Eric Noah's Info

[Kanegrundar]

Two more interesting notes I thought of. First, how could 4e become more miniature focused? Secondly, theoretically if 4e comes out, one company could make some cash just selling 3.5 stuff, satisfying a sizeable market...

I guess 4E could end up becoming a game along the lines of Warhammer Quest...

 

[shilsen]

Personally, I won't believe it till I see it. And after I see it, I very likely will just continue playing 3.5e for a long time, since I like the system.

What WotC does with D&D doesn't really affect my game(s) once I got the core books. After that, if they put out a book I like, I may get it. And if they put out products I don't care for, it doesn't bother me. The existence, or non-existence, of 4e really isn't particularly important to me.

 

[sfgiants]

Another thought is to look at d20 Star Wars. In the time WotC has had the property it has released: core rules, revised core rules, and now a new rules set. 3 editions in what 5 years. This points to 4e and soon...

 

[Frostmarrow]

Hey Eric! Any word on scratch ticket stats. That would seriously get people's blood pressure up.

(I'm just glad ENWorld is back to normal. Speculations and rumours is what made this place great in the first place.)

 

[BadMojo]

*raises his own hackles*

My hackles are secured firmly in their lowered position. I'll wait and see what 4E looks like and if it looks fun, I'll buy it. If not, I'll stick with 3.X or maybe go with True 20 and just convert any new non-crunch that comes out.

It's not like a don't have 10 tons of D20 stuff that I haven't utilized AND other systems I'd like to try.

 

[ColonelHardisson]

But really -- nothing all that surprising was said. I think we all knew that 4e had to be underway now or soon, and that minis were the wave of the future.

Agreed. The success of the minis made it obvious that they'd want to try to coat-tail the game on them. And there have been many signs that a new edition has been in the works, or at least has had the ground broken on it. Despite his insistence that they're simply to generate discussion, Mike Mearls' recent website articles on developing some classic critters is one of those signs, I believe.

I hadn't really considered the possibility of selling smaller "packages" of info, so that was a little surprising, as was the notion that Hasbro or WotC might be interested in letting go of RPGs entirely.

Yeah, both of those were surprises to me. Perhaps the long-standing gripe about the expensive buy-in for the game will be addressed.

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

-Even more miniatures-centric? Check.

Not good, IMO. I want the opposite, with minis decoupled from the rules (i.e. you could still use them, but the system doesn't assume them).

-Much smaller bundles of game info, packaged and sold separately? Check.

Not good, IMO. Sounds like what I don't like about CCGs and collectible minis games.

A plan to possibly sell off RPGs entirely? Check. (Apparently only miniatures and Magic are making any money for WotC).

This might be okay. Personally, I'd rather see the D&D brand in the hands of a smaller company. I know some disagree with me, but I haven't liked the direction WotC seems to be taking the game.

I seriously doubt that I'll buy 4E. (Heck, I never bought 3.5 -- I just house ruled things like Haste, etc). I think it's likely that 4E will cause the market to fragment quite a bit, which I don't view as a necessarily bad thing. I think some will move to 4E, but quite a few will stick with 3E (more than stuck with 2E), and others will gravitate towards OGL systems like True20 and Castles & Crusades. I think third-party d20 companies see the writing on the wall, and are looking for additional baskets for their eggs. Green Ronin has MnM and True20, but even their other offerings (e.g. Freeport) are going to be offered with stats separately, so you can use the stats for the system of your choice. Mongoose is coming out with Runequest. Malhavoc has AE and Iron Heroes, and now Monte is shipping his magnum opus and moving on to opportunities outside of RPGs; I'd bet that 4E weighed into that decision, to one degree or another.

I guess I "jumped ship" when I didn't go for 3.5, because I think the only WotC product I've purchased since then was Red Hand of Doom (although I bought a LOT of stuff from Necromancer, Malhavoc, and Green Ronin). These days, my main game is C&C, but I still play 3E, on occassion. It'll be interesting to see what happens.

 

[Einan]

It's not like a don't have 10 tons of D20 stuff that I haven't utilized AND other systems I'd like to try.

Ain't that the God's Honest truth?

I looked at my game shelf the other day and started ticking off campaigns I WANT to run... Stargate, Starship Troopers, D20 Modern, Freeport, Ptolus (soon to come), etc...

If they stopped publishing any game supplments tomorrow I might catch up with my purchases in 2015.

Maybe. I'm not taking any bets on it, though.

Einan

 

[Frostmarrow]

Wow, this thread updates faster than I can read!

 

[EricNoah]

Hey Eric! Any word on scratch ticket stats. That would seriously get people's blood pressure up.

I'm crossing my fingers for scratch-n-sniff!

I don't have much more to say -- the words speak for themselves. As always, remember there's a reason why it's called a "rumor." I might have misunderstood something. The person who I spoke with might have misunderstood something. The person he spoke with might have misunderstood something. And so on.

Remember how long it took to develop 3E. If I'm recalling correctly, the big announcement came well after the new edition was in development, and it was still a year out from there before we saw it. It could still be a relatively long time before we can know if any of these rumors are correct. There's no reason to be overly pessimistic -- or optimistic, for that matter.