Shadowfell Box set coming in 2011! (an other GenCon announcements)

[doctorhook]

If Mousferatu is involved with the Ravenloft Boxed set, I will definately buy it!

If Mouseferatu is involved with the Ravenloft Boxed set, I will buy it under the condition that it must include vampiric anthropomorphic rodents as a player race.

 

[Knightfall]

The DMG3 might come in 2012, but there are not enough groups playing in the epic tier yet. Instead epic tier support through the DDI.

Apparently they are trying to limit the use of stun and to a certain degree daze in their design.

This could be a chicken or the egg thing. Part of the reason I'm not running Epic is that I don't have a good feel how to. Which a DMG3 would help immensely with.

I agree. Kinda an odd reasoning from WotC. I do not feel intimidated by playing epic (having tried it for a while), but I would pay good money for more help, as it certainly has some challenges - for me anyway.

I just had a WILD thought!

We've been getting sourcebooks for all the planes and now a Shadowfell boxed set (with Heroes of Shadow) and a Feywild sourcebook (or box). Could there be a Heroes of the Fey sourcebook on the way too?

And, could this be the precursor to an Epic Level Planescape-like setting in 2012?

Imagine a Heroes of the Planes soucebook for the players, a Monster Vault box filled with paragon & epic planar creatures, and a Planar boxed set that use Sigil (or Union) as its starting point!

Planescape: Sigil and Beyond anyone?

Perhaps a boxed set for The Abyss? Or Baator? Or Both?

 

[Nyronus]

Apparently a lot of people took issue with what I said. Seems a lot of people are over reacting to my over reaction.

Not remotely. The design they chose is not going away. They're just providing more options, in the hope of pleasing more players. I don't see an issue here. Different people like different things in their games, so they're providing more stuff, things that some players thought were lacking before. Good on them.

Looking over the Critical Hits stuff, the book in question deals with themes and is being treated like an Unearthed Arcana deal. I feel better about this now, particularly since themes are going to be in that book as well. But when I hove no sleep and these things coming out of left field its a lot more... disconcerting.

I've had a lot of heated debates with people over the need for mechanics to support player roleplaying. Stuff like action-points for getting the awkward kid to RP a bit more just always seemed... iffy to me. Less like a genuine road to help, more like handing out a dog biscuit for doing a neat trick. My group has never been the most thespian of roleplayers, but their able to get by when it counts. Never have I had the issue of people randomly stabbing NPCs "because it's DnD."

This book doesn't seem to have this kind of thing though, just some sort of profession sub-system. I might use that, or I might not. In 3.5 the only time I took profession skills was when I was playing a rogue with stupid-high intelligence and I had maxed out all of the other skills I wanted to take. They never came up in any campaign, but there is something amusing about being able to write operas and speak 11 languages.

Now that I've had some time to nap, and some more detailed information, this stuff seems pretty alright. This was not what I was expecting, and, for the first time in three years, I am unsure if all of this will be of use to me, but none of it seems inherently bad. I will probably pick up most of it in the long run.

Oh well, Cheers to another year of 4th Edition!

 

[mach1.9pants]

I'd give you more XP but I can't. Nice to see a re-considered reply on the internet, I think the web may implode!

Welcome to ENW BTW, 'over-reactions-R-Us'

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Apparently a lot of people took issue with what I said. Seems a lot of people are over reacting to my over reaction.



Looking over the Critical Hits stuff, the book in question deals with themes and is being treated like an Unearthed Arcana deal. I feel better about this now, particularly since themes are going to be in that book as well. But when I hove no sleep and these things coming out of left field its a lot more... disconcerting.

I've had a lot of heated debates with people over the need for mechanics to support player roleplaying. Stuff like action-points for getting the awkward kid to RP a bit more just always seemed... iffy to me. Less like a genuine road to help, more like handing out a dog biscuit for doing a neat trick. My group has never been the most thespian of roleplayers, but their able to get by when it counts. Never have I had the issue of people randomly stabbing NPCs "because it's DnD."

This book doesn't seem to have this kind of thing though, just some sort of profession sub-system. I might use that, or I might not. In 3.5 the only time I took profession skills was when I was playing a rogue with stupid-high intelligence and I had maxed out all of the other skills I wanted to take. They never came up in any campaign, but there is something amusing about being able to write operas and speak 11 languages.

Now that I've had some time to nap, and some more detailed information, this stuff seems pretty alright. This was not what I was expecting, and, for the first time in three years, I am unsure if all of this will be of use to me, but none of it seems inherently bad. I will probably pick up most of it in the long run.

Oh well, Cheers to another year of 4th Edition!

My consideration with these kinds of mechanics is always that they've been uniformly mediocre at best in every implementation I've ever seen (maybe somewhere there's a good one, plenty of systems I haven't played). The nice thing about the high generality skills, generalized backgrounds, and lack of formalized subsystems for things like performance and profession is just that it leaves the DM a lot of flexibility.

I don't really buy the "lots of people need rules for that". I played OD&D and Basic, and 1e, and 2e, all of which lacked much at all in these regards (yeah, AD&D had an attempt so feeble it was pretty much non-existent). Players got along fine without it. None of the groups I've played in were some sort of incredible RPers, mediocre at best TBH, and yet were never held back by that.

Done well some optional rules for these kinds of things are OK, but they're still somewhat of a double edged sword. It's like Martial Practices, they're nice but what happens if you don't have practice X and you want to do the same sort of thing that's covered in practice X? It isn't all a net gain is the point.

I've never been that much of a lover of boxed sets either. I mean if you want to give me a bunch of nice maps etc that's fine, and counters are handy and all, but after I've got 12 sheets of counters I might not really know what to do with more of them. For certain things boxed sets are great. I just wonder if they're going a bit overboard there.

I guess we'll see anyhow. Lots of this stuff sounds interesting, though I think mostly I'd still like some more hardback source books.

 

[Dungeoneer]

So, is the Shadowfell Boxed Set 4.5e?!?!?!??!?!?!1?1?1/1/

 

[doctorhook]

So, is the Shadowfell Boxed Set 4.5e?!?!?!??!?!?!1?1?1/1/

No. lol

Let's leave it at this, shall we? Jokes aside, we don't need to start any more ridiculous rumours for the 4E haters.

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

No. lol

Let's leave it at this, shall we? Jokes aside, we don't need to start any more ridiculous rumours for the 4E haters.

To which I will add this from WotC at GenCon:

Essentials: "we've been accused of everything on this". #dnd
about 9 hours ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

 

[Obryn]

Anyway, I for one applaud WotC for realizing that there was something tangible that many of their former and even current customers found lacking in much of 4e gameplay... I am happy they are changing the design and development to account for and correct this, as I wasn't a fan of the previous 4e direction or conceits. As far as whether it failed or not... no one but WotC knows that, though I don't think they would have changed anything if their current path had been doing perfectly from an economic stand point... but no one can know for sure.

What is it with posts like this?

A book of new stuff and new options is neither failure nor a change in direction. It's listening to fans, and adding more options. Trying to interpret it that way just ... boggles.

-O

 

[Kannik]

Seriously? Why? I liked the material as written. I really did. I bought into the 4th Edition design asestetic, and now they're flipping it on its head.

I wouldn't say it is them flipping it on its head as simply expanding it to include more of the gaming styles and tastes out there. 4e as written gives rules for the combat/encounter side of things, and left everything else up to roleplay (Very 1e-esque). Some would like to see some rules support to codify other aspects of the game. I know my group did, which is why I crafted (pun intended) some rules for trade skills and put them in my rpgnow store. I'm very excited that these will be getting support from within the 4e WotC tent! (Just like the NWP of yore...)

However they implement them I would bet that they too will keep it in the 4e design aesthetic. Only broader...

Kannik