Does DDN do it better?

[El Mahdi]

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[MoonSong]

Ok, here is what I want form DNDN:

I want a second edition game with warlords, warlocks and sorcerers; all of them properly represented, and more open and less draconian multiclasssing, that is also simplified enough that all of the relevant stuff can be easilly remembered/quickly consulted and with a strong enough core to allow plenty of character diversity while simultaneously being easy to teach (as easy as Basic) and smooth to run.

Also from that core I want it to be flexible enough to work for many playstyles not just "everything is combat". Also I want a better way to calculate encounters than "big numbers math" And while we are at it I also want a pony.

Will I be disapointed? I don't know, I have yet to see all of the relevant parts to surface, the rest isn't exactly mi piece of cake, but I could see myself compormising on a lot of the relevant stuff (except perhaps skill dice, oh how I hate skill dice, and the apparent damage bloat is also high on my list)

 

[El Mahdi]

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[El Mahdi]

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[El Mahdi]

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[Dwimmerlied]

Nice analysis so far. It looks like a lot of honest reflections, from where I stand, and the competing views certainly help to get closer to reality. From the ideas so far, it does look like it has some promise, and I'm certainly intrigued enough to follow. How does it compare to stated design goals? What have the developers said? It seems from these boards that there is a desire to "unite the clans", and I wonder to what degree that might translate to game mechanics. Has this been explored? Thanks for the thoughts so far!

 

[pemerton]

Is 5th ed doing the things your preferred edition(s) did better?

No. My preferred edition of D&D is 4e, and I don't think D&Dnext does what I enjoy in 4e as well. The single biggest issue is the assymetric class design (wizards on daily clock, fighters on a mixture of per round and per encounter). This makes pacing in the 4e style hard to achieve.

 

[Kinak]

How does it compare to stated design goals? What have the developers said? It seems from these boards that there is a desire to "unite the clans", and I wonder to what degree that might translate to game mechanics. Has this been explored?

My best summary of their stated goals is "capture the essence of D&D in an edition that everyone can use to play the D&D they love." There's probably some nuance I'm missing, but that's what I've got.

So, yes, definitely a "unite the clans" mentality.

As far as its mechanical implementation, you'll hear a lot of people on this board talking about "modules." That's the answer. Not in the old "adventure" sense of module, but in the sense of modular design. So, basically, the idea seems to be that they want to have blocks of optional rules to replicate the experience you want.

There's been some discussion about how well that can work in theory, but we've only seen a smattering of optional rules and no real guidance on what experiences they think those rules will create. So either they're really overselling modules or we haven't seen them yet. I'm going to assume the latter.

That said, I find the concept of modules rather unappealing, so I'm hoping I've misunderstood them and they're going to produce a game with a consistent rules set and leave the houseruling to us.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Libramarian]

I have not found this to be the case. I'm running my D&DN campaign as a sandbox, and the rules are not getting in my way.Companies do this sort of thing every once in a while for some publicity. It's not like they gave up on designing a proper character sheet. Most likely, they're not focused on that right now (they probably want to wait until the rules are solid), so they may as well encourage the community to do it themselves for the time being.

Besides, I trust the community more than I trust the designers to come up with something that's actually useable.

(The rest of your post I totally agree with.)

How are you using/altering the rules under Encounters and Rewards in the DM Guidelines file for your campaign?

 

[Abraxas]

I'm finding it to be heading exactly where I want the game to be going. I am playtesting it with new and experienced players - everyone reports that they are having a blast. The new players are getting the hang of the mechanics faster than I'd seen before with either 3rd or 4th. From the DM side, I have found it incredibly easy to convert 1E, 2E, 3E and 4E adventures on the fly - In fact I am currently running the players through the 4E Chaos Scar adventures and soon will be running a converted Against the Giants campaign.

My nephew, who is a new player but has now played 3rd, 4th and 5th, finds DDN to be the best of the three. In fact, when I've offered to run either 3rd or 4th everyone has preferred to stay with DDN. And this is even though the rules are evolving and there characters change...so make of that what you will.