D&D Experience and the NDA

[yipwyg42]

Anyone know if the NDA will be gone when winter fantasy happens. I mean they have a potential 1200 people there that will be able to play the game. I can't imagine all of them having to sign a NDA to play at that point. Also, the rule books should be finalized by then and being shipped to the printers since there is only like 3 months to go before it is supposed to be on shelves.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Anyone know if the NDA will be gone when winter fantasy happens. I mean they have a potential 1200 people there that will be able to play the game. I can't imagine all of them having to sign a NDA to play at that point. Also, the rule books should be finalized by then and being shipped to the printers since there is only like 3 months to go before it is supposed to be on shelves.

I can tell you that it is unlikely that the playtesters even have the full and complete book. Also, I am fairly certain that you won't see ALL the rules at D&D Experience. I played in an early run of the 3rd Edition rules before they came out at a convention ran by a WOTC Employee.

They had the rule book in front of them(A printed copy of the most recent draft). We were not allowed to touch the book or look inside it. When we asked what our skills or spells did from our character sheet we were told that if we needed to know she'd tell us as we needed them. Mainly that meant that if she asked us for a skill check we should roll them but otherwise, they didn't do anything and not to ask since she was not allowed to tell us.

We were not allowed to ask any questions at all beyond what happens in game. Even a couple of times when I asked things like, "Can I use spellcraft to figure out how the magic works?" I got the answer back not to ask about the rules.

I would expect that the NDA for the rules will go right up until release date. Although the combined experiences of everyone who played at D&D XP all compiled online will give everyone a better idea of how the rules work, everyone will still be playing with premade 1st level characters at the con, so character creation rules will be unknown, all abilities beyond 1st level will be unknown, as well as the exact text of most abilities that ARE con the character sheets.

I expect you'll see the character sheets say:
Big Hit (1/encounter): 2d6+10 damage, FOLLOWUP +11 vs Reflex: knockdown.

Whereas the text in the PHB will actually be something like:
Big Hit (1/encounter): 2xWeapon Damage+level+strength mod with a FOLLOWUP vs Reflex: knockdown.

So, I think a lot will remain unknown and WOTC will want to keep it that way so that there are still some surprises when people buy the book on launch day.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Also, of course the PLAYERS won't have to sign an NDA.

I'm fairly certain that the "finish" time for all 3 books is about late March. After D&D XP, there will be at least another month for small tweaks and such.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Well, I'm gonna push the limits. Digital Camera, laptop with flatbed scanner. I'm getting a digital copy of as many chacter sheets as I can. Hell, I'll try to get a view of the adventure.

 

[Wolfspider]

I can tell you that it is unlikely that the playtesters even have the full and complete book. Also, I am fairly certain that you won't see ALL the rules at D&D Experience. I played in an early run of the 3rd Edition rules before they came out at a convention ran by a WOTC Employee.

They had the rule book in front of them(A printed copy of the most recent draft). We were not allowed to touch the book or look inside it. When we asked what our skills or spells did from our character sheet we were told that if we needed to know she'd tell us as we needed them. Mainly that meant that if she asked us for a skill check we should roll them but otherwise, they didn't do anything and not to ask since she was not allowed to tell us.

We were not allowed to ask any questions at all beyond what happens in game. Even a couple of times when I asked things like, "Can I use spellcraft to figure out how the magic works?" I got the answer back not to ask about the rules.

That sounds like an incredibly sucky game experience. I don't know if I'd be able to even enjoy playing under those circumstances. :\

 

[Wolfspider]

Well, I'm gonna push the limits. Digital Camera, laptop with flatbed scanner. I'm getting a digital copy of as many chacter sheets as I can. Hell, I'll try to get a view of the adventure.

Bring a taser and get a copy of the WotC person running the game as well while you're at it.....

 

[LightPhoenix]

That sounds like an incredibly sucky game experience. I don't know if I'd be able to even enjoy playing under those circumstances. :\

Amen. I probably would have walked away.

 

[Dausuul]

Amen. I probably would have walked away.

Indeed. I'm trying to imagine playing a wizard without knowing what any of my spells do.

I think I would propose to the rest of the party that the first thing we do is hang out for a week while I cast each of my spells to determine their effects.

 

[Dragonblade]

That sounds like an incredibly sucky game experience. I don't know if I'd be able to even enjoy playing under those circumstances. :\

I'm pretty pro-4e, but I have to agree with Wolfspider here. That would be incredibly lame if you couldn't even ask about what your character can do.

I'd probably walk away as well.

 

[thatdarnedbob]

The limited information about the game system in Majoru Oakheart's story may have been prompted by secrecy, but I'll bet anything that more of it had to do with the convention environment. When I'm trying out a new RPG in a four hour time block, I don't spend time trying to learn every last detail of my character sheet, or looking in someone else's copy of the books to figure out what things do. I play the GM's adventure, asking about specific things when they might be relevant, which it seems was this GM's policy. I'd be pissed as hell if I was in a group of four, none of whom were familiar with the game, and one of the other players insisted on monopolizing the GM for a half hour learning all his details. It's not like the GM hid things about how AC, attacks or saves worked. The only thing the secrecy element probably meant was that you couldn't go sit down with the GM later and look through the books together.