Gencon 2011... aggghrrr information overload

[wlmartin]

OK so I have been looking at the various blogs and articles and am 100% lost

Since a lot of people attending were interested in various different areas (not just D&D) and possibly didn't attend all seminars / events, I am doubtful that just one person has a good enough perspective on the Convention so have been trying (and failing) to get an overall perspective.

As far as I can make out
: Book Releases? Mordenkainen's Magnificent is back on the schedule but is that the only one? Any other releases announced?
: New Classes? I couldn't make out if there was anything new ... was there?
: New Races? Something about a Fairy Class... any others or was that it?
: New Campaign Settings? Did they do anything regarding new Campaign Settings?
: Minis... I heard there was some kind of announcement RE : Miniatures but was unsure what it was

What does the rest of the year hold out for in the way of 4E?

 

[TwoSix]

1) No 5th edition, if you were wondering.
2) MME: Lots of items, plus other purchasable things, like henchmen. No rituals, though.
3) Heroes of the Feywild. New druid, bard, barbarian builds. Barbarian is a role changer (defender, striker when raging.) Hamadryad, satyr, pixie races. Pixie can fly at 1st level.
4) Heroes of the Plane Below. Essentialized sorcerer, new monk build.
5) New campaign setting for 2012. Unknown currently, but has a "twist".
6) Kara-Tur in DDi 4Q 2011.
7) Sha'ir wizard build at some point, not sure if it's DDi or HotPB.
8) Releasing new non-randomized minis next year.

 

[Vael]

The Sha'ir wizard is also in Heroes Option: The Planes Below, with the Monk and Sorcerer.

 

[wlmartin]

1) No 5th edition, if you were wondering.

I think not!

2) MME: Lots of items, plus other purchasable things, like henchmen. No rituals, though.

OOooooh, Henchman!

3) Heroes of the Feywild. New druid, bard, barbarian builds. Barbarian is a role changer (defender, striker when raging.) Hamadryad, satyr, pixie races. Pixie can fly at 1st level.

I am a big fan of the Bard and Druid but am finding a serious lack of decent powers for them so hopefuly the HotFW will bring.... oh and I love Barbarians... hate their poor defense abilities so wouldnt mind swapping out some of their serious damage powers for some defenses

4) Heroes of the Plane Below. Essentialized sorcerer, new monk build.

Nice

5) New campaign setting for 2012. Unknown currently, but has a "twist".

mmmmmm twist eh? So sounds like they are possibly bringing back a well known one (Ravenloft, Greyhawk etc) but are going to do something interesting with it perhaps... either that or there is something new fangled with Twitter or Facebook

6) Kara-Tur in DDi 4Q 2011.

Mmmmm didn't like them so much but its new so its good!

7) Sha'ir wizard build at some point, not sure if it's DDi or HotPB.
8) Releasing new non-randomized minis next year.

Really??? So we will actually be able to buy Minis? Individually?
Is there more info on this as this is a serious improvement

 

[Vael]

The minis are going to come out in non-random theme packs. I think the price point is going to be higher, but so is the number of minis, I think I heard 12 minis per pack. In addition to being an RPG resource, however, they are being packaged this way to also make a new skirmish game. The game is going to be diceless relying on action cards, to make it a bit more tactical, and less on luck. Also there will be an open beta test on the new skirmish game.

 

[Riastlin]

Yeah minis sounded like they would be in packs, but non-randomized. Will still have to go to the secondary market to get specific individual ones. They did also announce plans for a new Miniatures game that would use the minis in the non-randomized packs as well as perhaps other minis as well. In any event sounded like the minis game minis would be compatible with D&D.

The campaign setting was "announced" was said to be "something they've never done before". So, I think it will definitely be a new setting, but also a setting that has something unique about it (in other words, not a traditional fantasy setting). They of course also went on later to say that they do fantasy well and have no plans for doing anything like sci-fi, so who knows. My pure speculation is that it may be something with firearms and/or a bit of technology -- ironically perhaps a bit like Zeitgeist or even Iron Kingdoms (though that certainly has more sci-fi elements in it with the mechs). That's just my speculation though.

They also announced a new runepriest build coming with the Kara-Tur month of DDi. Will use kanji runes instead of the standard runes.

 

[TirionAnthion]

More Products

Here is a link to a recording of the WotC new product seminar.

http://thetome.podbean.com/2011/08/07/tome-gencon-special-3-new-product-seminar/

Here are a couple of things not mentioned in the above post:

Madness of Gardmore Abbey Adventure (Sept)
Deluxe boxed set adventure featuring adventure, Deck of Many Things, monster tokens and dungeon tiles.

Book of vile Darkness (Dec)
Book of advice and options for running and playing in games with an evil theme.

Undermountain Adventure (March or April)
series of encounter sites within Undermountain as well as a system for generating random dungeons on the fly

Legend of Drizzt Adventure Boardgame
Along the same lines as Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon

Lords of Waterdeep
A Euro style game of influence trading and power brokering set in Waterdeep.

D&D Map pack (Jan)
A set of 3 maps. One is a reprint from an older product and two are new. Priced about $12.

Fortune cards for the Feywild in the fall and Fortune cards for Heroes of the Plane Below in the winter. The next Encounters Season after Neverwinter will be themed around Heroes of the Feywild. The one after that will be themed around the Heroes of the plane below.

Two new Dungeon Tile sets. One is a haunted house and one is more dungeon themed with diagonal hallways and walls.


A new Runpriest build in DDI. The Monk build in the previous is a build for the PHB3 version, not a Essential style update.

WotC is slowing the release schedule to allow themselves to focus more on quality over quantity. They are also only announcing products about 6 months in advance.

Also the Dungeons of Dread boardgame has been cancelled due to product quality issues.

 

[wlmartin]

The minis are going to come out in non-random theme packs. I think the price point is going to be higher, but so is the number of minis, I think I heard 12 minis per pack. In addition to being an RPG resource, however, they are being packaged this way to also make a new skirmish game. The game is going to be diceless relying on action cards, to make it a bit more tactical, and less on luck. Also there will be an open beta test on the new skirmish game.

Ahhhh so it sounds like some kind of mix with their TCG range, like a kind of Yugioh Duel Monsters battle but mixed with D&D perhaps... not my cup of tea but being able to buy the monsters you want is going to be ideal

If it is what it sounds, and you can say buy a pack that has Kobolds and Trogoldytes or Orcs and Ogres... I can see that working and instead of people hunting eBay for the ones they want, often paying multiple and unneeded delivery charges, you can get the pack you want.

If WotC made these changes because they heard the complaining from players that the Mini packaging concept was working against the idea of D&D and more to the idea of a TCG game then well done. If they just decided to come up with this on their own and stumbled into a solution to one of the biggest bugbears of the game, still well done but only 3 stars not 4!

Yeah minis sounded like they would be in packs, but non-randomized. Will still have to go to the secondary market to get specific individual ones. They did also announce plans for a new Miniatures game that would use the minis in the non-randomized packs as well as perhaps other minis as well. In any event sounded like the minis game minis would be compatible with D&D.

The idea of being able to get a set of minis for a certain adventure type sounds appealing!

The campaign setting was "announced" was said to be "something they've never done before". So, I think it will definitely be a new setting, but also a setting that has something unique about it (in other words, not a traditional fantasy setting). They of course also went on later to say that they do fantasy well and have no plans for doing anything like sci-fi, so who knows. My pure speculation is that it may be something with firearms and/or a bit of technology -- ironically perhaps a bit like Zeitgeist or even Iron Kingdoms (though that certainly has more sci-fi elements in it with the mechs). That's just my speculation though.

Checkout the following

Dungeons & Dragons Illustrator | Elance Job

It does say he is an independent publisher but I am not so sure

It does sound like Al-Qadim a little but who knows, this could be the setting they are talking about... After all, why would someone outside WotC be interested in creating a D&D campaign artwork.

The link doesnt give you too much information only that it is a swashbuckling Renaissance world with middle east themes.

They also announced a new runepriest build coming with the Kara-Tur month of DDi. Will use kanji runes instead of the standard runes.
[/quote]

 

[Dannager]

Checkout the following

Dungeons & Dragons Illustrator | Elance Job

It does say he is an independent publisher but I am not so sure

It does sound like Al-Qadim a little but who knows, this could be the setting they are talking about... After all, why would someone outside WotC be interested in creating a D&D campaign artwork.

Anyone making a 3pp supplement could have made that announcement - heck, it could even be Morrus. I guarantee you that it's not from WotC. They have their own established pool of artists, and they absolutely would not go through Elance like that to find a new one.

 

[wlmartin]

Anyone making a 3pp supplement could have made that announcement - heck, it could even be Morrus. I guarantee you that it's not from WotC. They have their own established pool of artists, and they absolutely would not go through Elance like that to find a new one.

That is what I thought... 3pp and also that there are references to Pathfinder and such suggesting it is not WotC organised. That being said, there could be some kind of outsourcing going on and WotC went to this publisher for some concept work and he is himself outsourcing it.

I don't know of many 3PP work that is for Entire Campaigns. Sure an adventure or comic or such here or there but an Entire Campaign?

I am not hanging my hat on this being gospel but it would be nice for a Campaign that was different. Dark Sun was different but not enough... Gamma World was TOOO different.

Of course Campaign Settings are often for those DMs who score a 0-10 on the Imagination Scale since you can create your own Campaign Setting from thin air that can be as fun, exciting and beliveable as anything WotC can come up with!