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Eric Noah's Unofficial
D&D News Archive #1
August 1999
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News from August 1999:
August 31, 1999
- TSR's Keith Strohm mentioned that the Player's
Handbook was recently turned over for editing. He says that
discussion of the rules through various Internet groups is still
valuable, though: "We
are indeed monitoring this discussion list for useful feedback (and
will continue to do so after the 3rd Edition books are printed).
However, the rules are fairly well set -- though a major "issue"
detected by the playtesters would still have time to be
addressed. During the editing process, we'll be fine tuning the
existing rules and working on presentation and organization."
(on DND-L)
August 30, 1999
- Some vague-yet-juicy bits from playtester "Der
Verdammte", who responded from questions posed by "Rhygar"
on the TSR message board:
1. What was your impression as to the new "fully
integrated skill system"? Did you like rolling against a Difficulty
Class "DC" for just about everything? In your opinion, how well does
the new skill system work compared to the old PHB
proficiencies/Player's Option systems?
Rolling
against a DC is actually easier than making the various types of rolls
required in 2e. Assigning a DC is easier than assigning a penalty
to a roll (once you get used to how the rolls work), so I like it
better. OTOH, it (in my version of the document) shares one thing
with earlier editions: it's too easy to succeed at higher levels.
Don't get me wrong; the mechanics are much more logical than they
were. I just think there should be clearer rules for DCs of 25
and above. The "fully integrated skill system," as it stands in
the document I have, is head and shoulders above anything from 1e or
2e, yet 1e and 2e characters can easily be converted to it. It's
better than any skill system except Call of Cthulhu's, and that's saying a lot. It's
totally flexible, it allows you to *really* reflect your character in
the skills he has, and it's neither too generous, like the S&P
system, nor too stingy, like the "Core 2e NWP" system. The
numbers are all really logical, too. No rolling against ability
scores, or anything like that. It's really nice.
2. Are the changes to the magic system well
thought-out and supportable?
Things seemed
a little bland to start with, but much of that's been fixed. I
like a little POW and ZAP where magic is concerned. Overall,
there's an improvement.
3. Did you like the various changes regarding races
and classes? Has 3E done a good job "balancing" the various classes and
races?
Definitely.
All of the classes are equally attractive to both min/maxers and
role-players. I think the races are, too, but my players have
always preferred humans anyway. To answer some complaints,
though: humans aren't any better than any other races.
They're just more versatile.
4. What about multi-classing and dual-classing -- do
the changes work well within the system, and are they well-balanced?
The
multiclassing system is the best I've seen, bar none.
5. What is your impression as to the combat system?
This obviously covers lots of things -- initiative, armor class,
movement, magic, damage (including critical hits). Does it all come
together seamlessly when it is time to throw down and fight the bad
guys? I have seen comments from some of the WotC folks that their
objective was to make the combat system "fast-paced and exciting." Did
they succeed, in your opinion?
Things are a
little smoother than before, but I think it's really up to the players
whether combat is "fast-paced and exciting." ... I think the combat
system is successful.
6. And finally, what is your overall impression of
the 3E system compared to 2E and 1E?
It's more
logical, easier for a newbie to learn, and designed with mature gamers
in mind as well. It won't insult your intelligence like too many
of the PHBR books did, and even a first edition player can enjoy it
(even if he's a die-hard Gygaxian GHer).
August 29, 1999
- Player's Choice Review has posted a brief interview
with Scott Greig, lead programmer for Neverwinter Nights.
He had this little snippet to say about the use of 3E rules in that
game:
- "Neverwinter will be using the newly
announced 3rd Edition rule set. Although the source books will not be
released until around GenCon time (August or so) of 2000, we have been
actively play testing the new system and providing feedback the 3rd
Edition design team. Overall we are quite pleased with the improvements
to the rule system, in particular the new assassin, barbarian, monk and
sorcerer player classes." (spotted
at VaultNetwork)
August 28, 1999
- If you want more info about the impacts of 3E on Ravenloft,
check out the "Future of Ravenloft FAQ." (found
at the Kargatane web site)
- Adrenaline Vault has posted a mini-preview of Pool
of Radiance II: Ruins of Myth Drannor. There is a teeny, tiny
bit about the game's use of the 3E rules, but nothing you haven't
already heard before. Here it is if you want to take a
look. (spotted at VaultNetwork)
August 27, 1999
- Here's the Top Ten List that was apparently used at
GenCon as part of the "Big Announcement." The scoop was sent in
by Ralph, who admits that he might be mistaken on a couple of
these as he had to scribble really fast:
- From the
home office in Lake Geneva, WI, the Top Ten Reasons WotC/TSR is
releasing a 3rd Edition of the AD&D Game:
10:
Inspired by TV show "Jesse"
9:
New slogan: "Orcs -- Gotta Catch 'em All!"
8:
We just finished the Complete Handbook series
7:
The Stars are right
6:
Do justice to vindictive rumors surrounding the merger
5:
2nd Edition designers all quit in poorly thought out labor negotiation
tactics
4:
Everyone has August 2000 in the "When the Sage Goes Postal" pool
3:
GURPS is already trademarked
2:
Skills and Powers character sheets now have to be prepared by H&R
Block
1:
Peter Adkidson threatened to "waste them with his crossbow" if they
didn't.
August 25, 1999
- One playtester had this to say about alignment in
3E: "...there will
be suggestions for alternate personality mechanics in the DMG for those
who don't like the standard alignment system. Also, the
descriptions of the various alignments have been cleaned up."
(Der Verdammte on the TSR message board; scoop sent in by Fabio)
- International release of 3E is tentatively scheduled
for late fall of 2000, according to D&D Brand Manager Keith
Strohm. (on DND-L)
August 24, 1999
- Is Dragonlance dead? D&D Brand Manager David
Wise explains that a recent rumor indicating that game products for
the Dragonlance setting would no longer be produced, leaving DL to
stand solely on its novels, is only partially true. There will be
a bit of a DL game product drought for a while, as the focus moves to a
new "Reader's Companion" series that will elaborate on the DL
novels. In addition, each "Companion" book would contain a solo
DL scenario to play. This, it is hoped, will draw DL
readers toward role-playing. "The idea is to create a link between the
world of Krynn and the world of gaming for people who don't necessarily
play RPGs." A new concept for DL gaming is in the
planning stages, "a new
kind of RPG that will have wider appeal and require a lot less time to
play unless you want to turn it into a full-fledged campaign."
In the meantime, Dragonlance will continue to thrive through new novels
and story anthologies. (scoop sent in by Allister Huggins)
August 22, 1999
- I've been renovating the site a tad -- the sections
on Combat, Characters, Monsters, Magic&Psionics,
Settings, and 2nd Ed. Conversion have been
moved to their own pages. (from Eric Noah, the guy who runs this
web site)
- Some info on the future of Dragon Magazine,
from its editor Dave Gross:
- Dragon will go completely 3rd Edition after
August 2000.
- Dragon will continue to accept and publish
articles for "inactive" D&D game settings such as Dark Sun,
Ravenloft, Al-Qadim, and Birthright, but only if such articles also
have a more generic application for those who don't own these settings.
- Dragon will be introducing a new 3E class in
2001 (mark that on your calendars!) (scoop sent
in by Pat)
August 21, 1999
- TSR VP Ryan Dancey addressed the issue of spell
durations in 3E: "...somewhere along the way you've heard that
spells usable in "combat" are going to stay with round delimited
times. That is incorrect. The vast number of spells in 3e
are delimited in time units, not combat units." He
elaborated by posting a sample list of spells and their revised
durations (as of his most recent draft of the 3E rules). I
have added a column that shows the 2E durations for comparison.
One round in 2E was 1 minute, while one round in 3E will be 6
seconds. (from the TSR message board)
|
Spell
|
3E Duration
|
2E Duration
|
| Affect Normal Fires |
10 min/lvl |
2 rounds/lvl |
| Enlarge |
1 min/lvl |
5 rounds/lvl |
| Feather Fall |
1 min/lvl |
1 round/lvl |
| Gust of Wind |
1 round |
1 round |
| Gaze Reflection |
10 min/lvl |
2 rounds + 1 rnd/lvl |
| Grease |
1 round/lvl |
3 rounds + 1 rnd/lvl |
| Light |
10 min/lvl |
1 turn [ten min.]/lvl |
| Message |
10 min/lvl |
5 rounds/lvl |
| Sleep |
1 min/lvl |
5 rounds/lvl |
| Spider Climb |
10 min/lvl |
3 rounds + 1 rnd/lvl |
| Ventriloquism |
1 min/lvl |
4 rounds + 1 rnd/lvl |
| Bind |
1 round/lvl |
1 round/lvl |
- Vladimir Len has some pictures of some WotC/TSR
AD&D miniatures posted at his web site. So what does this
have to do with 3E? Well, consider the following: the most
recent Dragon Magazine (issue 263) informs us that WotC will be
launching its own miniatures line; this same issue mentions that we'll
be hearing about the "great
new miniatures for 3rd Editon" in next month's issue. Is
this year's line-up of minis a warm-up for 3E? (scoop
sent by Bill Robinson
and augmented by Allister Huggins)
August 20, 1999
- TSR VP Ryan Dancey discussed the rationale for
moving from the 2nd edition 1-minute combat round to the 3E six-second
combat round:
We want to
reduce the distance a figure can move on the battlefield to something
reasonable for use with miniatures. A 1 minute round allows
movement all out of proporation with most tactical combat environments.
One minute
rounds are also (in my opinion) ludicrously long when using the D&D
combat system. Imagine playing Baldur's Gate with 1 minute combat
rounds (shudder!).
That
decision gave us two usable increments - 10 seconds and 6
seconds. We elected to go with 6 seconds to make the math easy
when converting to 'time' units. (from the
TSR message board)
- Jim Bishop (on the Neverwinter Nights board) had
this to say about multiclass combinations: most
multi-class combinations are possible save those with built-in
alignment conflicts, "but
there may be a few exceptions for classes with unusual circumstances.
Barbarians, for instance, are indocrinated into a culture from
birth--they're not like fighters or thieves who just know some skills.
Paladins and monks are a similar case. They won't be prevented
from multiclassing, but there will be restrictions on how they do it."
(scoop sent simultaneously by Allister Huggins and Adam Miller)
- An official TSR post on Ravenloft-L elaborates on the effects
of 3E on the Ravenloft campaign setting -- and the effects of
Ravenloft on 3E.
- Between now and the launch of 3E, the following Ravenloft
products will be released (for 2nd edition D&D): the
second and third volumes of Van Richten's Monster Hunter's
Compendium, the accessory Carnival, and a Vecna adventure
that apparently spans the planes.
- 3E Ravenloft materials will be released on the
web and through Dungeon Magazine.
- Rules for Fear Checks and Horror Checks,
once features unique to Ravenloft, will be covered in the 3E
rules. (scoop sent in by Kesh)
- WotC's official D&D 3E page has been
updated. The address is either http://www.3rdedition.com or
http://www.wizards.com/3e/ . The main update seems to be that one
can load the page without encountering 500k of Shockwave stuff.
They also have a prettied-up version of the FAQ. (announced
by TSRKeith on
DND-L and rec.games.frp.dnd)
August 19, 1999
- WotC's Jim Bishop talked a little about 3E over on
the Neverwinter Nights "hot topics" board (spotted
at BG Chronicles):
- On game balance: "I think everybody's going to be pleasantly
surprised with the way the game is balanced. And for the angry minority
of us who hate power gamer munchkins, 3E is a lot harder to abuse."
- On multiclassing and demihuman level limits:
"In 2E
there was actually more incentive to multiclass (at lower levels
anyway) than there is now in 3E. The designers have improved and
balanced single-class advancement to the point that it's now painful to
allocate those XPs to another class when you could be getting the
massive bennies of a new level in your single class. There's also an
improvement in design concept in the new edition: why not balance the
whole system at level 1, instead of penalizing demihumans way down the
line?"
- On playtesting 3E: "In the early days of the 3E project they
decided to throw as many beta testers at it as they could find, and
over the past months there have been literally hundreds of testers and
thousands of pages of comments, as well as a brutal
discussion/development board. While new beta testers are no longer
being accepted, the existing groups are still plowing away at the
latest revision. If nothing else, 3E will be the most-tested RPG ever
produced."
- On returning to the concept of adventure module series,
from TSR VP Ryan Dancey:
Here's a
keystone 3rd Edition strategy: The Adventure Path.
There was a
time when most people who played D&D had a shared community
experience - the original 1st Ed "modules". When players
gathered, most could talk to each other about adventures they had
experienced in many different groups. That created a strong sense
of community, and helped DMs keep a sense of scale for their games -
even if they thought the modules were trash, they at least provided
guidance as to how much power should be thrown around in an average
gaming session.
For 3e,
we're going to try and recapture that concept. We'll be producing
a series of interlocked (not sequential or serial, but loosely
connected) aventures that will all fall under the rubric of "Adventure
Path", and we hope to create a new generation of classics that can
stand the test of time like White Plume Mountain, The Slavers, Queen of
Spiders, etc.
Playing
through those adventures will have many of the same feelings - the
sense that there's a large story going on that the players are a part
of, but still making each individual adventure cool to play and a fun
standalone experience.(from the DND-L discussion
group)
- The new issue of Dragon Magazine (#263,
September 1999) has a short article announcing 3E. Dave Gross,
editor of Dragon, writes about why the 3rd edition is necessary
and what we can expect to hear about it in the upcoming year.
Some of the highlights:
- The rules are not done yet, and it is expected that
they'll keep adding to and changing things right up until produciton
time.
- One of the goals in creating 3E was to bridge the gap
between 2nd and 1st edition rules.
- 3rd edition characters can "beat the snot" out of 2nd edition
characters in terms of power and ability.
- Special emphasis has been placed on making it fun to
play high-level characters (levels 10-20).
- Dragon plans on providing info from the
designers, editors, and artists over the next year.
- Next month's Dragon will have some information
on 3E miniatures.
- The article mentions that there are "video interviews" of
the D&D 3E team available on the WotC web site at
www.3rdedition.com. They don't appear to be available at this
time.
August 18, 1999
- Allister Huggins (on the TSR message board) posted a
few questions, which were cheerfully answered by TSR VP Ryan Dancey:
- Are assassins in the PHB or the DMG? "DMG. They will be
presented as material that DMs need to think hard about before allowing
them in the game, and the reasons for that careful consideration will
be outlined."
- Are there alignment restrictions still
enforced? "Yes.
Paladins must be lawful good, etc. Some have been relaxed (see:
Ranger)."
- Are there any classes that can't be combined
(Thief/Bard, assassin/paladin) etc? "I don't think you can make an Assassin
Paladin, because of alignment restrictions. I'm sure there are a
few others (Druid/Paladins, for example) that can't be created for the
same reasons..."
- Are criticals simply a natural d20? "The mechanic is a little more
complex than just a natural 20 - but not much."
- Info on Movement Rates, from TSR VP Ryan Dancey:
"All Size M
creatures move at 30, add and subtract 10 for each size class
difference (so S creatures move at 20, L creatures move at
40)." We'll assume that's given in feet per round
(the new six-second combat round). (from rec.games.frp.dnd)
- Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor,
a computer RPG being developed by SSI and Mindscape, will be the first
to use D&D 3E rules. In an interview over at Adrenaline
Vault, one of the game's developers speaks (quite vaguely) of the
impact of 3E on the game. You can read the interveiw and see some
screenshots here. Apparently, a similar interveiw concerning the
forthcoming Neverwinter Nights will be available soon as
well. (spotted at VaultNetwork)
- A reminder to all about fact vs. rumor:
"Nothing on
this page is set in stone. I am doing my best to inform you of not only
what was said, but who said it, so that you can make
a judgment about whether something is "official" (or as close as
possible) or merely well-informed speculation. Items that have
been posted by TSR employees are a pretty safe bet; all others are
juicy rumors at best. For the non-official info, I've been trying
to only pass along items that seem likely or come from a source that
seems reputable (playtesters, people who got to try it at GenCon,
etc.). And even the TSR info is subject to change as the rules
are developed, tweaked and tested. Hey, that's part of the fun --
seeing where certain rumors turned out to be true, and where certain
'facts' didn't pan out at all." (from Eric Noah, the guy who runs this
site)
- The lucky gamer who tried 3E at GenCon dropped some more
(unconfirmed) info:
- Fighters receive special abilities called "Heroic
Feats." Some of these include Quickness (an initiative
bonus), Weapon Focus (an attack bonus with a chosen weapon), and Heroic
Fray (doubles the number of attacks for a short while). Details
about how and when these Feats are earned were unavailable.
- Some large-sized weapons penalize the wielder's
chance to hit an opponent, but have a bigger Critical Hit multiplier or
make a Critical Hit more often (say, on a natural 18-20 instead of just
a 20).
- During character creation, the player receives
points to spend on character abilities; buying skills that fall outside
of the character's class cost more than buying class-related
abilities. (from Peter B on the TSR message board)
August 17, 1999
- Unconfirmed rumor about ability score improvement:
PCs will be allowed to improve one ability score (ST, DX, CN, IN, WI,
CH) by one point every four levels. What restrictions might apply
(i.e., is there a limit to how many times a single score can be
raised?) are not known. (scoop sent in by Rhaz)
- Want a preview of the 3E rules? It's coming,
according to TSR's Chris Perkins: "In an upcoming issue of DRAGON® Magazine,
we will present "10 New 3rd Edition Rules You Can Use Right Now in Your
2nd Edition Campaign." Naturally, the designers will be expecting
some feedback from our readers." (scoop sent in
by incal and
augmented by Staffan Johansson)
- A lucky gamer who got to try out 3E at GenCon provided some
info:
- Priestly Healing: "Clerics can ‘Convert’ spells
into healing magic. They no longer have to memorize cure wounds spells...now if a cleric
gives up spell they heal a d8 per level of the spell."
- Critical Hits in Combat: "On a natural 20 you score a
critical, each weapon has a ‘Critical damage
Multiplier.’ For example, long swords were x3...so on a
critical they do x3 damage. There is no chart for the hits
or anything like that."
- Saving Throws: Dexterity will influence
Reflex saves, Constitution will impact Fortitude saves, and Wisdom will
affect Mental saves. (from Peter
B on the TSR message board)
August 16, 1999
- TSR's Sean Reynolds (on the TSR message board) on
why info on 3E is being doled out in dribs and drabs:
- Parli Italiano? There's an Italian version of
this page at http://members.xoom.it/DandD3ed/ translated by Rocco
"Ataru Moroboshi" Pier Luigi. (thanks, "Ataru"!)
August 15, 1999
- More comments from playtesters: "...if there's one catchphrase
for 3E, I think consistent would be it. Wherever possible without
losing the D&D flavor, the rules were rewritten to be consistent
with one another." (from Owen Stephens on rec.games.frp.dnd)
- Another post from Ryan Dancey indicates that there
will be no XP bonus for characters who have a high prime requisite.
(Scoop sent in by Allister
Huggins)
- Some very detailed info on spellcasting during combat,
from Ryan Dancey, VP of TSR: In 3rd Edition, combat is "real time", in that
nobody has to make a choice about an action until the moment arrives
when it is their turn to act. This makes combat more
unpredictable, but also removes bookkeeping and DM ruling headaches.
Under many
circumstances, a spellcaster in 3rd Edition would probably elect not to
cast a spell after having had their concentration disrupted (damaged
this round, failed a save this round, suffering continuing damage from
a previous attack [Melf's Acid Arrow, e.g.]). However, since
the character can attempt to overcome the distraction (in 3rd Ed
parlance, the spellcaster must make a Concentration skill check
[presumably on a d20],
with a DC [Difficulty Class] of 10 + damage inflicted + level of spell
being cast), there is a chance the character will go ahead and try to
cast the spell anyway, risking failure.
Also, there
are three other things an opponent could do to disrupt a spell:
1)
"Ready" - an action that allows a combatant to specify a trigger event
on which to act after their initiative. So the party's halfling
Ranger, on her action, could specify "I'll take a Ready action, and
make my ranged attacks against the Drow Cleric if she begins casting a
spell". "Readied" actions have precedence, so when the Drow
Cleric starts casting, the Ranger fires and may inflict damage,
prompting a forced Concentration Check on the Cleric.
2)
"Counterspell" - an action where one spellcaster attempts to thwart the
spell of another by casting the same spell at the same time. This
is a somewhat specialized action that will not have as much actual
tactical importance as it seems. However, I designed a short
series of encounters for the playtesters to demonstrate how useful it
will be for DMs...
3)
"Disrupt" - a specialized use of the spell "Dispel Magic". Spells
with a casting time of longer than one round can be disrupted by
forcing the caster to make a concentration check before the spell's
casting time expires.
One last
thing. 3rd Edition uses a concept called an "Attack of
Opportunity" - basically, the right of opponents near you to attempt a
melee attack when you do something that would drop your guard.
Spellcasting is one such action. So when a spellcaster tries to
cast, opponents within melee range are going to get free attacks
(assuming that they are capable of doing so within certain restrictions
on levels and abilities). This could have the dual negative
effects of causing the caster to take damage >and< lose the spell
being cast. Obviously, 3rd Ed spellcasters are going to be
reluctant to use magic when surrounded by enemies... (scoop sent in by Allister Huggins)
August 14, 1999
- The reaction of a playtester to 3E: "...it's great....
Offhand, I can't think of anything new that they've added that I DON'T
like. Oh, there's still a few of the old annoying features around, but
you can't have everything. And, truth be told, they couldn't change
EVERYTHING without losing the spirit of AD&D, which is what they
ARE preserving." (from Sea Wasp on rec.games.frp.dnd)
August 13, 1999
- Initiative info: Initiative will be rolled on
a d20, modified by Dexterity, and high roll goes first.
After rolling for the first round, each character then acts in that
same order -- unless they choose to "Delay" their actions (presumably
gaining some other kind of bonus in exchange) or "Focus" (possibly
giving up an attack to gain an earlier initiative spot in the
cycle). It sounds as if "casting time" for wizard spells is
disappearing, at least if the original 2nd ed. spell had a casting time
less than 1 round. This would make sense, given the fact that
weapon speeds will be gone from the rules as well. So when a
wizard casts a spell, it just goes off on his turn in the initiative
cycle, unless the casting time is greater than one round. (scoop sent in by Jean-Francois
Lebeau)
- Rumors going around about Sorcerers: They
achieve high-level spellcasting slower than Wizards. One example
mentioned a Sorcerer gaining access to 2nd level spells only upon
reaching 5th level. Sorcerers will apparently have their own
spell chart that looks a bit different from that of a Wizard.
What the trade-off is remains to be seen. It could be something
like the ability to cast a greater number of lower level spells. (from the TSR message board)
- Rumors going around about race/class combos: Though
the FAQ states that nearly any race can be any class, apparently there
will be "preferred" classes and multi-class combos for each race.
A member of a particular race who chooses to ignore his "preferred"
class options then pays an experience point penalty in the neighborhood
of 10%. (from the TSR message board)
August 11, 1999
- Sean Reynolds of TSR fame (on the TSR message
board) wrote about the fate of the Core Rules 2.0 CD-ROM:
- "We're
aware of the concerns of the people who have the CR1 and CR2 CD-ROMs
and are considering our options for a solution. Phew, how's that for
marketspeak? ;)"
- Allister Huggins (on rec.games.frp.dnd) posted the
checklist that appeared on the 3E T-shirts that were available at
GenCon:
- Half-Orc barbarian
sorcerer....YES
Demihuman level
limits.........NO
Monks &
Assassins..............YES
Universal skill
system.........YES
Evil Gnoll
rangers.............YES
THAC0..........................NO
Rules you never used
anyway....NO
Demons &
Devils................YES
Critical
Hits..................YES
9th level Cleric
Spells........YES
Ability Score
Improvement......YES
Strength
48....................YES
- Ryan Dancey, VP of TSR, (on the TSR message board)
discussed what it would take to make the Wizard's and Priest's Spell
Compendium series 3E compliant:
- 1)
Describe the affects of magic resistance (all 3rd Ed spells have this
info)
2) Convert
information on Saving Throws to 3rd Ed Saves (there will probably be
simple rules of thumb for this)
3) Convert
durations to either combat rounds or time intervals (again, probably
pretty simple rules of thumb)
4) Note if
the 3rd Ed PHB moves this spell to another level or sphere (easy to do
- there's only going to be a couple hundred spells in the PHB)
5) Indicate
which 3rd Edition classes can cast the spell, and at what levels
(again, pretty easy to do. Assume the spells don't change levels or
spheres - unless they have been altered in the 3rd Ed PHB)
That
looks like a lot of work, but in practice it really isn't. #1 doesn't
exist now, so DMs would have to deal with the effects of MR on a case
by case basis anyway. #2 and #3 should be quick to do via rules of
thumb. #4 is just a one time exercise (and will probably be
explicitly stated in the conversion book anyway). #5 will take a bit of
work for the non 2nd Ed spellcasting classes, but most of them cast
only a few spells and only at high levels.
Since
the effects of the spell won't change, and that's where all the "meat"
of the books really are, I don't anticipate a significant drop in value
for the series.
- Gary Gygax posted the following message about 3E to
the Greyhawk discussion group (reposted on rec.games.frp.dnd):
- Date:
Tue, 10 Aug 1999 10:59:42 -0500
From:
Gary & Gail Gygax <ggygax@GENEVAONLINE.COM>
Subject:
3E D&D Game
Greetings,
Seekers;)
I
read all the postings on the Digest for the 6-7 August list with some
interest. My first assignment for WotC/TSR is to *critique* the
new rules:) As I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and read them
as a whole, all the FAQ material and speculation based thereon seem
pretty meaningless. This is a game whole that must be judged only
when it can be read, and *played*, as such.
While
I find a certain sympathy with the comments from many, and those of
Nathanael D. Wentz in particular, I must say that there is also a good
deal of pessimistic opinion therein that I believe should be left aside
for later. That is, how about giving the game a chance before
judging/condemning it?
Another
thing: Over the past three years I have had the opportunity to
become reasonably well acquainted with Peter Adkison. In my
opinion he is, to put it mildly, a great guy. He is indeed a
D&D gamer. While a lot of people like to snipe at success,
this is a very negative and foolish attitude. After all, don't we
all want to succeed? Of course, and we should praise and emulate,
not attack, those who achieve something meritorious. Maybe some
here, as in the "industry at large", think it chic to criticize the MtG
CCG. Sure sounds like sour grapes from here. As far as I am
concerned it was and is a masterful stroke of game design--as a lot
more people than those who play RPGs will agree. The POKEMON CCG
is likewise genius! Credit where it is due, please.
It
is now up to RPG publishers, and *players*, to get out there and
convert the unwashed CCG masses to the true gaming faith, of
course. Stop grousing that there are now millions more potential
converts around and get to proselytizing!
Lastly,
I think that WotC/TSR is a company that is concerned with the opinions
of the fans, you and I. This is pretty well supported by the
material posted in the FAQs here from them, no? This likely means
that what the *majority* of participants want will be given in the
game. And, as Nathanael D. Wentz pointed out, those of us who
find the material not "right" can indeed exercise the DM's purview and
"correct" the system...
(^_^)
Gary
August 10, 1999
- Ed Stark of WotC (on the TSR message board) provided
a list of 1st and 2nd quarter 2000 D&D releases. These will
be pre-3E releases that, according to Ed, won't be so rules-intensive
that they can't be converted later. Here they are:
- VORTEX
OF MADNESS: A
trip around the planes with several adventures tied (loosely) together
by an artifact and a story ...
- PRIEST'S
SPELL COMPENDIUM III: Okay, so it IS rules-dependent, but we wanted
to finish the series. And it's a helluva compilation.
- THE
APOCALYPSE STONE: Want to blow up the world with a nasty
adventure and a major quest? Here's your chance. (Gee, would that be
good timing, or what?)
- THE
REVERSE DUNGEON: We've run it at conventions for nearly half a
dozen years. We've wanted to publish it under a variety of names. Now,
finally, you get the chance to play AD&D from the monsters' point
of view ... (No, you won't need "Complete Book of Humanoids"; yes, it
wouldn't hurt.)
- Outside
the Core AD&D group, we have products like a big Vecna adventure, some Greyhawk source/adventure material
(remember "Slave Pits of the Undercity"? Get ready for more slavers
...), and quite a few other unique products.
- Derek Long (on rec.games.frp.dnd) says he e-mailed
Gary Gygax about his rumored involvement in 3E. The response:
- "He will
be reviewing and critiquing the 3rd ed materials for WotC. He
also said he may possibly be writing adventure material for WoG [World
of Greyhawk] for the 3rd edition and contributing articles to Dragon
magazine and other mags as well.".
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