4th ed. And now it's time for Wild speculations with Gundark

[Gundark]

I have to say this one caught me off guard. I expected another year out of 3.5. I believed the "4th ed is a ways off" and "all major D&D announcements will be made at D&D xp" line.

Anyhow without any insiderer info or even logical thought it's now time for Gundark's wild predictions/speculations/possible misquotes about 4th ed!!!!!!

1. WotC didn't lie at D&D xp. What? How can this be? Well maybe...just maybe WotC was planning a later announcement of 4th ed (D&D xp 2008). However along comes Star Wars SAGA edition. I don't know how many people I saw on these very forums saying things like "wow I hope this is a preview of 4th ed" and "well if 4th ed. is like SAGA then I'm onboard". We saw the project here on EN world to release a fanstasy SAGA version. All this made WotC go "hmmm they all seem to like our 4th ed preview (as we all know SAGA was a 4th ed preview), let's strike while the iron is hot and announce 4th ed @ Gencon". So it's not that they lied at D&D xp...it's just circumstances changed since then.

2. 4th edition will kill "rpg lite" games. You like True 20? Castles and Crusades? 4th edition's focus on faster games and easier, quicker prep time will bring back the people who were tired of the complicated, slow play of 3.X. Combined with all the time savers of the online initiative will cause these games will go by the wayside.

3. Paizo knew about 4th ed. They're close...a little too close to WotC. Mike McArtor had thie to say on the paizo forums speaking of previewing 4th ed, in Dragon magazine "Yeah, we were kinda hoping to get to do something like that before the end, but Wizards of the Coast wasn't in position to announce anything until now. Alas.". Man....you think they could have thrown us a frickin' bone or something.

either that and they didn't know about 4th ed. and now it sucks to be them to be starting pathfinder the month the 4th ed. cat get's let out of the bag. wonder what they're gonna do?

Anyhow that's it for now. Have any wild ideas? crazy predictions? Post them here. It's like my old psychology professor always says "if you throw enough $h#t some of it will stick!!!

 

[KingCrab]

Caught me totally off guard as well.

I'm guessing Paizo probably didn't know, otherwise they wouldn't be starting pathfinder right now. It kind of stinks for them to be starting it now.

 

[Gundark]

yeah. I have to say the timing of Pathfinder was odd. I'm guessing they at least knew it was under development. Whether they knew about a release date or not remains to be seem. I read that they could wrap up their first story line before 4 ed. If Paizo are one of the publishers that gets the SRD early their second path could be 4th ed. Which is why I thinhk they knew about it.

 

[Dire Bare]

1. WotC didn't lie at D&D xp.

I've been seeing a lot of "WotC lied to us" grumping on the boards, and I'm just not getting it. It's very possible I missed something, but I personally am not under the impression that WotC as a company or any individuals like Scott lied at all.

Sure, there was a lot of vague misdirection on the subject of a new edition, there always has been. If you've picked a date for the big announcement and people are hammering at you before hand to spill the beans, it's a hard question to answer. It's possible that a Wizards staffer who knew of the impending 4e might have misspoke in an attempt to misdirect questions on 4e, but if so I doubt it was intentional.

A lot of grumpy gamers like to ascribe malice to WotC's actions when simple explanations work just fine. I REALLY doubt that Scott Rouse or any other WotC staffer was cackling to himself while telling us, "oh, no, no 4e is ever gonna happen anytime soon," while drafting plans to take over the gaming world with a new mind-controlling edition of D&D . . .

2. 4th edition will kill "rpg lite" games. You like True 20? Castles and Crusades?

Maybe. It is very likely 4e will reduce the "need" for such games. But there will always be a minority of gamers who just want to not like the current edition of D&D and want alternatives.

3. Paizo knew about 4th ed.

I really doubt it. Paizo new that the print mags were ending (duh). Paizo knew WotC had plans for electronic versions of the mags, but didn't know any of the details. Many Paizo staffers probably expected the imminent release of 4e (cause they're smart guys and mostly ex-WotC staffers), but didn't have any more details than any other RPG company.

either that and they didn't know about 4th ed. and now it sucks to be them to be starting pathfinder the month the 4th ed. cat get's let out of the bag. wonder what they're gonna do?

Actually, Paizo's launch of Pathfinder was perfectly timed. They absolutely HAD to keep the momentum going with the loss of their flagship magazines. If Paizo had folded the mags and then not introducted Pathfinder until May, they would be so screwed.

And while Paizo hasn't yet committed to the 4e switch, I'm positive they will and that the transition will be seamless. They'll have their second or third adventure path finish up in late spring or early summer next year, then simply start a new adventure path close to the release of 4e. They'll probably offer us 4e conversions of the existing Pathfinder material released up to that point as well. At least that's what I expect them to do.

What I am worried about, for both Paizo and other great d20 RPG companies like Green Ronin, Malhavoc (yes, I know Monte's left the business . . . for now), and others is that they might not have access to the D&D Insider, specifically the gametable and character generators.

Even if 4e has a generous OGL and/or SRD license available, if I can't build my D&D character with options from Paizo's latest Pathfinder supplement online with the new nifty character generator . . . I'm that much less likely to purchase the Pathfinder supplement in the first place. Maybe WotC will offer this capability to "proven" d20 companies . . . I certainly hope so . . .

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I'd like to know if Paizo plans to keep Pathfinder 3.5 or roll over to 4E (probably too soon for them to answer given the announcement).

I'll definitely get the first set of six adventure path since that's what my subscriptions roll over to (which takes us through Feb 08 anyway), but I haven't decided on continuing until I (1) see if I like Pathfinder and (2) make a 3.5 or 4 conversion decision.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I'm not sure WotC directly lied about things...but there was definite misdirection. The big ones that get people, and still irk me a bit, are "4e is a long ways off" and "All major D&D announcements from now on will happen at D&D XP".

Well, the first of those could be written off as, when they said, a year is a long ways. Course, that's personal opinion, but I can see it even if I don't particularly agree. As for the second, though, I'm not quite sure what to say. That one just seems like a blatant way to drop everyone's guard.

And I don't really see 4e killing the so-called 'rules lite' games. Especially something like C&C, which has an audience drawn for nostalgia almost as much as being rules lite. Not only do we really not know how 4e will be comparable to them, but these kind of games have their own markets that, though small, are pretty dedicated.

 

[grimslade]

Pathfinder and Paizo

Pathfinder is perched to be in an almost perfect setup. The first Pathfinder AP finishes up just in time for the launch of 4e. The second AP will be 4e and will be what most 4e players will grow nostalgia-y with. 2nd Pathfinder will be the Against the Giants for 4e. I think the future is very bright or Paizo.