Future Support

[Plaguescarred]

In the article below it was confirmed that the Sundering adventures will be platform agnostic with editions specific details available as free download:

New D&D Adventures

Sundering authors R.A. Salvatore and Ed Greenwood are also collaborating with D&D’s designers on new game content. They’re each providing the story and helping write a new playable adventure that will be released in 2013, allowing D&D players to be heroes of their own Sundering adventures.

Since the D&D game is in between editions, these new modules will strive to be “platform agnostic.” The idea, says Mearls, is that both books will focus on providing story, color and characters, so they that can used by players using any version of the game. Edition specific details –like statistics for monsters– will be available separately, perhaps as a free download."

 

[Plaguescarred]

[double post]

 

[Morrus]

Plus of course, there are:

http://zeitgeistadventurepath.com/
http://santiagoadventurepath.wordpress.com/

 

[Kinak]

I doubt that ongoing 4e material will be published under the GSL, which is ultimately a trademark/trade dress licence.

How far you can go in supporting/recreating 4e without using WotC trademarks and/or trade dress is an interesting question!

How far you can go and whether it'll be worth it. I'm sure there'll be fans out there, but I'm curious how many publishers we'll see staying in the fray if they don't have a solid legal ground to stand on.

My understanding is that the GSL scared off a huge portion of prospective third-party supporters. Some of those who remained provided their support using the OGL - they either wrote their stuff to be stat-free ("treat these firearms like these crossbows...") or introduced workarounds (see some of the Goodman modules from early 4e). I don't think it's impossible that this could continue.

That's true. And if WotC allowed it before, they wouldn't really have a good legal argument for stopping it now.

But I suspect that the bulk of ongoing 4e support will take the form of fans sharing their homebrew efforts, probably without any license at all. Unless, that is, someone manages to put together an OGL-compliant retroclone of the edition... but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one.

(I don't think an OGL-compliant 4e retroclone is impossible, but I do think it's risky. It's one thing for WotC to turn a blind eye to people providing support of an edition that's decades out of print. But 4e is the current edition, and if it does get a retroclone then it could be a serious threat - and WotC have experience with their old edition becoming their strongest competitor. So you'll have to be very careful to get it right.)

I'd be curious to see someone... not recreate 4e under the OGL, so much as create an OGL game with the strengths of 4e. But it's a pretty massive undertaking.

And, of course, there's no way to be sure it'll be supported if they do.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Storminator]

Some of those who remained provided their support using the OGL - they either wrote their stuff to be stat-free ("treat these firearms like these crossbows...") or introduced workarounds (see some of the Goodman modules from early 4e). I don't think it's impossible that this could continue.

When I plan out my adventures I typically design my fights as "I need a couple 9th level artillery, three 10th level skirmishers, and an elite 11th level brute" then I go comb the Adventure Tool for those stats. I wonder if actual products designed that way would fly.

PS

 

[delericho]

When I plan out my adventures I typically design my fights as "I need a couple 9th level artillery, three 10th level skirmishers, and an elite 11th level brute" then I go comb the Adventure Tool for those stats. I wonder if actual products designed that way would fly.

I'm not familiar enough with 4e to answer that. I expect it would really depend on just how interchangeable "elite 11th level brutes" are.

 

[Storminator]

I'm not familiar enough with 4e to answer that. I expect it would really depend on just how interchangeable "elite 11th level brutes" are.

IMX, almost perfectly. To my mind the question (which is just idle speculation because I'm not making and selling adventures) is would consumers be willing to buy an adventure and then populate it themselves.

PS

 

[the Jester]

When I plan out my adventures I typically design my fights as "I need a couple 9th level artillery, three 10th level skirmishers, and an elite 11th level brute" then I go comb the Adventure Tool for those stats. I wonder if actual products designed that way would fly.

PS

I'd say no, not if those are your ONLY qualifiers for which monsters you use.

It's like the old adventures with a giant crab, an air elemental and sixteen goblins in one encounter- if the mix doesn't make sense in the context of the adventure, it doesn't hit the "This is better than I would come up with on the fly" button for many dms, and that button is the primary reason many dms buy and use canned modules.

OTOH having a list of "monsters in this adventure's villainous groups" (or in this locale, or whatever) organized by level and role can be very helpful, if there's enough variation in that list. I'm using something like that right now IMC, in fact.

 

[Storminator]

I'd say no, not if those are your ONLY qualifiers for which monsters you use.

It's like the old adventures with a giant crab, an air elemental and sixteen goblins in one encounter- if the mix doesn't make sense in the context of the adventure, it doesn't hit the "This is better than I would come up with on the fly" button for many dms, and that button is the primary reason many dms buy and use canned modules.

OTOH having a list of "monsters in this adventure's villainous groups" (or in this locale, or whatever) organized by level and role can be very helpful, if there's enough variation in that list. I'm using something like that right now IMC, in fact.

Well, I'm thinking you would just reskin the monsters. Frex, my write up of my players' raid on a hobgoblin lair would look like this.

"The hobgoblin prince (level 7 elite soldier) and his wizard adviser (level 6 artillery) are accompanied by 2 ogres (level 6 brutes) and 6 goblin thieves (level 4 skirmishers)." When I actually ran that fight in my campaign I used a warforged knight, an elf archer, 2 cave bears, and 6 shadar-kai. I didn't actually have to find stats for hobgoblin soldiers and wizards, etc.

In your example, if those monsters are all described as an insect colony with a warrior ant (giant crab), winged queen ant (air elemental) and larvae (goblins), the encounter now makes sense, and can work.

PS

 

[Wednesday Boy]

Well, I'm thinking you would just reskin the monsters.

Reskinning is one of the greatest strengths of 4E and despite not being a strong improvisational GM, I find it is very easy to do on the fly. I like your solution. It's a clever workaround for populating monsters in non-WotC 4E adventures.