D&D 5E Is 2014 official?

[Raith5]

I'm probably alone in this, but I find this playtest exhausting. I'd rather the designers sat down, got stuff ironed out better, playtested when it was nearly done, and let me make the decision to buy/not-buy then.

Instead, I feel a good deal of pressure (yes, I know, my problem) to make sure to follow it in the hopes it will turn into something I want to play. My hunch is that a long public playtest like this will lead toward a much more conservative system than I'm interested in.

If anything, my excitement diminishes with every new week of fresh edition-war-by-proxy.

-O

Agree on all counts. I am finding DDN to be really familiar and comfortable but ultimately uninspiring. I am waiting to see how the modularity is actually going work - how are we going to be able build on and modify the game - so that we are going to be able to see if we can get we want out of it.

 

[Mercurius]

I would like to see a pre-release softcover rulebook at this year's gencon similar to what Pathfinder did with its open Beta. DND Next has a long way to go, but this long beta period must be having an impact on 4th Ed's sales. Should embrace next's in-flux status and put some books out there for us!

I'd be surprised if, during the next year and a half, we don't see something like this. While I agree with those who have said it is better to really iron it out and come out with a good game rather than rush it and come out with something half-baked, there is also the problem of people losing interest. D&D Next was announced a year ago and the playtest started, what, eight or nine months ago? People seem sick of it already. At some point WotC is going to have to re-invigorate interest with something more concrete, a teaser book.

 

[delericho]

D&D Next was announced a year ago and the playtest started, what, eight or nine months ago? People seem sick of it already.

Time for a new edition?

 

[BriarMonkey]

Time for a new edition?

That made me laugh!


(I can't xp ya at the moment...)

 

[Mirtek]

Why rush a game that's suppose to last for over a decade just to get it out a year early?

Likely because your parent company demands you to stop developing and start selling or they'll just cut their losses and shut you down. Also while WotC might wish DDN to last over a decade, I just can't see Hasbro going along with it.No matter how great DDN is going to be, you can't hold the spike in sales a new version of core books yields and these spikes seem like the only thing keeping Hasbro from deciding the tabletop RPG market as a whole is just a waste of their time.

 

[VinylTap]

Likely because your parent company demands you to stop developing and start selling or they'll just cut their losses and shut you down.

You're making a ton of assumptions, but who knows, maybe your dad is CEO of Hasbro? I wouldn't even begin to try and guess at Hasbo's and WOTC's business relationship without more information, for all we know they could be hugely supportive of this project. In the mean time, Hasbro is content to keep the IP going and growing, and spending an adequate amount of time on a product with a good deal of fan involvement is a lot of good (basically free) publicity.

Also while WotC might wish DDN to last over a decade, I just can't see Hasbro going along with it.

1st, 2nd and 3rd editions of DND are still being played (and coincidentally, also still in print). They might not have the user base to support a product line... but than that sort of begs the question doesn't it? Does the user base go away first? or the content?

No matter how great DDN is going to be, you can't hold the spike in sales a new version of core books yields and these spikes seem like the only thing keeping Hasbro from deciding the tabletop RPG market as a whole is just a waste of their time.

Paizo makes this model work with a lot less IP than DND has to draw from. While Paizo's profits are definitely not in the ballpark of what Hasbro probably wants... the house-hold name of the IP is a pretty good advantage, not to mention how much more "lore" WOTC has to draw upon.

While we don't know what the end product will look like, it appears as though WOTC is trying to break DND down to its core, functioning elements in an attempt to never have to redo the system again in its entirety (I know, never say never). If the module books end up being as popular as everyone hopes, there's really no end to what they can mod and refine as the system matures.