D&D 4th Edition Next Year?

[Mark CMG]

v3.5 I bet has a good long life ahead of it.

I agree.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I wonder if it's possible to add 4th edition rumors to the auto-spam kick list.

You've got my vote, sir.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

EXCUSE ME!!! There are NO Vulcans in D&D...nadda, zippo, nyet. Please teleport that reference to the correct forum Danke.

What about the Maenads?

 

[William Ronald]

What about the Maenads?

Close, but I understand the D20 version of Vulcans are a +3 ECL race. Mind you, they can be role played likie Vulcans.

Possibly one thing that might be done in a new edition is to include more options on character races in the Players Handbook, such as the established core rules subraces. These subraces are referrenced in the Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide.

 

[wingsandsword]

Now, this site wasn't founded on idle rumors of 3rd Edition, it was created after 3e was announced, as a place where what information we had could be shared and we could speculate and try and fill in the gaps from what we had, it wasn't a "I'll bet we'll have another edition one day" site.

Every week or so, somebody goes and posts a 4e rumor thread, which goes about like this:
1. Some "mysterious industry insider" said it's coming OR "Hasbro will make WotC do it soon."
2. People show up to ask for details about this mysterious insider, or to point out that Hasbro only cares about WotC's bottom line, and D&D is pretty under their overall radar.
3. People will also cite WotC's official statements about advance notice time, general satisfaction with 3.5e, and acknowledgement that 4e will happen one day, but no time in the forseeable future.
4. People will ignore that, and assume it will be out in a few months, typically at the end of the currently published product schedule.
5. People will point out that it violates WotC's statements and policies, as well as their obvious marketing technique of a Gen Con debut.
6. People will then say that anything official from WotC can't be trusted since they'll toe the company line and give propaganda, but their "mysterious industry insider" can be trusted (I always thought this was the funniest one, you can't trust their public statements they even give their reasons for, but an unnamed shadowy source is gospel truth).
7. There will be a separate sub-argument over the future of the OGL and 4e.
8. Tempers will have frayed by two or three pages into the thread, as both sides are deeply entrenched. Many people are sick & tired of new baseless (this poster, for example, is particularly fed up with people saying they have mysterious industry insider information that they cannot divulge the identity of their informant, but everything they say is true and if you disagree you're foolish. If you can't name a source in a debate so it can be verified, don't cite their information.)

 

[kirby179]

The only reason I'm going to back this one, is that one of the main individuals behind Living Arcanis was told (in front of other regulars to his gaming store (not owned by him, the one he works at and frequents)) that he would be recieving a development kit for converting LA into 4th edition within the next year to 18 months.

I'd call that pretty solid. Not around-the-corner solid, but 5 years out? Probably.

 

[wingsandsword]

The only reason I'm going to back this one, is that one of the main individuals behind Living Arcanis was told (in front of other regulars to his gaming store (not owned by him, the one he works at and frequents)) that he would be recieving a development kit for converting LA into 4th edition within the next year to 18 months.

I'd call that pretty solid. Not around-the-corner solid, but 5 years out? Probably.

If that's real, and that's a big if, then somebody broke their Nondisclosure Agreement big time (as in getting fired or lawsuit level likely) by talking about it in a gaming store, in public, in front of customers, and having that leak back to the fan base thanks to the internet.

Would a professional member of the gaming industry (with a career and reputation to worry about), sittiing on the biggest bombshell in gaming news, walk into a FLGS and tell one of the the employees, who happens to work on an RPGA campaign, about long-term plans for converting to 4e, in front of customers and employees of another business?

This essentially boils down to "a friend of mine was told was told by somebody important that it will happen sometime in the future" Without names and details, I'm just going to file this as another "I heard from somebody on the internet" rumor that could have been planted by anybody, and as such I'd call it pretty flimsy.

 

[CharlesRyan]

One of the main individuals behind Living Arcanis was told that he would be recieving a development kit for converting LA into 4th edition within the next year to 18 months.

No he wasn't.

 

[shadow]

I don't doubt that 4e will be out before long. Why? Think about it.
1. Wizards considers D&D to be a "living game" that "constantly evolves as it is played" (i.e. A new edition every few years).
2. What more can Wizards possibly come out with for 3.5 D&D? We have class books, races books, two campaign settings, campaign option books, even terrain books. Unless Wizards repeats the mistakes of TSR by trying to simultaneously support several different campaign worlds, I doubt that there is much more that can be released for 3.5 without getting into niche products.

Once 4e is announced I'm sure in spite of the naysaying heard on messageboards, most gamers will jump on the bandwagon of 4e. I say this with a fair amount of confidence. From my own experience I have seen:

A gamer who spent several hundred dollars on 3e stuff sell all of his 3.0e stuff back to the gamer store after 3.5e was released.

My FLGS refusing to buy or give trade for 3.0e stuff anymore since "no one plays 3.0e anymore."

Several gamers who swore by 3e renounce it as soon as 3.5e came out. Although they were initially content with 3e and had no complaints about it, as soon as 3.5e came out 3.0e became the anathema.


It's just human nature to buy the newest and latest edition of something to "keep up with the times". So when 4e come out gamers will flock to buy it whether or not it is any "improvement" over 3.5e. (For that matter, most gamers probably won't care if it has been playtested or not.) Gamers generally have some disposable income that they are willing to spend on gaming stuff, and most want to keep up with the latest edition. WotC knows this, so I doubt that they are too worried about alienating gamers with a new edition.

 

[Maggan]

The only reason I'm going to back this one, is that one of the main individuals behind Living Arcanis was told (in front of other regulars to his gaming store (not owned by him, the one he works at and frequents)) that he would be recieving a development kit for converting LA into 4th edition within the next year to 18 months.

I'd call that pretty solid. Not around-the-corner solid, but 5 years out? Probably.

Was he told by a mysterious industry insider who refused to give his true identity?

Cause if it was someone from WotC who said so, well ... we all know that anyone from WotC wouldn't know what they were talking about regarding 4e, now would they? Only if the source is a mysterious, unidentified industry insider who might or might not be Dave Arneson, can such an announcement be trusted!

/M