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Guardedly optimistic--I like the 'race/class/background/theme' structure and the de-emphasis of the combat grid, but I'm not thrilled with the return of Vancian casting, think the 'letting a character own an encounter' approach needs to be approached carefully, and still wish WotC had some...

Actually, poor fighter saves appears to be largely a 3E-ism. Looking at my Rules Cyclopedia, the fighter's saving throws are either always better than the wizards or at most a point or two below. In 2E, they start out worse, but pull ahead around name level. True; part of the issue is that...

On the bright side, we got some brief hints at interesting parallel planes and a decent Citadel Cavitius sourcebook out of it, and some killer Kevin McGann art. :) From what I've heard, the product may have suffered from managerial interference--the came from on high, as I understand.

This is the old school mode of thought where actually having to use the combat rules is a black mark on your record, isn't it? :) Wand of cure light wounds came about as part of 3E's push to 'rationalize' magic by allowing any spell to be placed in a wand and letting them be crafted...

I think part of the issue might be that designers make horrible marketers--we saw some of this with 4E, and I think we're seeing it again, especially since they or some of the playtesters have sometimes used catchphrases or complaints that sound like edition war fodder.

Death of the hobby? No way. Death of the industry? Ten years ago, I would have said 'probably'. Now, though, I'm not so sure. The explosion of PDF, PoD and Kickstarter means that there are all sorts of ways of attracting interest and getting product out there that don't require the existing...

I'm not giving up, but I'm considerably more skeptical than I was when it was first announced. Still, there's some positive glimmers coming through along with the less appealing ones, so I'll keep on observing. Besides, if it doesn't fit what I want, there's still Savage Worlds, M&M...

I wonder if something went horribly wrong with the initial print run. It would not only explain the sudden delay, but it would be traditional. :) Apparently, the original printing of the 1st Edition DMG had all sorts of problems as well.

AUGH! No, that's not directed at you; that's directed at WotC, for 'pulping' this and so many other cool-sounding MSHAG products. :)

Yes, but it's been part of the game now for half again as long as it wasn't. (1973-1988: 15 years. 1989-2012: 23 years.)

Giving monsters ability scores isn't a problem, and given what we've heard about the resolution and save system in Next/5E/Ouroboros Edition, it's almost a given that they'll have them. The trifecta of making scores uncapped, 'realistic' and applying in exactly the same way as they do to PCs can...

I was about to post that there's the basis of a wonderful Magical Girl class in the warlock's mechanics, if you strip away the edgy/Evil-curious feel. :) (But then, I'm an old HERO fan, and am now moving towards Savage Worlds, so changing special effects is in my bones. :) )

I agree--I'd like to go back to the BECM/RC cleric who "is dedicated to serving a great and worthy cause. This cause can be an Immortal being dedicated to a specific goal or attribute; sometimes the cleric is serving only his alignment, and has no interest in immortal beings. The D&D does not...

So the only thing D&D can be is late-70s hallucinatory weird adolescent power fantasy a la Gygax and Otus? ;) Well, that's one way to unify the editions--drive out everything that doesn't appeal to a narrow style of play as 'not proper D&D'. I expect to see more and more of that around here...

127. The core classes are Anti-Paladin, Assassin, Warlock, and Demon Cultist.

As far as I know, it never saw print.

Not so. The Chaos War came from the pens of Weis & Hickman, who were simply envisioning it as a big event and the Krynnish version of Ragnarok, not a system changeover. After presales of DoSF were good (and the book was in galleys), the DL fans on TSR staff got the go-ahead to relaunch the game...

If that's the case, then WotC is in a no-win situation and has only themselves to blame for announcing D&DN this early. :) OTOH, 2nd Edition seems to have taken a few years from announcement to release, but communication was a lot slower in those days and the game didn't have three or more...

3E was a GenCon announcement for release at next GenCon, but the history of information release is skewed by the fact that a few playtesters on Usenet treated the announcement as undoing the NDA for a while, and were being quite free with the information. Still, solid tidbits on mechanics--if...

If they can pull it off, I thoroughly agree. My concern is that eventually, they may have to make choices about what the 'baseline' is or what to include as the initial modules, and from the designers' statements and records, I fear that (with the exception of gridless combat) they're likely to...