D&D 4E 5th edition - 2015? Or is 4ed the last?

[DaveMage]

If there is a 5th edition, I'd say 2015 is about right, although if I were running things, I'd find a way to tie it into the 40th anniversary celebration in 2014.

 

[jmucchiello]

1. Neural interfaces. You brain thinks your legs are moving, but they aren't.

Again, not computer tech. Biotech.

2. Giant ball-treadmill. It can rotate in any direction, so you can walk without going anywhere.

That will look great in my living room.

 

[Ourph]

I think 5e will be announced about 6 months after WotC employees start publicly denying it's in development in response to ENworld rumors. I expect the books to hit the shelves sometime around 2012.

 

[Ranger REG]

Fair enough, although I was expecting 4e more towards 2010 as well. It seems playtesting was rushed for it, and another year under-wraps and another year of play-testing might've worked out the kinks in the system which we'll all find soon enough.

Playtesting was rushed? More like 4e development started too early (the secretive Alpha stage began in 2005).

 

[ImBatman]

I think you should look at or consider all the recent history of new editions & revisions

D&D 3.0, 2000
SW RPG, 2000
SW RPG Revised, 2002
D&D 3.5, 2003
SW Saga Edition, June 2007
D&D 4.0, June 2008

so...

D&D 4.5 or Revised or Saga edition (whatever marketing decides to call it), should be 2010-2011
- just "enough" changes to need new books and make you re-learn the system
D&D 5.0, 2015-2016 (good guess btw !!!)

 

[Geron Raveneye]

There will be no D&D 5, since we'll all be playing Shadowrun - in real life!

Yeah, but...but...which edition?? I don't want to spend the rest of my life being fully immersed in this newfangled 4E stuff! I'm very happy with a slightly houseruled version of Shadowrun 1E, I could grow old with that...


....what?

 

[delericho]

The Rouse has commented that (a) there will be no 4.5e, and (b) they feel 8 years is about right for a new edition. That would place 5e at 2016, about 4 years after the end of the world.

Personally, I'm guessing we'll see 5e in 2013, and 6e in 2018. Assuming, that is, that the Digital Initiative doesn't flop catastrophically and take the game as a whole with it. (I'm also guessing that 4e and 5e will be moderate successes at best, and 6e a runaway hit. It's all part of my "20-year revivals" theory.)

 

[Truth Seeker]

Ah, there you are!

Now give back that Crystal Ball.

Disclaimer: I know, I know--it is way too early to be talking about 5th, but let's have a bit of fun.

So we've got, according to Wikipedia:

OD&D - 1974
1ed AD&D - 1977-79 (whatever that means)
2ed AD&D - 1989
3ed D&D - 2000
3.5 ed D&D - 2003
4ed D&D - 2008

If we separate it out into the four main editions, we've got:

1ed - 1977
2ed - 1989
3ed - 2000
4ed - 2008

This gives us gaps of 12, 11, and 8 years.

Based upon this, it would follow that 5ed would come out no later than seven years from now, in 2015--in fact, based upon that number pattern, seven years would be the most likely gap.

Now I've read many folks voice the opinion that there will be no 5ed, especially due to the advance in computer technology--by 2015 we might have full-immersion virtual reality. But even if we did, wouldn't people still play table-top Dungeons & Dragons? I think so, in the same way that people still play the violin or the drums, or still write by hand or paint with oils and acrylics. Of course the number of table-top gamers will probably go down--even drastically--but my guess is that there will always be a core of diehard players, at least as long as Gens-X and Y are alive and relatively healthy (my guess is that there are significantly fewer table-top gamers born after 1990, at least compared to the Gen-X late 60s and 70s and Gen-Y 80s).

So what do you think? Will there be a 5ed? And does 2015 sound about right? Or is 4ed the last true table-top edition of D&D?

 

[Sitara]

I forsee that there will be an online MMORPG client that will allow real time pnp based gaming such as NWN, except the MMORPG will be persistant. This will be the evolution of the currently clunky DDI we are seeing rite now.

Though we will still have pnp, the mass market appeal will be with the graphical MMORPG. One reason for this will be that Hasbro will be completely owned either by Lucasarts, Microsoft Game Studios, or Blizzard.

 

[rgard]

People turn into Orks, Elves, Dwarves or Trolls is what happens. (At least according to Shadowrun)

(Okay, I think elves and dwarves start getting born, while people already alive turn into Orks and Trolls)

Raised my hopes with the first sentence and dashed them with the second sentence. I guess I won't turn into a hot elf chick.

Darn,
Rich