Is it time for 5E?

[JRRNeiklot]

Mein gott! Blizzard are working on D&D 5th edition! It's got to be true! 5th edition next year!

Shortly after the release of 4e, there was a poll on these boards on when we'd see 5e. I doubt I can find it now, though. At the time, I said 5e would be released sometime in 2012. I still think it will, though it may not be CALLED 5e.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Shortly after the release of 4e, there was a poll on these boards on when we'd see 5e. I doubt I can find it now, though. At the time, I said 5e would be released sometime in 2012. I still think it will, though it may not be CALLED 5e.

They can call it whatever they want. They can call it "Dungeons & Dragons Revolution". It will still BE 5e. And will affect the game/community accordingly, for better or worse.

 

[Dausuul]

Yeah, it's too early.

Personally, I would jump on board with 5E tomorrow, if it continued along the lines they seem to be going--less metagamey, more old-schooly, plus the death of DDM means they can move away from 4E's heavy dependence on miniatures. I would shake the dust of 4E off my boots and never look back.

But then, my feelings on 4E have been deeply ambivalent for a while*. If the 4E community were a solar system, I'd be a comet, swinging around the fringes in a highly eccentric orbit, only tenuously bound by gravity. Most 4E players would be justifiably infuriated to see a new edition so soon; there would be another split in the community, half moving to 5E and the other half sticking with the current edition.

Meanwhile, what about the other side? The paramount goal of any 5E release should be to reunite the D&D community as much as possible, bringing the folks who couldn't stomach 4E back into the fold. But a lot of those people are happily playing Pathfinder right now. In time, many of them will start getting antsy and ready to move on--that's the nature of RPGs. When that happens, the time will be ripe for 5E. But right now, no.

[size=-2]*Also, I'm a single guy with no kids and a good job, so coming up with the money to buy into 5E would not be a problem.[/size]

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

Professor Cirno's point was NOT that older editions had no options for characters. His point was that 4e is about fun and imaginative things other than combat and supports those things as well as any other edition.

Dude, what's with that font? Ouch.

 

[Chainsaw Mage]

I truly do not understand the sudden panic of the Wizards. Fourth Edition was doing very well. More and more players were playing it, and it was becoming the standard game in many game shops, conventions and clubs because of Living Forgotten Realms and the Encounters games. Just keep improving it please... but then WHAM! change after change after change, and then cancellation after cancellation, and retrenchment after retrenchment.

The fact that there was this "WHAM! Change after change" effect should demonstrate the obvious: 4e was NOT doing well. If it had been selling a ton of books, they would have changed nothing. The fact that they are doing something as radical as Essentials (and all the other changes we've discussed here) proves that 4e was NOT a success. Simple economics of supply and demand.

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah, it's too early.

Personally, I would jump on board with 5E tomorrow, if it continued along the lines they seem to be going--less metagamey, more old-schooly, plus the death of DDM means they can move away from 4E's heavy dependence on miniatures. I would shake the dust of 4E off my boots and never look back.

But then, my feelings on 4E have been deeply ambivalent for a while*. If the 4E community were a solar system, I'd be a comet, swinging around the fringes in a highly eccentric orbit, only tenuously bound by gravity. Most 4E players would be justifiably infuriated to see a new edition so soon; there would be another split in the community, half moving to 5E and the other half sticking with the current edition.

Meanwhile, what about the other side? The paramount goal of any 5E release should be to reunite the D&D community as much as possible, bringing the folks who couldn't stomach 4E back into the fold. But a lot of those people are happily playing Pathfinder right now. In time, many of them will start getting antsy and ready to move on--that's the nature of RPGs. When that happens, the time will be ripe for 5E. But right now, no.

[size=-2]*Also, I'm a single guy with no kids and a good job, so coming up with the money to buy into 5E would not be a problem.[/size]

I'd jump too, and I'm married, 4 kids and part time job

******** On topic: it would be a disaster if 5e came out in only a year or two from now. But on the other hand 4e is (quite suddenly) unraveling. I am a staunch fanatic of 4e, but all the recent announcemts (and chiefly lack thereof) and developments have been extremely disheartening for me.

No compiled magazines, no new miniatures, far fewer books of note, a confused mess with Essentials (despite all its options which I do like), no more off-line Character Builder (and the new one half-finished), a surfeit of evil classes and races, very little campaign world support, no epic level support, crappy modules, crappy new magic items and rarity... it is like the Wizards are in some strange panic, a nervous breakdown.

I truly do not understand the sudden panic of the Wizards. Fourth Edition was doing very well. More and more players were playing it, and it was becoming the standard game in many game shops, conventions and clubs because of Living Forgotten Realms and the Encounters games. Just keep improving it please... but then WHAM! change after change after change, and then cancellation after cancellation, and retrenchment after retrenchment. Hasbro has not changed the basic Monopoly in 80 years: why put pressure on WoTC to mess around with such a new edition as 4e?

Well said

 

[mach1.9pants]

Yeah, it's too early.

Personally, I would jump on board with 5E tomorrow, if it continued along the lines they seem to be going--less metagamey, more old-schooly, plus the death of DDM means they can move away from 4E's heavy dependence on miniatures. I would shake the dust of 4E off my boots and never look back.

But then, my feelings on 4E have been deeply ambivalent for a while*. If the 4E community were a solar system, I'd be a comet, swinging around the fringes in a highly eccentric orbit, only tenuously bound by gravity. Most 4E players would be justifiably infuriated to see a new edition so soon; there would be another split in the community, half moving to 5E and the other half sticking with the current edition.

Meanwhile, what about the other side? The paramount goal of any 5E release should be to reunite the D&D community as much as possible, bringing the folks who couldn't stomach 4E back into the fold. But a lot of those people are happily playing Pathfinder right now. In time, many of them will start getting antsy and ready to move on--that's the nature of RPGs. When that happens, the time will be ripe for 5E. But right now, no.

[size=-2]*Also, I'm a single guy with no kids and a good job, so coming up with the money to buy into 5E would not be a problem.[/size]

I'd jump too, and I'm married, 4 kids and part time job

 

[lordxaviar]

you forget that WoTC is gone its a front for Hasbro.

 

[Keefe the Thief]

you forget that WoTC is gone its a front for Hasbro.

I would have preferred if they would've become a font for Hasbro. Fonts are awesome, especially with random tables attached:

You drink from the font called Wotc. Roll a D20:

1 Roll twice on the table

2-4 3d4 horned devils appear, playing "Highway to Hell" with an assortment of cowbells

5-8 you contract yellow mold. Roll d%: 1-60 you die (no save), 61-85 you die (DM acts like you have a save, but you really haven't), 86-100 you forced your henchman to drink first. He crumbles to dust while you nod and twirl your moustache. If you have no moustache, you too crumble to dust just because.

9-13 Your lips disappear. From now on, the only language you are able to speak is your alignment language and any kind of sign language. Lose the whistling nonweapon proficiency.

14-19 The font gives off an erie glow, reflecting ominous magical dwimmer radiance light mightily. Adjectives and pronouns slowly fill the room, forcing you to wade into other parts of the dungeon where grammar is more shallow.

20 The archmage Hevard Anton Sigmund Bernhard Ringo Oldenwood and his apprentice wizard from the seaside appear beside the font. Babbling random stuff about essential initiatives, they curse your spellbook in a most inconvenient fashion. You now can only read it while connecting it with a chain to the wall of your house. Page turning takes forever, and now and then a page will be totally illegible until you wait while shaking your fist. The two cackling wizards vanish in a puff of smoke, leaving you none the wiser.

 

[scruffygrognard]

I'd love to see a 5th edition of D&D that:
1] Went back to basics in terms of races: dwarf, elf, gnomes, halfling and human. 1/2 elves and 1/2 orcs would be available through a feat choice.
2] Went back to basics in terms of classes: cleric, fighter, magic-user and thief. Feat and/or talent trees would allow for differentiation of these classes so that your fighter could be a swashbuckler, ranger, paladin or cavalier.
3] Had 3 core books: The PHB, the DMG and an all-in-one Monster Manual.
4] Didn't rely of DDI for near constant game updates and content patches.
5] Had non-collectible supplements. Wants spell cards?.?.?. here's a deck with every wizard spell in it.
6] Returned the classic elements that were ditched with 4th edition: something like Vancian magic, classic races & classes (see 1+2 above), the full alignment spectrum, the classic Realms, Greyhawk, etc.

At the same time the game would need to run far faster than 3rd or 4th edition (which should be possible if Powers are ditched, and stacking effects, DR, and ability-boosting items are cleaned up). Cut back on the escalation of numerical modifiers in order to make D&D into a game of action, not accounting.

Basically... make 5th edition into a retroclone that employs cleaned up d20 mechanics and some modern design elements that have been shown to improve the game.