July & Beyond

[TerraDave]

Ya, two lowish level sandboxes at this stage of the game is...interesting.

Better late then never?

 

[TerraDave]

Gambling for success

It's part of the epic fail that characterises Bill Slavicsek's stewardship of the D&D line in the last few years.

...

Theres this idea that if your running, say, a bank, and are doing poorly, it makes sense from your perspective not to become more cautious, but to throw caution to the wind, knowing that you will probably fail anyways, but that you might get lucky, and come out on top.

Not that this has anything to do with D&D 4E over the last few years...

 

[ggroy]

Theres this idea that if your running, say, a bank, and are doing poorly, it makes sense from your perspective not to become more cautious, but to throw caution to the wind, knowing that you will probably fail anyways, but that you might get lucky, and come out on top.

Not that this has anything to do with D&D 4E over the last few years...

Heh. Sounds like a warped "doubling up" strategy in disguise, using somebody else's money.

Martingale (betting system) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[TerraDave]

Exactly. The term (or a term) is actually "gambling for resurection", and can be applied to other situations, like a leader of a country who starts a war to bring up his pole numbers.

 

[Nemesis Destiny]

I'm interested in the Gardmore Abbey adventure, and also to an extent in Neverwinter, but only because of the themes. Honestly, from what was written about it in this article, it sounds just like the Nentir Vale (or what NV was supposed to be), except in FR. Wheeeeeeee.

Sorry, no thanks. But I can't wait until its themes are in the builder!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It's part of the epic fail that characterises Bill Slavicsek's stewardship of the D&D line in the last few years.

wow that is kinda harsh...


now as for the heroic teir... well what do you expect?

what % of players do you belive play at each teir?

My bet, 80-90% of player play through heroic...I mean even the people in paragon and epic started there...so yea (Yes I know some people start higher, but I bet starting above 10th level is less then 20% of the games)

I think 50-60% of games get to paragon in one way or so... but I also belive that few of those hit 20th level

I am one of a dozen DMs in the area, and only 2 of us have run any epic games, and less then half of my games have made it past level 15...Me and Kurt have the most number of epic characters I know... I have 7, he has 8...not counting LFR I have 23 PCs I have played, and only 7 made it to epic (although 2 are still going)


SO is it a suprise that they put out more heroic support then anything?


I also as a DM and a Player I have a big pet peeve of when people tell me about a city in the middle of the world, and has epic level guys and storys runing around, and paragon and heroic... I think a city in FR should only have one teir in mind..

 

[Dedekind]

This discussion about Neverwinter being good/bad would have better context with a firm announcement about next year's setting. I know Ravenloft was tossed around, but has there been any real news? Don't they usually announce it at/around GenCon?

 

[Vael]

The Gardmore Abbey boxset looks like a likely purchase for me, depending on price point and what reviews say of the adventure. It looks more sandboxy, which is good, and it has got a lot of reuseable extras, which is great.

 

[jimmifett]

Gardmore Abbey looks nice. I've got plenty of fortune cards, so not a high priority. LFR burned me out on the realms (Eberron is where it's at ), so neverwinter is low priority.

Looks like I can finish off my SAGA collection, catch up on 4e books I skipped, and branch out a little into PF.

 

[Riastlin]

wow that is kinda harsh...


now as for the heroic teir... well what do you expect?

what % of players do you belive play at each teir?

My bet, 80-90% of player play through heroic...I mean even the people in paragon and epic started there...so yea (Yes I know some people start higher, but I bet starting above 10th level is less then 20% of the games)

I think 50-60% of games get to paragon in one way or so... but I also belive that few of those hit 20th level

I am one of a dozen DMs in the area, and only 2 of us have run any epic games, and less then half of my games have made it past level 15...Me and Kurt have the most number of epic characters I know... I have 7, he has 8...not counting LFR I have 23 PCs I have played, and only 7 made it to epic (although 2 are still going)


SO is it a suprise that they put out more heroic support then anything?


I also as a DM and a Player I have a big pet peeve of when people tell me about a city in the middle of the world, and has epic level guys and storys runing around, and paragon and heroic... I think a city in FR should only have one teir in mind..

I agree that it makes good business sense that a majority of their releases are targetted at heroic tier. I actually think you are being generous in suggesting that 20% of games start at Paragon, I would guess its probably 10% or less, but that is a different issue.

That being said, it still does not make up for the fact that there is almost no epic support, particularly in the form of adventures. There does still need to be some support there.

However, I also agree that the products coming out this year were almost certainly conceived of, and began production, last year, which makes it a little hard to judge where they are with respect to their acknowledgement that something needs to be done with epic. If, for better or worse, they came to the realization this Spring that epic tier support was not only wanted, but needed, then its doubtful, outside of DDi, that we would see much before next year given the production cycle. Personally, I'll hold out until I see the epic tier arc that is supposed to be released through DDi later this year.

Finally, Neverwinter being focused on Heroic tier does actually make sense for good or ill. I just don't picture it as a paragon or epic setting. I suppose maybe early paragon, but even that's pushing it. So, the better question is, what setting would you like to see for late paragon/epic campaigns? Ravenloft certainly has possibilities. Perhaps City of Brass or even a Feywild/Shadowfell setting (though the latter is unlikely since Gloomwrought came out already). What other ideas do you guys have?