Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What Can Modularity Look Like?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="DocSER" data-source="post: 5769821" data-attributes="member: 7699"><p>One of the central components of the discussion of ... whatever the next iteration of DnD will be called has been modularity. This seems promising but it has a whiff of being all things to all people -- with very little information as to what it would look like. The more I break it down, the more skeptical I become.</p><p></p><p>I leave it to the people here to correct my growing pessimism.</p><p></p><p>The basic notion of modularity is that your game can include whatever components you want and ignore what you do not want. The poster child for this (across editions) seems to be psionics. It is pretty easy to run any edition of DnD without psionics but it is a module you can graft on to any edition if you choose -- with varying perceptions of the success of the graft.</p><p></p><p>It sounds like the intent with the next iteration is to take such modularity MUCH more seriously. This leads me to wonder what will be core and what will be modular. Here is my off-the-wall guess as to what is core and what modules can be added to recreate specific "edition-specific" experiences.</p><p></p><p>Core - *basic classes (fighter, thief, magic-user, cleric) </p><p>*basic level-based advancement - probably with an AEDU-light system to balance choices across classes</p><p>*basic combat (NOT requiring a grid -- more on this in a second) including a simple Vancian magic system</p><p></p><p>The core will be rules-light and emphasize setting and RP.</p><p></p><p>Example modules -- </p><p>* Expert combat (grid-based)</p><p>* Alternative magic systems (3e sorceror, etc. -- maybe vancian is a module)</p><p>* Psionics</p><p>* Planar mechanics</p><p>* Additional classes by, roughly, power source</p><p>* Skill-based play a la' skill challenges</p><p>* Setting specific modules (Dark sun, generic sea-based setting, etc.)</p><p>* Investigation-specific systems a la' Lorefinder</p><p>* Horror themed rules (think BoVD, HoHorror, sanity rules, etc.)</p><p>* Diplomacy-specific systems </p><p></p><p>If you want ODnD or 1e feel- you can stick to the core (I am not an expert there - just guessing)</p><p></p><p>If you want 2e - core + skills + a setting</p><p></p><p>If you want 3e - core + skills + expert combat + a setting</p><p></p><p>4e may have an AEDU based alternative if that is not core</p><p></p><p>If you want heavy RP -- core + diplomacy / investigation but not expert combat</p><p></p><p>If you want heavy combat -- core + expert combat but not skills etc.</p><p></p><p>Is this the goal?</p><p></p><p>There is a chance this create a common infrastructure that players of all editions could buy in to (this seems to be the goal from PR documents) but it could dramatically accelerate fragmentation as well. </p><p></p><p>I wonder how well one could write a Ravenloft of Shadowfell supplement (lets say) in year 3 of the edition. Would it be core only? Would it have to include explanations of how to adapt expert combat, Vancian magic, investigation skills, etc. into Ravenloft such that a third or more of each book is irrelevant to large segments of the community?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DocSER, post: 5769821, member: 7699"] One of the central components of the discussion of ... whatever the next iteration of DnD will be called has been modularity. This seems promising but it has a whiff of being all things to all people -- with very little information as to what it would look like. The more I break it down, the more skeptical I become. I leave it to the people here to correct my growing pessimism. The basic notion of modularity is that your game can include whatever components you want and ignore what you do not want. The poster child for this (across editions) seems to be psionics. It is pretty easy to run any edition of DnD without psionics but it is a module you can graft on to any edition if you choose -- with varying perceptions of the success of the graft. It sounds like the intent with the next iteration is to take such modularity MUCH more seriously. This leads me to wonder what will be core and what will be modular. Here is my off-the-wall guess as to what is core and what modules can be added to recreate specific "edition-specific" experiences. Core - *basic classes (fighter, thief, magic-user, cleric) *basic level-based advancement - probably with an AEDU-light system to balance choices across classes *basic combat (NOT requiring a grid -- more on this in a second) including a simple Vancian magic system The core will be rules-light and emphasize setting and RP. Example modules -- * Expert combat (grid-based) * Alternative magic systems (3e sorceror, etc. -- maybe vancian is a module) * Psionics * Planar mechanics * Additional classes by, roughly, power source * Skill-based play a la' skill challenges * Setting specific modules (Dark sun, generic sea-based setting, etc.) * Investigation-specific systems a la' Lorefinder * Horror themed rules (think BoVD, HoHorror, sanity rules, etc.) * Diplomacy-specific systems If you want ODnD or 1e feel- you can stick to the core (I am not an expert there - just guessing) If you want 2e - core + skills + a setting If you want 3e - core + skills + expert combat + a setting 4e may have an AEDU based alternative if that is not core If you want heavy RP -- core + diplomacy / investigation but not expert combat If you want heavy combat -- core + expert combat but not skills etc. Is this the goal? There is a chance this create a common infrastructure that players of all editions could buy in to (this seems to be the goal from PR documents) but it could dramatically accelerate fragmentation as well. I wonder how well one could write a Ravenloft of Shadowfell supplement (lets say) in year 3 of the edition. Would it be core only? Would it have to include explanations of how to adapt expert combat, Vancian magic, investigation skills, etc. into Ravenloft such that a third or more of each book is irrelevant to large segments of the community? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
What Can Modularity Look Like?
Top