D&D 3E/3.5 How does the rollout of 4e teasers compare to 3e?

[Wormwood]

Sometimes I wasn't cautious enough and got my hand slapped. And sometimes it was their fault (anyone remember Skurge?).

SKUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGGGEE!

Oh I hate myself now.

 

[EricNoah]

SKUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGGGEE!

Oh I hate myself now.

Hey, you did what had to be done.

 

[mhensley]

Except we had to pay for those.

All I know is, WotC needs to post the Design and Development article for this week.

It was well worth it as those articles were more informative than anything I've seen on 4e to date.

 

[EricNoah]

And yet I see a lot of people saying "Preview books? Pffft. I wouldn't pay for a preview book!"

I see the preview books as targeting not us, but potential customers who aren't necessarily real plugged in to D&D through online forums. People who will be D&D shopping at a brick/mortar store in a couple of months and go, "Wha?? 4th Edition? What's that all about?"

 

[sidonunspa]

Ok

All I can say on this subject is that I played the original sneak peak pre-view at GenCon the year they announced 3e. At GenCon this year we were told to wait for Winte… umm I mean D&DXP.

We knew a hell of a lot more about 3e by this time then we know about 4e.

 

[Lackhand]

We knew a hell of a lot more about 3e by this time then we know about 4e.

I don't mean to single you out, but...

How so? Please elaborate. I disagree, and don't really understand why people feel this way.

Wanting to know more, though, I can totally grok

 

[EricNoah]

There were probably individuals who did know more; if they got to play a preview game, then they knew more than I did, for example.

We just had a thread on this fairly recently, where I went back to the archives and dug up the numbers/rules-related info that I posted in Aug, Sept and Oct 1999 -- it wasn't all that that much.

 

[Riley]

I'm sure Russ will be careful to judge whether info he receives really should be leaked at all. I'm sure he agrees it's not his mission to distribute playtest documents he may or may not receive. I received all sorts of stuff in my day that I knew would have gone over the line and soured my relationship with WotC. Sometimes I wasn't cautious enough and got my hand slapped. And sometimes it was their fault (anyone remember Skurge?).

I wouldn't want Russ or ENWorld to post such a thing. That's not what this place is for. But the internet has many easy means for distribution, and as far as I know (I admit, I haven't really looked hard) none of them has been put to such a use. I find it fun to watch this thing be revealed gradually, and be pieced together by ENWorld's members as they pore over the bits.

I do think that it is a compliment to the playtesters' discretion that they have kept their lips tight about this thing. It's so easy for these things to be leaked. If as a DM I were given a set of playtest rules, I like to think that I would be tight-lipped enough to keep it just to my fellow players. (I've recently moved and I don't have a game group right now, so we're talking hypotheticals.) But given enough DM's and enough players, one of them is likely to eventually show it to one of their friends who hasn't signed an NDA. Or maybe he/she just can't wait to introduce these really cool rules to his other game group. And then, it snowballs. Happens all the time with movie scripts and the like.

I guess I'm just surprised by the playtesters' honesty so far. It is, as I said a compliment to the gamers chosen as playtesters, and perhaps a criticism of me that I expected less.

 

[Intrope]

SKUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRGGGEE!

Oh I hate myself now.

Darn it, you beat me!

Oh well: SKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGE!



And on the whole, we really do know a lot more: the recent 'it's still a d20 game' post told us far more in a few lines than *ANY* of the 3e previews did!

 

[Quartz]

Somehow, I don't think that 4e is the fundamental rewrite that was 3e. So I'm not too bothered. Perhaps also, at 40, I've learned patience.