D&D 5th Edition!!! (WITH POLL!!!)

[slwoyach]

The backbone of the system would be 3e, while incorporating some of the better ideas from other publishers. They should especially take a long look at what the folks over at Mongoose did for the Conan RPG.

Bring back the limitations on wizards, ala 2e. Casters will always be more powerful than warriors, but removing the only reasons to not play a caster makes warriors worthless. Bring back casting time and memorization time. Knowing that if you cast that ninth level spell your enemies have 9 segments to go after you and try to disrupt your magic AND knowing that it takes an hour and a half to re-memorize that spell makes you think twice. A high level 2e wizard simply couldn't replace all his spells in one day, he had to be more selective with casting.

Remove all rules that require a battlemat. I don't like battlemats, and I don't like being forced to use it as a dm. If I'm a player, that's fine because it's my DM's game and his rules. If I'm a dm I should be able to do without it. Cinematic combat > tactical combat, that's why novels don't provide detailed maps of the battles that take place.

Bring back specialty priests, 1e/3e/and 4e priesthoods are all too similar. Also make a non-fighting cleric class. Clerics are great at killing things, they suck at doing things priests should be good at. You know, influencing reactions, tending the flock, providing knowledge, etc.

Enhance the idea of level tiers. I love the E6 rules and prefer playing at that tier above all others. Providing rules for stopping level advancement at the level of the DMs choosing allows him to create the atmosphere he desires. Not everybody like plane-hopping supermen!

 

[GSHamster]

For 5th Edition, I think WotC really needs to answer the question: How are we going to make money?

I mean, we can say want a "simpler" game, but if the majority of books people choose to buy is additional rules, then the game will end up being complex.

 

[Quickleaf]

Oh, forgive me, I wasn't suggesting that D&D should move to an online-play-only model. I was suggesting that they move to a digital-only model. I absolutely think that face-to-face play is the ideal, but I feel that face-to-face play (and the hobby in general) can be significantly improved by putting everything online - the rules, the tools, heck, even the playmat. I was lucky enough to get the chance to see SurfaceScapes in action last year when it was being shown off, and I absolutely feel that a digital surfacetop format is the natural progression of this hobby. Where we used to have books, we'll have e-readers or tablets. Where we used to have character sheets, we'll have smartphones or tablets. Where we used to have handouts, we'll have displays. Where we used to have Chessex battle mats, we'll have a touch screen table. D&D, as with all cultural phenomena, evolves with time. This is the way I see it headed. It's simply a matter of how fast we get there.

How do you reconcile that with the larger encounter areas in 4e? For example, the DMG recommends a 16 x 20 square map for a big encounter, and D&D battlemaps are generally 20 x 30 squares. What you describe sounds like th Microsoft Surface, a pretty clunky thing which isn't easy portable. Or do you mean to imply miniatures would be digital too, so you could just reduce the map scale to suit your screen size?

 

[Wiseblood]

I would start over from scratch.
Online material would be available that same day as the release. *For Free* It would absoluteley add nothing. (i Hate to use the word content since it would be more like apps for people who like that sort of thing)
* No restating of rules or erratta EVER.(not because I'm infallible but because if you have a problem it's better if you fix it)
*2 small light rulebooks one for players one for dm no need to share.
* grid combat would be entirely optional (tactical rules would be fairly easy to track without grids)
*Spellcasting in combat would be different from out of combat ( think powers and rituals)
* Warriors would not have powers. ( I'm shocked that people would denegrate a standard attack or a full attack.... I'm guessing they are used to low lethality.)
*HP would actually be abstract.
* equipment lists would be immersive. (and awesome)
* economics would make sense.
* Doing damage would be a viable strategy.
*Feats would not exist. (unless your character was talking about something he/she once did or saw)
*Monsters would be from myth and legend with perhaps 1% being IP none of the nonsensical (scary name monster) to fight because you're x level.
* No wealth by level unless you are reading your journal.
* classes will not be balanced against one another since there will be no specific rules for PVP
* Everything can be critted ( if you roll for damage when you attack a construct, undead, or ooze there is a clear distinction between a good hit and a sorry one)
* Magic Items are bonuses to power not expected by level ( they're fun, exciting and unique)
* fiddly bits like encumberance, weapon speeds, armor vs weapons easily ignored unless you like it



now for my personal things




* no Gnomes ( I could really take them or leave them but I doun't believe anyone has done them well)
* No half anything this includes halflings (same reason as above)
* no perfect elves ( they are there just not perfect)
* 6 classes
* no more than 20 levels
* dynamic changes in gameplay at name level ( read 10+)
* artwork in the style of Otus, Easley, Elmore, Frazetta no WAR
* no Crit tables ( I know it's rare to even see but I can't do a good one especially since hp are abstract.)
* characters can and do die


That was a bit rant-y but it helped me to crystallize some thoughts.

Thanks,
Wiseblood

 

[RLBURNSIDE]

most of you

hit upon the real solution, but don't take that extra step and realize : D&D now belongs to us, the fans. Not metaphorically, but in every way. They make a paycheck from it, we spend our paychecks and many of our free-time (and even working hours) thinking about it. This gets us in trouble with our spouses, makes us late for work, or sleepy at work, all sorts of things.

Wizards may create a 5th edition, and it may even be good, but with DND Insider and Errata, I will never, ever, ever devote as much time as I did with 4e with "mother-may-I" online-only software looking over our gaming table to make sure there are no house rules on our character sheets and we are obeying their lame-nerf-du-jour or OP idiocy.

LFR standardization put a stranglehold on DMs, players, and the entire game. Home games are even forced to play by errata, due to the way the fact that if you play in a group where the DM likes to use the online builder to keep track of everyone's character, you have no choice but to follow their latest debauched character-killing over-reach. This is not fun. I can't count how many times over the past three years this has happened, where players were so disappointed and forced to rebuild. This disruption is worse than "mother-may-I". It's "holy mary mother-of-god wtf is wizards doing to us". Instead of that warlorck daily with the ping-pong effect being fixed, it gets nerfed into oblivion and ...actually, WE are the ones being ping-ponged. And we pay for it. Repeatedly.

This is the definition of insanity. Don't expect that pattern to stop, expect it to continue, and to get worse, the more control they exert over us with such things as VTT and so on. What happens when you're playing a D&D virtual game in 5e, and they add some BS sweating filter to their "family values" app? Think it can't happen? Think again! These companies LOVE to own their customers, to control them.

The only solution is to make our own system, owned by all of us and no one. Like Free Software : Free Gaming. They can sell us books and so on, but we control the builder. We control the errata schedule, and how to fix broken things. Even better, we can do it on a case-by-case basis. The fact is, Wizards has an inordinate amount of control over aspects of our gaming sessions that THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS being involved in.

What right do they have to kill your epic level character, when you're close to finishing the campaign and the DM didn't house rule it? With a user-controlled delivery system, we can say : the NEXT campaign, this is how turn undead will work. Not right now. Or you can decide that jointly with your DM.

The fact that they haven't added any house rule functionality in the builder thus far is telling. House rules and home games are bad for their business model : which is for us to pay for things we don't want or need, repeatedly, such as idiotic errata pulling the rug out from under your feet.

Imagine RIGHT in the middle of your monopoly game, the company rep comes into your house uninvited, tells you Boardwalk is now Baltic Ave., and thank you very much for your subscription, you may continue playing now...too bad all your pieces are now on junk property. There goes the neighbourhood.

The only solution to this mess is to take the power back. Make a community 5e, call it something similar, and make it awesome, kick-ass, whatever we want...I will volunteer my programming services as will probably tons of others here. I make MMOs for a living and have fifteen years programming experience, and I live, breathe, and dream D&D.

aside : Isn't the copyright expired yet? We should be able to call our game D&D, to hell with Wizards. Register it in a country with fair laws that weren't written by Disney Corporation.

 

[Lanefan]

This strikes me as an ultimately counter-productive way of producing a game. How about they get it as perfect as they can, and then release errata when they feel it's necessary? If you don't like errata because you consider incorporating it a hassle (even though 5e will undoubtedly feature a suite of digital tools that automatically incorporates errata, so that's really no excuse), you don't have to use it in your game.

Also, failing to produce crunch-heavy products on a regular basis would probably put WotC out of business. The other stuff doesn't sell nearly as well.

I'm looking at this as an exercise in what we'd like to see the game become, not the company. If WotC falls (and it won't, M:tG will see to that if nothing else) someone else - even one of us, perhaps - will dive in on a smaller scale and keep it going.

I'm going to take the slightly controversial position here of: No, they shouldn't.

This hobby should be moved - by force if necessary (read: you can't play otherwise) - to a heavily digital play medium. The days of playing without laptops or smartphones at the table should be relegated to editions past. If rulebooks are sold, they ought to be available in ebook format of some kind. Ideally, however, 5e supplements ought simply to be released as digital expansions operating on a subscription basis. If you subscribe, you have access to the whole game, simple as that.

Yes, there would be kicking and screaming, accusations of baby-killing and dog-kicking, etc., but the hobby would be cleansed and purified in the flames of (digital) revolution.

Put another way, you'd prefer to see WotC survive at the expense of the local gaming stores who make their money by selling hard copy products. Why?

As for the hobby being cleansed and purified, in the process it would also be largely destroyed. I want my game materials on paper and damned if I'm going to wear out my printer printing 'em.

Don't get me wrong, I've no issue with the printed product also being available online for the convenience of thems as wants it that way as long as the online content never exceeds that which is in print.

Oh, forgive me, I wasn't suggesting that D&D should move to an online-play-only model. I was suggesting that they move to a digital-only model. I absolutely think that face-to-face play is the ideal, but I feel that face-to-face play (and the hobby in general) can be significantly improved by putting everything online - the rules, the tools, heck, even the playmat. I was lucky enough to get the chance to see SurfaceScapes in action last year when it was being shown off, and I absolutely feel that a digital surfacetop format is the natural progression of this hobby. Where we used to have books, we'll have e-readers or tablets. Where we used to have character sheets, we'll have smartphones or tablets. Where we used to have handouts, we'll have displays. Where we used to have Chessex battle mats, we'll have a touch screen table. D&D, as with all cultural phenomena, evolves with time. This is the way I see it headed. It's simply a matter of how fast we get there.

Hmmm...so to play the game this way I'd need to buy a tablet (or e-reader), a touch-screen table, and a better computer; while each of my players would have to buy a tablet (or e-reader).

This completely defeats one of the better aspects of the game as is: a relatively low cost of entry and a potential near-zero cost after that. Yes there's an initial outlay to pick up some books and a few supplies (dice, maybe some minis, etc.), but after that you can play long-term for very little ongoing cost - and that's the way it should be.

I don't mind choosing to spend money. I resent being forced to.

Lan-"the low-tech solution often trumps the high-tech problem"-efan

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

I'd take 5e in a whole new direction, rules-wise. Maybe use the d20 system to make D&D the point buy-level-based hybrid game that 3e wants to be.

Or go in the other direction: combine the quick-play simplicity of TSR editions with the unified d20 system and 4e's balance and absence of arbitrary restrictions.

Or something else entirely. Just not a rehash of the same ol' same old.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=42437]Wiseblood[/MENTION]
6 classes? The core 4 and...?

I guess it's better than 7 minute abs

 

[Mishihari Lord]

2E was the last edition I really enjoyed, so my preference is to toss 3E and 4E in the trash try to improve 2E in different ways than was done to create 3E and 4E.

 

[Jeffrey]

My selection isn't on the list, as it is a bit of a fantasy (at least until I make my first billion), but here it is:

I would take 5ed away from Hasbro and fund it so that I can give it to the designers and writers who have, over these many years, shown love and dedication to the game despite the version number. I would give them the time and resources to design the best game they can, without the 1,000lb weight of stupid marketing decisions hanging over their heads.

I would let them know that I appreciate their past work, and the work that they will do for me, and I would compensate them fairly. I would inform them that I will not be laying them off at Christmas time.

I would take out a full page ad in any and every gaming publication that can remotely be connected with D&D and offer a sincere apology for the disrespectful manner that past customers were treated by WOTC at the launch of 4ed. I will explain that none of those responsible for producing the unnecessary discord are currently, or will ever be, employed by me. I will go on to explain that I hope that these past customers will consider looking at the new version when it goes into beta.

Open beta, as open as possible.

I would sit down with the new D&D staff and discuss the viability of online (ex. DDI) versus offline (ex. printed books) product, make a decision, and freakin' stick to it!

I would start an initiative to contact and support every single local gaming store that can be found in the country. They are still an important part of new business. I would encourage them to reach out to the public and would solicit their ideas to do so.

The rules are unimportant in my vision. I trust my designers to make the best product possible and I will give them the resources to do it. What is more important, perhaps, is what is to be done to help repair, however slightly, the most divisive and unnecessary schism we have ever had in the history of the game (and yes, I've been around and paying attention since 0ed).

Then, I would sit back and say a little prayer for a hobby that I found at age 16, that has been a major positive influence on my life, and I would end that prayer with the hope that there will be others kids out there today experiencing the same thing.