D&D 4E Enough to start playing 4e with the "Wizard's Presents" preview products?

[The_Universe]

Weak-willed D&D fiend that I am, I've already pre-ordered the two 4e "preview" products, Wizard's Presents: Classes and Races, and Wizard's Presents: World and Monsters. Will there be enough rules material in these two products to let us start playing the new edition of D&D? If we can't start playing...how much will these two books let us do?

 

[Drkfathr1]

From what I understand, these two products will not contain any rules. It's all fluff.

 

[The_Universe]

From what I understand, these two products will not contain any rules. It's all fluff.

Not that I doubt you, but can you point me to where that was said?

 

[Reaper Steve]

Not that I doubt you, but can you point me to where that was said?

It's more inferred, since the April adventure Keep on the Shadowfell is touted as the first opportunity to play 4e. Therefore, one cannot play 4e with the Wizards Presents books. And if that's the case, they will probably have little crunch.

 

[wedgeski]

From what I understand, these two products will not contain any rules. It's all fluff.

This is not true, to the best of my knowledge. The books will contain actual class and race mechanics, along with essays from the designers (source: Bruce Cordell Q&A, GenCon UK). The release of these books is one of the primary reasons why the Wizards guys are so hamstrung in their ability to talk about 4e mechanics.

 

[Umbran]

Will there be enough rules material in these two products to let us start playing the new edition of D&D? If we can't start playing...how much will these two books let us do?

I would no presume they'd allow you to "start playing" in the campaign sense. It may be akin to a "quickstart" sense, where you have enough mechanical information to play through a simple scenario, but not nearly enough to start playing a game and expect it to run smoothly through buying the actual rulebooks.

Looking at the titles, I note no suggestion of combat rules, or magic rules, or the like, so I'm not actually expecting even that much.

 

[Michele Carter]

I just leaned over and asked Bruce, and either he misspoke or was misquoted; these things happen at conventions. There are some mechanics details in the books, and I have no doubt that you guys will find every single last one. But their primary purpose is to serve as a primer to 4th Edition. The Classes and Races book that I worked on, for example, starts with the timeline of the game's development and then presents multi-page spreads on most of the races and classes that you'll see in the Player's Handbook. "Most," not all -- we want to save some surprises for later. ^_^ And as noted previously, those spreads are full of design and development commentary about the decision-making process for every aspect of the game.

Plus some amazingly kick-ass William O'Connor art. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

 

[DaveMage]

I just leaned over and asked Bruce, and either he misspoke or was misquoted; these things happen at conventions. There are some mechanics details in the books, and I have no doubt that you guys will find every single last one. But their primary purpose is to serve as a primer to 4th Edition. The Classes and Races book that I worked on, for example, starts with the timeline of the game's development and then presents multi-page spreads on most of the races and classes that you'll see in the Player's Handbook. "Most," not all -- we want to save some surprises for later. ^_^ And as noted previously, those spreads are full of design and development commentary about the decision-making process for every aspect of the game.

Plus some amazingly kick-ass William O'Connor art. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

What will be the value of these books once 4.0 is out?

 

[Kae'Yoss]

What will be the value of these books once 4.0 is out?

I, too, hoped that the previews had more meat on the bones.

 

[Drkfathr1]

So, these sound like: a little bit of rules and lots of fluff. Should be cool to see the preview, but doesn't sound like you'd be able to actually play 4e using these books.

And yeah, seems like once the actual 4E books come out, these preview books won't be of any use anymore. Which sounds like....I should save my money and wait for the full game books!