Fan sites to keep the edition alive?

[Jan van Leyden]

Makes you wonder though, will people pine for 4th Ed after Next releases the same way that people pine for 3rd/3.5 now?

No, probably not.

We, as the 4e pariahs, don't have a good standing in the D&D community. And we will be missing the shining hero who saves the life of "our" system and rallies us to fight against the Evil Empire.

 

[landovers]

No, probably not.

We, as the 4e pariahs, don't have a good standing in the D&D community. And we will be missing the shining hero who saves the life of "our" system and rallies us to fight against the Evil Empire.

Haha, a diaspora to other systems, then? We really are hopeless waiting for a D&D 4.5. I'm drifting towards 13th Age, but it is a very different kind of game. I know I'll miss the combat complexity and the variety of options in 4e. I can see it already, I'll be the guy who likes /that/ edition of D&D nobody else plays... and then in 30 years I'll be first in line for that 4e old-school revival!

 

[Garthanos]

Haha, a diaspora to other systems, then? We really are hopeless waiting for a D&D 4.5. I'm drifting towards 13th Age, but it is a very different kind of game. I know I'll miss the combat complexity and the variety of options in 4e. I can see it already, I'll be the guy who likes /that/ edition of D&D nobody else plays... and then in 30 years I'll be first in line for that 4e old-school revival!

There is always building your own 4.5. Although I do find elements of 13th Age tempting some seem pretty port-worthy to bring in to 4e. The discussions at 4enclave which have a lot of people looking towards a future that is atleast an evolution of 4e instead of a run into the past ala 5e or similar.

Points of Light is an example (a couple of features just the mods no 8 to 20+ and something called condition tracks)

I admit I am looking for a true 5 not 4e with patches.

 

[Zardnaar]

The main thing is to get organized like the Grogs who have concentrated at Dragonsfoot.org and they release their own material as well. Having a main site with new material (non commercial) would probably be the best way as opposed to aving 10+ smaller sites. It helps once you realize WoTC is an awful company and you do not actually need them. Its like the 5 phases Homer in the Simpsons went through (anger, grief, denial , acceptance?).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Is anyone proposing a site? The OGL/SRD/GSL issue has me worried. I visited the 13th Age website recently, but couldn't make sense of the legal text. Well, I could, but it was just a link to the OGL and not the GSL.

I think I need to look at Zeitgeist 4e's legal text.

 

[Zardnaar]

Does the GSL cover fan based stuff? Ie as long as you do not sell it?

 

[Morrus]

Is anyone proposing a site? The OGL/SRD/GSL issue has me worried. I visited the 13th Age website recently, but couldn't make sense of the legal text. Well, I could, but it was just a link to the OGL and not the GSL.

I think I need to look at Zeitgeist 4e's legal text.

The licenses are fairly straightforward, but if you're even vaguely considering this you do need actual legal advice (not internet messageboard legal advice). Make sure you really know what you're doing.

Download the OGL and the GSL. You should be sure you understand them both before you move onto the next stage of thinking.

http://opengamingcontent.com/

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

There is always building your own 4.5. Although I do find elements of 13th Age tempting some seem pretty port-worthy to bring in to 4e. The discussions at 4enclave which have a lot of people looking towards a future that is atleast an evolution of 4e instead of a run into the past ala 5e or similar.

Points of Light is an example (a couple of features just the mods no 8 to 20+ and something called condition tracks)

I admit I am looking for a true 5 not 4e with patches.

Yeah, I'm having fun playing with Dungeon World right now. Clearly though DW is VERY heavily a story-telling system. In effect there really are no definite rules. The PCs abilities suggest what they can do, but the DM really decides the order of events, what happens, etc. There are obvious issues for a lot of folks with that approach. So my question is how can this hypothetical system gain some of the nice feel of DW and still have some rules? There are obvious issues, but I'm thinking a more narratively engaged power system has to be figured out. DW is a cloud of nothing on rules, and even 'classic' D&D (say 1e) is often quite vague, but not in a helpful way. 4e OTOH just seems to get in the way of some people's story telling, and seem dry, so you have to somehow add a story-telling dimension to the hard-rules-coded power concept. Maybe there's a sweet spot in there somewhere.

 

[landovers]

Yeah, I'm having fun playing with Dungeon World right now. Clearly though DW is VERY heavily a story-telling system. In effect there really are no definite rules. The PCs abilities suggest what they can do, but the DM really decides the order of events, what happens, etc. There are obvious issues for a lot of folks with that approach. So my question is how can this hypothetical system gain some of the nice feel of DW and still have some rules? There are obvious issues, but I'm thinking a more narratively engaged power system has to be figured out. DW is a cloud of nothing on rules, and even 'classic' D&D (say 1e) is often quite vague, but not in a helpful way. 4e OTOH just seems to get in the way of some people's story telling, and seem dry, so you have to somehow add a story-telling dimension to the hard-rules-coded power concept. Maybe there's a sweet spot in there somewhere.

The thing is I think Dungeon World /feels/ as far removed from 4e as possibly conceivable, but I think it isn't. There are no definite rules *for players*, and that's an important distinction. A player can jump in and play in 10 minutes. But for the DM there's an impressive set of rules and tools. I was honestly sold on DW reading the GM rules session.

The "vagueness" you mention in classic D&D just isn't there. The game embraces "DM fairness": DW painstankly makes the point that everyone on the table has to be on the same page all the time, and rules avoid ambiguity as much as possible to empower the Theater of the Mind play. Playing DW I realized fairness over vagueness is very important for my enjoyment of an RPG.

I think both 4e and DW have clear design direction and that's what is most appealing about them to me. They make so much sense.

 

[landovers]

There is always building your own 4.5. Although I do find elements of 13th Age tempting some seem pretty port-worthy to bring in to 4e. The discussions at 4enclave which have a lot of people looking towards a future that is atleast an evolution of 4e instead of a run into the past ala 5e or similar.

Points of Light is an example (a couple of features just the mods no 8 to 20+ and something called condition tracks)

I admit I am looking for a true 5 not 4e with patches.

Yeah, lot's of people are porting stuff from 4E to 13th Age. Right now I'm enjoying the 13th age Core Book content, but I believe I'll soon want to make my own stuff, and it seems pretty portable. Hopefully we'll see a conversion document soon.

I think it's good for everyone that D&D Next is trying to be it's own thing, but a contingency plan has to be in place in case I dislike it, hahah