Pramas: Does 4E have staying power?

[DandD]

Are you joking?

If he was joking, I see no smiley like that one around in his post.

 

[Mark]

If he was joking, I see no smiley like that one around in his post.

He might be posting deadpan.

 

[justanobody]

So the OGL is a responsibility in order to keep interest in D&D in this flailing industry. Is that is what is being said?

 

[xechnao]

So the OGL is a responsibility in order to keep interest in D&D in this flailing industry. Is that is what is being said?

hem hem

 

[DaveMage]

I'm sure the folks at WotC have set their "recruitment" budget and made plans to attract gamers to D&D. However, those decisions were probably tempered by the market conditions (including the competition from online play), and therefore efforts will not exceed what is already planned unless the returns on their original investment pass expectations.

In other words, it is what it is. WotC will follow the money, and likely not waste time on anything that doesn't provide strong revenue (including recruitment efforts). They seem to have lost some of their player base with 4E - can they overcome and surpass that with new recruits? Somehow I don't think tabletop roleplaying gaming will be growing at any significant rate, and I don't think 4E will grow the hobby at all unless something in DDI (as yet unrealized) will spark interest. The game (3.5 and 4E for that matter), comparitively, takes too long to play, and is too slow for the potential new player that could otherwise go online and play instantly - no prep time required - no trying to coordinate schedues with other gamers - and no need to spend hundreds of dollars on gaming materials.

I really don't think our hobby *can* grow significantly at this point. It's likely a new tabletop RPG can only hope to steal away players from other tabletop RPGs. I think increased speed of play is likely to be the number one design goal if 5E ever gets made.

If I were to make 5E, my mantra would be the options of 3.x combined with 1E speed of play. A tall order to be sure.

 

[thecasualoblivion]

So the OGL is a responsibility in order to keep interest in D&D in this flailing industry. Is that is what is being said?

I wouldn't word it that way. I would word it as: The OGL was an idealistic attempt to grow interest in RPGs. I also wouldn't call our hobby a flailing industry. It is a niche hobby for geeks, some of whom perceive it as flailing/failing because it can't seem to rise beyond that, which doesn't jive with the level of enthusiasm some people hold.

 

[Zil]

If I were to make 5E, my mantra would be the options of 3.x combined with 1E speed of play. A tall order to be sure.

So where did the game go wrong in terms of slowing down game play? I know that back in 1E days I used to run massive high level combats with high level wizards (or magic-users - I was so glad when they finally changed the class name) and hordes of creatures without batting an eye. Today I can't imagine running those old scenarios with anything near the same speed (in 3E or 4E).

What is causing the game to slow down? Some say it is because of the vast multiplication in options, but that can't be all that there is to it. I used to run 1E games with a lot of high level wizards and outer planar creatures as opponents so they had options galore. In fact, outer planar creatures tended to have far fewer options once you move from 2E to 3E and then on to 4E.

Or is it all just a symptom of us old-timers who started with 1E or earlier getting older and no longer being able to juggle complicated combat.

 

[xechnao]

So where did the game go wrong in terms of slowing down game play?

I guess it is the combat minis system -movement, flanking, opportunity attacks etch.

 

[DaveMage]

So where did the game go wrong in terms of slowing down game play?

Combat just takes too long in 3.x and 4E.

The extensive rules for implications of movement on the battlefield, and the focus on the visual combat grid are, in my opinion, the main problems for speed. The problem is, I love the grid and the rules for movement on the battlefield - I just hate the time it takes to resolve encounters. How do you keep the options and shorten the time? No idea.

 

[xechnao]

Combat just takes too long in 3.x and 4E.

The extensive rules for implications of movement on the battlefield, and the focus on the visual combat grid are, in my opinion, the main problems for speed. The problem is, I love the grid and the rules for movement on the battlefield - I just hate the time it takes to resolve encounters. How do you keep the options and shorten the time? No idea.

Dave, what would you think about having options that do not use the grid?