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<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5838968" data-attributes="member: 59082">In tihe <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/new-horizons-upcoming-edition-d-d/319129-d-d-next-toolbox-edition-whats-not-like.html" target="_blank">&quot;Toolbox Edition&quot;</a> that I started, [MENTION=18615]Harlekin[/MENTION] made some interesting comments that I felt were worthy of exploring in a new thread.My approach and hope for 5E is quite different. I don't want an&nbsp; incrementally improved version of a specific edition. What I want is a&nbsp; new edition, one that hopefully takes the best elements of other&nbsp; editions and re-works them into a new whole. This may be because I don't&nbsp; really have a favorite edition; or rather, my favorite edition is the&nbsp; one that I'm playing (and my preference tends to follow sequential,&nbsp; chronological order).I was glad to see 4E come out. It had (has) its problems, and the&nbsp; general feeling of it--especially the power-centered combat--has made me&nbsp; long for a more traditional D&amp;D experience and turn to Pathfinder.&nbsp; But back in 2008 I was happy to see and try a new version of D&amp;D,&nbsp; and for the last four years have played and enjoyed it (and still play&nbsp; it). I was really glad when 3E came out. I hadn't played in the late&nbsp; 90s at all and my interest was re-kindled when I discovered Eric Noah's&nbsp; red-on-black website of 3e news. In the opinion of many, including&nbsp; myself, not only did 3E re-invigorate the community through the OGL but&nbsp; it &quot;fixed&quot; what was a rather clunky, and anachronistic rules system in&nbsp; 2E. 3E, in my view, remains the largest quantum leap forward in D&amp;D&nbsp; game mechanics.Going back even further, I was excited when I first started reading about 2E in Dragon Magazine; I vaguely remember filling out a questionnaire that TSR had distributed through Dragon in&nbsp; an attempt to get feedback for 2E design. For my entire D&amp;D career&nbsp; (beginning in 1981-82) I had only really played one edition of the game,&nbsp; AD&amp;D, so the thought of a new edition was terrifically exciting. I&nbsp; was glad with the revision and enjoyed the new game for over half a&nbsp; decade.The point of my brief little trip down memory lane is that every new&nbsp; edition of the game has been treated (by me) as an exciting moment,&nbsp; something to look forward to and enjoyed, not simply as an updated&nbsp; version of my previous edition of choice, but as a new iteration of the&nbsp; game that I've loved for 30 years.I don't expect 5E to &quot;out 4E&quot; 4E, or do 3.5-style D&amp;D better than&nbsp; 3.5 (or Pathfinder). What I expect--and hope for--is a new, unique form&nbsp; of the game that fulfills the stated design goals of core simplicity and&nbsp; open-ended modularity, able to embody the style of any variation of the&nbsp; game that one desires, if not out-do any particular style or iteration&nbsp; of the game. A game that is flexible and customizable without being&nbsp; overly complex.In other words, I don't want 5E to be a souped up version of 4E or an&nbsp; attempt to erase 4E from memory and be the game that 4E &quot;should&quot; have&nbsp; been if it had followed from 3.5 more closely. I don't want 5E to be 4E&nbsp; with a makeover or Pathfinder on steroids. We already have Pathfinder,&nbsp; we have 4E - they will always exist, always be playable, and are&nbsp; &quot;complete&quot; games in themselves. But I want to keep going; I want to see&nbsp; what's over the next horizon (of D&amp;D game design and play). I want&nbsp; 5E.So if you're perfectly happy with Edition X, I see no reason to stop&nbsp; playing Edition X. Just don't expect 5E to be &quot;Edition X, the Improved&nbsp; Version,&quot; because it won't be. If that's what you want you're (probably)&nbsp; going to be disappointed. In other words, I say either embrace change&nbsp; or play the game that you already love, but don't expect 5E to be just a&nbsp; revamped version of any edition, because from what I've gathered from&nbsp; the designers, it is much more ambitious than that.Or, to put it another way, let's prevent some predictable disgruntlement&nbsp; and nerdrage and let 5E be a new version of the game and, better yet,&nbsp; embrace it as such.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 5838968, member: 59082"] In tihe [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/new-horizons-upcoming-edition-d-d/319129-d-d-next-toolbox-edition-whats-not-like.html"]"Toolbox Edition"[/URL] that I started, [MENTION=18615]Harlekin[/MENTION] made some interesting comments that I felt were worthy of exploring in a new thread. My approach and hope for 5E is quite different. I don't want an incrementally improved version of a specific edition. What I want is a new edition, one that hopefully takes the best elements of other editions and re-works them into a new whole. This may be because I don't really have a favorite edition; or rather, my favorite edition is the one that I'm playing (and my preference tends to follow sequential, chronological order). I was glad to see 4E come out. It had (has) its problems, and the general feeling of it--especially the power-centered combat--has made me long for a more traditional D&D experience and turn to Pathfinder. But back in 2008 I was happy to see and try a new version of D&D, and for the last four years have played and enjoyed it (and still play it). I was [I]really [/I]glad when 3E came out. I hadn't played in the late 90s at all and my interest was re-kindled when I discovered Eric Noah's red-on-black website of 3e news. In the opinion of many, including myself, not only did 3E re-invigorate the community through the OGL but it "fixed" what was a rather clunky, and anachronistic rules system in 2E. 3E, in my view, remains the largest quantum leap forward in D&D game mechanics. Going back even further, I was excited when I first started reading about 2E in [I]Dragon Magazine; [/I]I vaguely remember filling out a questionnaire that TSR had distributed through [I]Dragon [/I]in an attempt to get feedback for 2E design. For my entire D&D career (beginning in 1981-82) I had only really played one edition of the game, AD&D, so the thought of a new edition was terrifically exciting. I was glad with the revision and enjoyed the new game for over half a decade. The point of my brief little trip down memory lane is that every new edition of the game has been treated (by me) as an exciting moment, something to look forward to and enjoyed, not simply as an updated version of my previous edition of choice, but as a new iteration of the game that I've loved for 30 years. I don't expect 5E to "out 4E" 4E, or do 3.5-style D&D better than 3.5 (or Pathfinder). What I expect--and hope for--is a new, unique form of the game that fulfills the stated design goals of core simplicity and open-ended modularity, able to embody the style of any variation of the game that one desires, if not out-do any particular style or iteration of the game. A game that is flexible and customizable without being overly complex. In other words, I don't want 5E to be a souped up version of 4E or an attempt to erase 4E from memory and be the game that 4E "should" have been if it had followed from 3.5 more closely. I don't want 5E to be 4E with a makeover or Pathfinder on steroids. We already have Pathfinder, we have 4E - they will always exist, always be playable, and are "complete" games in themselves. But I want to keep going; I want to see what's over the next horizon (of D&D game design and play). I want 5E. So if you're perfectly happy with Edition X, I see no reason to stop playing Edition X. Just don't expect 5E to be "Edition X, the Improved Version," because it won't be. If that's what you want you're (probably) going to be disappointed. In other words, I say either embrace change or play the game that you already love, but don't expect 5E to be just a revamped version of any edition, because from what I've gathered from the designers, it is much more ambitious than that. Or, to put it another way, let's prevent some predictable disgruntlement and nerdrage and let 5E be a new version of the game and, better yet, embrace it as such. [/QUOTE]

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