Into the Unknown

[Jhaelen]

And what about Menzoberranzan in August? Not to mention any products they haven't unveiled yet?

Menzoberranzan will be (mostly) edition-neutral. Should there be any further publications before D&D Next, that's likely to be the case for them, too.
I don't recall where or by whom, but this was mentioned by a WotC representative at some point.

Apart from the DDI, 4e support is pretty much done. Which is really a pity, imho, considering it's my favorite edition and D&D Next sounds like a step back.

Considering the results of a recent poll in one of Chris Perkins' articles (about the usefulness of various books from a DM persective), I can understand their decision, though. 4e Sales seem to have dropped noticably over time, no matter what the quality or topic of the books was. The Essentials line didn't seem to have done anything to reverse this trend. (I'm concluding this by looking at the percentage of votes for the 'no opinion/don't have it' option when ordered by release date).

 

[ggroy]

Menzoberranzan will be (mostly) edition-neutral. Should there be any further publications before D&D Next, that's likely to be the case for them, too.
I don't recall where or by whom, but this was mentioned by a WotC representative at some point.

https://twitter.com/#!/brianrjames/status/163336964341366784
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Rule-of-Three: 02/14/12)

On the down side: it's a little slim for a combined-player-and-DM resource, and wastes a few pages on what amount to adds for old modules, complete with cheesy (excuse me: awesome, classic) old cover art. And, this is probably just me, I got the vague impression that there was a little bit of "what the heck, the editions almost over" to this one. The inclusion of "Scrolls of Power" - one-shot artifacts that exist solely to bring up old broken spells, along with goofy history explaining their absence - being the most obvious one.

Sounds very much like being in a "lame duck phase" or "senioritis" stage for 4E D&D.

 

[Echohawk]

Technically, there are still at least three seasons of D&D Encounters, two Lair Assaults, a GameDay release and a set of Fortune Cards all still in the pipeline for 4e. Sure, most of those have limited releases, but we haven't yet reached the end of 4e products:

D&D Encounters: Web of the Spider Queen (May 2012)
D&D Lair Assault: Spider Killer (June 2012)
Dead in the Eye (GameDay, June 2012)
D&D Encounters: Council of Spiders (August? 2012)
Fortune Cards: Drow Treachery (August 2012)
D&D Lair Assault: Kill the Wizard (September? 2012)
D&D Encounters: War of Everlasting Darkness (November? 2012)

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I'm curious about, what do Goblin and Svirfneblin get?

 

[TerraDave]

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], I am calling it.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], I am calling it.

Well , you've been right before...

I was hoping for a third DMG but have to admit it doesn't seem likely with all the focus on 5e.

 

[TerraDave]

As echohawk pointed out, there are the fortune cards

And the Mezzo...drow city book I don't think we really know how they will do that.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

This sounds like a good book. I'll be picking it up for sure, and I genuinely hope it won't be the last "crunch" book.

If it is the last one, then I lament the passing of 4e; it still had so much potential as a system. I'd have loved to see what they could have done with a 4.5, for example. I think this 5e thing is like chopping of their own nose to spite their face. Only time will tell, I suppose.

Maybe they'll continue support in Dragon.

 

[Moorcrys]

Looks good to me. It'll probably be my last 4e purchase aside from maps and minis.

I like the scrolls of power idea - I started with the basic/expert in 80 or so. I like to see how they bring old ideas into the new mechanic. And it seems like anyone can read one, so it's only a question of a DM allowing one into the campaign rather than one class's earned spell-slot ability. Looks cool to me.

 

[Matt James]

And it seems like anyone can read one, so it's only a question of a DM allowing one into the campaign rather than one class's earned spell-slot ability. Looks cool to me.

Bingo! And thanks for the kind comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the book