Well, 2 more days to go; looking forward to this play-test. I have a great pool of players to draw from. Died in the wool 1E only players, 2nd thru 3.5 only, a few like me who have played all Editions including Basic D&D blue monochrome AND Redbox. Should garner a wide range of feedback. I am curious about one thing: this is supposed to be an open play-test; will it require a NDA or not? I haven't heard one way or another. Of course I'll abide by it if there... but if it's "Open", well, that sounds like they don't necessarily need one.
D&D 5E Playtesting D&D Next: Reapers, Cantrips, Turnings, Rests...
Stormonu
Legend
I've mentioned the 5E playtest to my group ...and just got blank stares. I'm not really sure if I'm going to have anyone to run this thing with when it comes out.
It's also interesting that it's Caves of Chaos. Back in March, I ran a KotB game with '81 Moldvay basic using this module. In 3 hours, the players made 3 forays to the caves,
. It will be interesting to see how D&DNext does compared to that.
It's also interesting that it's Caves of Chaos. Back in March, I ran a KotB game with '81 Moldvay basic using this module. In 3 hours, the players made 3 forays to the caves,
explored the Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear, Minotaur and the Evil Temple caves
I feel you there, as few will be likely to want to take time away from what precious little is available to we adult gamers with full time jobs, families, etc. I guess I'm lucky that I know at least a dozen Big Fans of D&D which include my 2 younger brothers & my mother, all of whom have experience with 1st - 3.5 Editions. I should be able to get 4-5 players together to run it no problem. Stormonu, best of luck doing the same. Try a FLGS (Friendly Local Game Shop) if you can't convince your current group...
underfoot007ct
First Post
DDXP in January was the initial public playtest, not PAXEAST. But Yes, I believe that The Caves of Chaos was used in both.
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
DM's Log: May 24, 2012. The Cake Is A Lie
My alarm clock goes off every morning at 6:00 a.m. I get up, I brush my teeth and shave, I put on a suit and I walk out the door to my day job. This morning, though, I stopped at the computer on my way out, and checked my e-mail. Lo, the playtest had started! I followed the link to all of the legal mumbo-jumbo, agreeing to various tedium, and then...nothing.
Apparently I had to wait for a second e-mail. For some reason.
So I walked out the door and to the office. It was rainy morning, but the walk wasn't unpleasant. I'm fortunate to have a nice apartment so close to work...it affords me all sorts of perks, like not having to pay for car insurance, parking, or gasoline, for example. A half-hour later, I log in to my work computer and check my e-mail.
No second e-mail. I didn't worry too much about it; the legal mumbo-jumbo page said that it would take 30 to 60 minutes. So I got up and got some coffee, wrote a technical memo, and began some design calculations on a sheet pile wall.
The second e-mail came about 2 hours after I had clicked on the agreement. I found the link, clicked on it, and...nothing. I clicked it again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
This went on for a while.
-----
I got an e-mail around lunchtime from one of the guys in the gaming group. He was having the same problem that I was having, and wanted to know if I had gotten my packet yet. I e-mailed him back, telling him that I wasn't able to download it either.
I went to lunch (making sure to check the Wizards website one more time, to see if there were any updates or anything), and when I returned to my desk, there had been a bit of an e-mail exchange among my gaming group about this weekend. The consensus: relief. They were all actually relieved that we might not be playing "some weird new game" this weekend "instead of our real Dungeons & Dragons game." Two of them confessed to never having signed up for the reminder in the first place.
-----
Well, it's been twelve hours since I got The Second E-Mail, and I still can't download the packet. We were scheduled to play it tomorrow night right after work, but that isn't looking very likely. If I can't download the material by tomorrow morning, I will have to reschedule the playtest.
This group wasn't exactly thrilled about the new edition to begin with. Now, Wizards of the Coast has all but given them permission to disregard it.
Yes, I am frustrated with the website and server issues, but that's no longer the point. This isn't the first time I have been given the digital runaround by this company, and it probably won't be the last. Deep down, I knew that it wouldn't...couldn't...be as easy as everyone was saying it would be.
No, the thing that really cooks me is how I keep thinking back to the Pathfinder playtests, and how easy it was. Even with the much-anticipated Alpha test, with tens of thousands of downloads the first day, it didn't take longer than 20 minutes to receive the info. The forums were wide open. Because of the Open Gaming License, there were no NDAs or legalspeak to wade through, there was no restriction on the scope or content of the test, and anyone was free to share with everyone else whatever they wanted. It was awesome.
Now? Now I get a 180-second delay followed by a "Bad Request - Invalid URL" splash.
Paizo is still beating Wizards at their own game.
My alarm clock goes off every morning at 6:00 a.m. I get up, I brush my teeth and shave, I put on a suit and I walk out the door to my day job. This morning, though, I stopped at the computer on my way out, and checked my e-mail. Lo, the playtest had started! I followed the link to all of the legal mumbo-jumbo, agreeing to various tedium, and then...nothing.
Apparently I had to wait for a second e-mail. For some reason.
So I walked out the door and to the office. It was rainy morning, but the walk wasn't unpleasant. I'm fortunate to have a nice apartment so close to work...it affords me all sorts of perks, like not having to pay for car insurance, parking, or gasoline, for example. A half-hour later, I log in to my work computer and check my e-mail.
No second e-mail. I didn't worry too much about it; the legal mumbo-jumbo page said that it would take 30 to 60 minutes. So I got up and got some coffee, wrote a technical memo, and began some design calculations on a sheet pile wall.
The second e-mail came about 2 hours after I had clicked on the agreement. I found the link, clicked on it, and...nothing. I clicked it again. Nothing. Again. Nothing.
This went on for a while.
-----
I got an e-mail around lunchtime from one of the guys in the gaming group. He was having the same problem that I was having, and wanted to know if I had gotten my packet yet. I e-mailed him back, telling him that I wasn't able to download it either.
I went to lunch (making sure to check the Wizards website one more time, to see if there were any updates or anything), and when I returned to my desk, there had been a bit of an e-mail exchange among my gaming group about this weekend. The consensus: relief. They were all actually relieved that we might not be playing "some weird new game" this weekend "instead of our real Dungeons & Dragons game." Two of them confessed to never having signed up for the reminder in the first place.
-----
Well, it's been twelve hours since I got The Second E-Mail, and I still can't download the packet. We were scheduled to play it tomorrow night right after work, but that isn't looking very likely. If I can't download the material by tomorrow morning, I will have to reschedule the playtest.
This group wasn't exactly thrilled about the new edition to begin with. Now, Wizards of the Coast has all but given them permission to disregard it.
Yes, I am frustrated with the website and server issues, but that's no longer the point. This isn't the first time I have been given the digital runaround by this company, and it probably won't be the last. Deep down, I knew that it wouldn't...couldn't...be as easy as everyone was saying it would be.
No, the thing that really cooks me is how I keep thinking back to the Pathfinder playtests, and how easy it was. Even with the much-anticipated Alpha test, with tens of thousands of downloads the first day, it didn't take longer than 20 minutes to receive the info. The forums were wide open. Because of the Open Gaming License, there were no NDAs or legalspeak to wade through, there was no restriction on the scope or content of the test, and anyone was free to share with everyone else whatever they wanted. It was awesome.
Now? Now I get a 180-second delay followed by a "Bad Request - Invalid URL" splash.
Paizo is still beating Wizards at their own game.
Last edited:
Yeah, kind of (that's an understatement). A whole host of us got those messages; I have not heard any sort of official word from the DnD Next staff but rumor has it that their wand-width had been exceeded and was unable to handle the increased traffic. Let's think about this for one minute: you have a big release planned and yet don't take measures to make certain (as in have band-width to exceed what is expected so as to not have a problem)??? Wow, yeah, someone over at WotC is kicking themselves... or have a boss that's doing it for them. There are a lucky few out there that DID get the download. I'm one of the fortunate few.
As another one still on the receiving end of a denial-of-PDFs attack, it looks like Wizards haven't just screwed the pooch. They've left it unable to sit down for a week, and expecting a very large litter.
I've got a playtest game this weekend, so the longer I get that stupid Bad URL message, the more nervous I get.
I've got a playtest game this weekend, so the longer I get that stupid Bad URL message, the more nervous I get.
Zaruthustran
The tingling means it’s working!
1. Google "5E playtest"
2. Limit results to past 24 hours
3. Click the (as of this writing) third result
It's not that hard. Assuming you've signed up correctly and agreed to the terms and conditions, there's not even anything unethical about dling the materials from a functional, non-WotC server. It's the same exact materials, and you're still bound by the same exact playtest agreements.
tl;dr: google is your friend.
2. Limit results to past 24 hours
3. Click the (as of this writing) third result
It's not that hard. Assuming you've signed up correctly and agreed to the terms and conditions, there's not even anything unethical about dling the materials from a functional, non-WotC server. It's the same exact materials, and you're still bound by the same exact playtest agreements.
tl;dr: google is your friend.
Oni
First Post
I feel like WotC has still, somehow, not managed to learn any lessons from Paizo's success. Relax a little WotC, your fans want to help you out, support you, and see what you've been doing, why make it hard on them? Why make them jump through hoops? Why not use reliable distribution channels? You're trying to keep too much control and it will hurt you, it is hurting you.
Tallifer
Hero
The on-line Character Builder and Compendium are cases in point: it is so much easier and faster to click through the Pathfinder SRD: no fancy, megabyte devouring silverlight. I can open a dozen tabs at once in the SRD and easily jump back and forth through links to find every rule, feat, skill et cetera. The Character Builder crashes when I try to make a pdf, and you can only have one window of information open at a time in the Compendium. Fancy does not make anything better.
Similar Threads
