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I don't see why they wouldn't. We'll find out anyway when the license is released. The only reason not to tell us is that the intent is not clear, even to them. That would make this week's announcement premature once again. Anyway, here's why adding an anti-OGL clause to the GSL is a bad...

Surely, someone at WotC knows what the intent behind that part of the license is.

I'm catching this out of context, but his career was indeed active then. He won a Hugo in 1975. I'm pretty sure he was gaming back then, too....

The immediacy of online gaming is the big difference. To get involved in WoW or another online fantasy RPG, all you have to go is buy or download the game, install it, and log in. To get involved in D&D, you have to either find or create a group of real live people. That isn't always easy...

It's such a different game this time around. Aside from some of the core mechanics, the characters won't look much like they did in previous editions. I see why the designers are advising everyone to start new campaigns if possible. If I were to switch to 4e, that's certainly what I'd do...

After that, the next step would be to give all classes the same powers.... :confused:

The same demo games as in DDXP? Does that mean the 30-minute delves, or the longer scenarios? In either case, I think they'd be better served by running scenarios that showed off all aspects of the new system, rather than focusing so much on combat. How about showing us the social encounter...

I agree. I hope they dial that back during the playtests. To address the perceived frailty of 1st-level characters, I would simply offer three ways to start characters: "Challenging" -- start at 1st level with max hit points, same as now. "Standard" -- start at 3rd level with some way of...

Doesn't wish still have an XP cost in 3.5? If so, then this just frees up a 9th level spell slot, nothing more.

Good points about the dangers of changing too much. Backwards compatibility *should* be an effective brake on that, I hope. That being said, the Pathfinder rules for turning undead are so much better than 3.5's that I want to marry them.

Now these guys know what makes gamers tick. Open playtest based on OGL rules than we can all play around with? Awesome. A first skimming of the Pathfinder playtest rules already has two of my main group very excited. Their new grapple rules are so much easier and more like actual wrestling...

That sounds good, but it doesn't explain why over the course of centuries of human history, shields were invariably symmetrical. The main reason they were was because in real combat, shields were not really expected to survive more than one battle. The shield was the main barrier between you...

Yeah, I have to admit I rolled my eyes several times here. Leaving that aside, I see a few interesting things: * "Masterwork" doesn't seem to mean what it meant in 3e. * The value of a platinum piece is changing yet again this edition. Has it ever stayed the same from one edition to the next...

Outstanding analysis. Spot on. This may be one of the best summaries of the differences in play style between 1980 and 2008 D&D ever written. I would add one other thing: an overall goal of immersion into the game world, which meant that the players would be much more in the dark. There was...

Gary Gygax single-handedly brought me into gaming in 1980. The AD&D Player's Handbook was the first game book I ever read that didn't speak down to me. I was 12. I'm 40 now. Thanks for 28 years of pleasant pasttime, Gary. Rest in peace.

A lot of this reaction comes from the different way that 4e is being previewed at conventions, as opposed to 3e. In the runup to 3.0's release, I got to play in 3.0 preview events at Dundracon and ConQuest in the Bay Area. These events were actual role-playing events, with plots and...

That sounded like a really fun game session! There's really nothing 4e-specific in there, but it reminds me of the way we used to design dungeons way back when. The trip and bull rush maneuvers in 3e can do what the rogue in this scenario did. Before then, you just had to convince your DM...

3.0 had it right. I was disappointed by the changes to cover in 3.5.

Oddly enough, for me it's the changes in resource management that have me down on the new edition. I actually liked having to deal with limited resources, and being clever about getting the most out of them. I know many people aren't fond of that, and I don't begrudge them wanting to eliminate...

I like to know what the "mainstream" of D&D gamers are up to these days, even if from time to time my interests diverge from theirs.