repeating it as their goal the vast majority of talk coming out of WotC sounds to me one-sided against what I want out of D&D as a 4E fan.

I can appreciate that, since that is how the talk about 4e sounded to me before it came out. But i really do think they appear much more conscious of the split now and they seem to realize they cant ive off half the base...they need 4e fans, 3e fans and fans of prior editions. It is certainly a tall order. If the the core system is simple and essential enough, i believe they can achieve their goal through the optional ad-ons. So I can see a game that suits many playstyles and is flexible. But we will have to wait and see.

You are right about a deeper issue. Even if they do get you and me both to buy 5e (i am assuming you are a 4e fan based on your post, whereas I prefer older editions like 2e), it is unlikely both of us would want to play at the same table since we know our preferences are so different (i just dont want to play with things like martial encounter powers and healing surges, whearas someone who likes 4e really wants those things). So the base is split even if we are playing the same edition. This wasn't the case before.

 

[billd91]

The proof is in the pudding so to speak, I think a lot of their 4e hate is really lip-service to appease the old-schoolers though.

I'm not seeing a lot of 4e hate (though I'm not checking all of the boards out there), but I think I am seeing a lot more outright wooing of pre-4e fans. And I think that makes sense. That's the segment of D&D players they have to target most heavily with positive marketing efforts if they want it back.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

The proof is in the pudding so to speak, I think a lot of their 4e hate is really lip-service to appease the old-schoolers though. But I don't think anyone will know for certain until we actually see the stuff nearer to release.

I wouldn't call it hate so much as bias. They claim 5E is going to be for everyone, but the majority of talk coming out of WotC is biased in the other direction. Given that, I find it difficult to trust WotC or to be enthusiastic about 5E.

 

[Yora]

Well, you can't really be claiming your current game is awsome while at the same time running a PR campaign to promote why the new game is going to be great, just 3 years after the old edition hit the market.

 

[Andor]

(i just dont want to play with things like martial encounter powers and healing surges, whearas someone who likes 4e really wants those things). So the base is split even if we are playing the same edition. This wasn't the case before.

The key is: Do you not want martial dailies and healing surges on your character sheet or are you so full of edition hate that you won't be happy if they exist on the same table?

Everything we've seen seems to indicate they are aiming for the first method. If you don't want a 4e style character sheet then you pick the old school classes/themes and have a fighter/sword whacker, but your buddy Joe who does like martial dailies and healing surges picks the Paladin/Holy Bastion. So the choice of playstyle lies at the individual character level. Admittedly this does not help if you are unwilling to permit Joe to have badwrongfun at your table, but if we can all be just a bit more grown up than that then 5e might have a chance.

 

[avin]

Personally I've yet to see any of this 4e hate from the designers.

Neither do I.

Mike Mearls seems to be a guy who loves D&D and I think he's just saying that 4E didn't look like traditional D&D and I think he's right.

That's far from saying 4E is bad. Even people who dislike it as a D&D edition come to this board and say it's a very good game for what it proposes, just doesn't feel like D&D.

As for 4E Dead? 4E is as much dead as 3E, 2E or 1E. Maybe dead as a "living supported edition", but I don't think it's going to die anytime soon. Any D&D edition is being played around these days.

 

[Bedrockgames]

The key is: Do you not want martial dailies and healing surges on your character sheet or are you so full of edition hate that you won't be happy if they exist on the same table?

Everything we've seen seems to indicate they are aiming for the first method. If you don't want a 4e style character sheet then you pick the old school classes/themes and have a fighter/sword whacker, but your buddy Joe who does like martial dailies and healing surges picks the Paladin/Holy Bastion. So the choice of playstyle lies at the individual character level. Admittedly this does not help if you are unwilling to permit Joe to have badwrongfun at your table, but if we can all be just a bit more grown up than that then 5e might have a chance.

Based on what they said in the pax video, they seem to understand the Gm and group will decide what options the individual campaign will use. For me i would find it disruptive for joe to be using healing surges or mundane encounter powers in the same group as me. It has nothing to do with edition hate and everything to do with prefered style of play. This isn't a maturity issue, it is just that preferences do matter and one person's character choices impact everyone's experience of the game.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

Well, you can't really be claiming your current game is awsome while at the same time running a PR campaign to promote why the new game is going to be great, just 3 years after the old edition hit the market.

At the same time I believe history has shown that its a mistake to take fans of the outgoing edition for granted.

 

[Crazy Jerome]

I think 5E may very well be the industry unification edition. People with radically different approaches might be buying it and playing it.

I think it may also, perversely, be the hobby anti-unification edition. People with radically different approaches will frequent the same discussions, get royally sick of each other, and forums software will need some kind of clever enhancement to handle the much larger "ignore list" features.

5E may be the first edition to push forums, like this one, into dividing up by play style instead of edition--in self defense of moderator sanity, if nothing else.