D&D 5E (2014) Hope for an open GSL?

[pemerton]

if you only played 4e with the original books, rituals and all, then have someone who started off with essentials, both running through say, the first 4e module, the Shadow Keep, you're going to wind up with different play experiences.

I'm sure this is true, but wouldn't it also be true that a party with a rogue, twin-blade ranger, fighter, warlord and STR cleric would have a different experience in that module from a party with a warlock, archer-ranger, paladin, wizard and WIS cleric?

I don't really know the module, and don't have a view on who would have the better experience, but I think they'd be different.

Or is there some deeper feature of the Essentials builds that you have in mind and that I'm missing?

 

[Mark CMG]

Can someone DM 4E D&D organized play/Encounters events without access to Essentials? Not from my understanding which means Essentials, which is 4.5E effectively, has replaced 4E whether home games still get by using their 4E books, their 3.5 books, their 1E books or whatever. It's really hard to include some people in a conversation when they ignore basic facts, sidestep quotes from official sources, pluck dates out of the air when they could get their dates correct with a 15 second search rather than give misinformation, etc.

 

[Kynn]

Can someone DM 4E D&D organized play/Encounters events without access to Essentials?

Sure they can. Why couldn't they?

ETA: I'm currently an Encounters DM for this season. I didn't ever need to refer to an Essentials book for any particular reason while running the game for 12 sessions (so far). If anything, I needed "Heroes of the Feywild" (which isn't Essentials, of course) but that was just for a few minor items and I looked them up on the Compendium via my cell phone anyway.

What exactly do you think requires a DM to have/own/use the Essentials book in order to run D&D Encounters?

 

[Mark CMG]

What exactly do you think requires a DM to have/own/use the Essentials book in order to run D&D Encounters?

D&D Essentials character information that isn't part of the original 4E books can be used in D&D Encounters so while someone could use Essentials books to run D&D Encounters, one would not have all of the information needed with just the original 4E to do so. This speaks to D&D Essentials being a revision of 4E to be used for official WotC organized play events.

 

[Kynn]

D&D Essentials character information that isn't part of the original 4E books can be used in D&D Encounters so while someone could use Essentials books to run D&D Encounters, one would not have all of the information needed with just the original 4E to do so. This speaks to D&D Essentials being a revision of 4E to be used for official WotC organized play events.

What are you talking about?

The DM doesn't need to own every single rulebook (PHB1, PHB2, PHB3, Martial Power 1 & 2, Dark Sun, Neverwinter, Forgotten Realms, etc etc etc) to run D&D Encounters.

Neither do they need to own Essentials to run it.

I don't understand this argument you're trying to make. It's like saying that when PHB2 came out, or Martial Power 1, or whatever, that it created a "new version" of the game (4.0.1.23) because of course there are things in 4.0.1.23 that weren't in 4.0.1.22.

In the same post that you declared Essentials is required to run D&D Encounters, you also decried people for speaking ignorantly. What's been your experience as a D&D Encounters Dungeon Master? Because as I said before, what you're saying makes no sense to me, as a D&D Encounters DM.

 

[Mark CMG]

What are you talking about?

(. . .)

I don't understand this argument you're trying to make.

The discussion above is whether Essentials is a revision of 4E. So the point is being made that Encounters is officially geared towards Essentials. Information from Essentials regarding character classes and some of the rules revisions is the standard for designing, writing and running Encounters, regardless if some individual can struggle through without owning the books and borrowing some info from a player who brought them or from a DDI subscription, etc. For WotC, it appears that the official 4E is Essentials, and since it incorporates new rules and some rules revisions not appearing in the last print run of the original 4E core books, it is officially a revision. I don't suppose anyone has any information on whether they kept printing the original 4E core books after releasing Essentials?

 

[Kynn]

The discussion above is whether Essentials is a revision of 4E.

And it's not.

So the point is being made that Encounters is officially geared towards Essentials. Information from Essentials regarding character classes and some of the rules revisions is the standard for designing, writing and running Encounters, regardless if some individual can struggle through without owning the books and borrowing some info from a player who brought them or from a DDI subscription, etc.

Can you please give an example of what kind of information is needed from Essentials rulebooks specifically that is necessary for running a D&D Encounters session?

Because I've run D&D Encounters sessions and I can't think of a single one.

For WotC, it appears that the official 4E is Essentials, and since it incorporates new rules and some rules revisions not appearing in the last print run of the original 4E core books, it is officially a revision.

So when they changed the rules on Stealth in 4e, that forked off a new edition/revision of the game?

I don't suppose anyone has any information on whether they kept printing the original 4E core books after releasing Essentials?

I'm sure you're happy to speculate anyway, without information, so go right ahead!

 

[Mark CMG]

Information from Essentials regarding character classes and some of the rules revisions is the standard for designing, writing and running Encounters, regardless if some individual can struggle through without owning the books and borrowing some info from a player who brought them or from a DDI subscription, etc.

Can you please give an example of what kind of information is needed from Essentials rulebooks specifically that is necessary for running a D&D Encounters session?

Because I've run D&D Encounters sessions and I can't think of a single one.

How Sneak Attack handled officially for Encounters, for example?

 

[Yora]

3.5 comes out in July of 2003, 3.0 came out in August 2000. Sorry, I was off by a year when I said 2 years. My bad. 3 years almost to the day. Still at least 1 year to 2 years earlier than orginally planned. So, why the rush?

Because it was a major improvement.

 

[Kynn]

Oh, good, you finally have an example of what you're talking about!

How Sneak Attack handled officially for Encounters, for example?

So, question, do you think that when they changed the Stealth rules, that created a new edition of the rules? If so, then we've been playing 4.5 for quite some time now! Surely we're on 4.9.0.12 by this point.

Do you agree? Did you catch that we rolled over from 4.9.0.11 back in December when they updated the rules about damaging zones? (That's not in the Essentials Rules Compendium either, so clearly Essentials is no longer the current edition for D&D Encounters. Right?)

PS: The rules updates which includes the changes to Stealth and the changes to Sneak Attack are available free on the web site.