Encounters- Essentials Only, Moving Forward...

[Imaro]

D&D Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands spotlights the new Essentials products. Going forward, we'd like to be able to tell folks that character creation will include Essentials+, meaning that D&D Encounters will allow use of the Essentials books, plus whatever else is current. For Keep on the Borderlands, we'll be showcasing Heroes of the Fallen Lands and (later) Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms, so those products (along with the new Starter Set) will constitute the character creation options for this season.

We will always have pregenerated characters available for those that can't or won't pick up one of the books.

We have programs that let folks drink from the fire hose when it comes to character creation - Living Forgotten Realms is one of them, and we'll be launching another, store-based one in 2011. D&D Encounters is being refined to make it both clear and easy for the players to jump in, and easy to DM, while still letting folks have the ownership of creating their own character.

It has little to do with "compatibility" and more to do with creating a clear on-ramp for playing and DMing in a store. We know what books are positioned as evergreen, and what's going to be new and shiny, and we want D&D Encounters to take advantage of those resources for character creation. Different programs are designed for different groups of players... Experienced players who like the breadth of the 4E rules options have other outlets.

Hmm... interesting, thoughts?

 

[ArcaneSpringboard]

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Seconded.

 

[MrMyth]

Encounters seems aimed at highlighting what's new - current season is focused on Dark Sun, next one focused on Essentials... makes sense to me.

 

[Imaro]

Encounters seems aimed at highlighting what's new - current season is focused on Dark Sun, next one focused on Essentials... makes sense to me.

Yeah, but it never invalidated your other books before. This is saying, moving forward no PHB1,2 or 3 characters. Not for a season but for good. Yet anything from essentials on will be allowed in Encounters from the "Keep" season onward.

 

[MrMyth]

Yeah, but it never invalidated your other books before. This is saying, moving forward no PHB1,2 or 3 characters. Not for a season but for good. Yet anything from essentials on will be allowed in Encounters from the "Keep" season onward.

Yeah, I don't think that's what it says.

What I read is, "Encounters will always use Essentials stuff. And possibly other current products, but for this coming season, we're just using the two Heroes books."

Feel free to read more into it that isn't there, but I'm not seeing it.

 

[Imaro]

Yeah, I don't think that's what it says.

What I read is, "Encounters will always use Essentials stuff. And possibly other current products, but for this coming season, we're just using the two Heroes books."

Feel free to read more into it that isn't there, but I'm not seeing it.

So then why the paragraph about LFR and drinking from the hose for character creation... I'm not reading anything into it... I 'm reading what is there on the page.

 

[keterys]

Yeah, I'm okay with it for Encounters. Lets the DM and players have a limited selection to worry about. The evergreen essentials plus whatever the new shiny is.

Also lets WotC worry a lot less about the... proud nails... sticking up from some of the older books, I suppose.

 

[Henry]

So then why the paragraph about LFR and drinking from the hose for character creation... I'm not reading anything into it... I 'm reading what is there on the page.

Yeah, I'm seeing the same thing -- Encounters = Essentials and newer, and then they're releasing a new program in 2011 that sounds like it'll be analogous to "Magic Unlimited" tournaments -- bring every book that's WotC 4e and make a character with it.

I don't see it as a bad thing. In fact, I'm going to try and get in on the Encounters 3, as this will both introduce me to essentials, PLUS get me a fun blast of nostalgia.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Look for the next announcement about fortune deck adventures that require a sealed pack per player to participate.