Intentions for the new beta rules

[seregil]

We have been told the playtest rules will be available soon. WHat are your intentions when the rules are available?

 

[ExploderWizard]

Considering only pregens will be available and rules for advancing them will come out in chunks I don't see what kind of campaign anyone is going to start with this.

IMHO not being able to create characters will lead to a lot of rules reading but very little actual play which kind of defeats the purpose of a PLAY test.

 

[Scribble]

I wonder if "they're not doing the play-test right!" will become the new "this poll isn't done right."

 

[Ellington]

Considering only pregens will be available and rules for advancing them will come out in chunks I don't see what kind of campaign anyone is going to start with this.

IMHO not being able to create characters will lead to a lot of rules reading but very little actual play which kind of defeats the purpose of a PLAY test.

Creating characters is not playing the game, it's a preparation. Playing the game is playing the game.

While character creation is an important factor of D&D, allowing it in the playtest might have way too many variables when all you want to see is whether or not people like the way the game flows and feels.

I do agree that it's not really enough to run a whole campaign off of, but I doubt that's their intention.

 

[dkyle]

Considering only pregens will be available and rules for advancing them will come out in chunks I don't see what kind of campaign anyone is going to start with this.

IMHO not being able to create characters will lead to a lot of rules reading but very little actual play which kind of defeats the purpose of a PLAY test.

My group does one-offs of different systems with pregen characters quite frequently, so we'll probably give the playtest a go as one of those games.

 

[grimslade]

I am going to run some old 1e mods, starting with U1 Sinister Secret of the Salt Marsh and continue on to Danger at Dunwater and The Final Enemy. Since we have premades, I figure I would treat it like a tournament game. It will give a good test of resolution mechanics. When the character generation rules are released I will start again with a fresh campaign.

The playtest needs to be separated to focus on the rules in chunks. Once resolution mechanics are solid, you have a baseline to test char gen against. Chunking the playtest up keeps the playtest focused.

 

[Steely_Dan]

I just want to see the meat of the system (i really want to know how Ability Scores are implemented). I have no problem without character creation rules for now.

 

[Sunseeker]

I will download an read the rules first. If I feel a quick game can be made from, I will do so. I will run just the barebones beta rules, and houserule as things happen that I find unappealing. I will track these house rules and then likely send them back to Wizards in an e-mail. I don't really care if they act on anything I find, but submitting feedback is important even if my only response is "everything works great" or "this is terrible!"

 

[P1NBACK]

I plan to run a series of one-shots with the playtest rules and then submit feedback on actual play. I seriously hope people aren't just reading the rules and submitting feedback.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Creating characters is not playing the game, it's a preparation. Playing the game is playing the game.

While character creation is an important factor of D&D, allowing it in the playtest might have way too many variables when all you want to see is whether or not people like the way the game flows and feels.

I do agree that it's not really enough to run a whole campaign off of, but I doubt that's their intention.

I wouldn't mind limiting the play to a few levels but character creation and having parties made up of different class combinations will let the system get tested under actual play conditions.

Basing testing around a single party got us the 3E CR system. Just make sure every group plays Jozan, Tordek, Mialee, & Lidda and its all good.