D&D 4E My prediction for the hot new thing for 4e

[Rechan]

I am looking forward to plug-and-play encounter books and setting books. As well as books that draw out the settings for the core cosmology so a Feywild book, Shadowfell book, Far Realm book. I think these would sale well, since they can be used by basically everyone.

I, too, would enjoy this.

In fact, I liked "En Route" very much. I felt the "Foul Locals" books were subpar, not due to the notion of them, but to the not-so-well executed nature of the encounters themselves.

If that could be repeated for 4e, I'd be happy.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Actually just now that I think about "En Route" books would work extremely well with the PoL setting. Seeing how towns and cities are more isolated and roads less safe or no roads at all. The chances of encountering threats and various different occurances along the way is just that much more heightened in the PoL setting.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I dont know. I think maybe alot of companies will be trying to do 4e conversions of 3e stuff, but in clever ways. Such as making Incarnum 4e stuff but like changing the names of things, but mechanically work the same, but for 4e. Im not anyone is making a Incarnum ripoff, it was just an example.

 

[Gundark]

I vote for plug-n-play Encounters, encounter zones, etc.

I think we'll see these sorts of things too.


To be honest I think we'll see more generic stuff for 4e than we saw before. I don't think we'll see a lot of settings or books tied to "named" places out side of stuff from WotC.

Outside of Necromancer I don't think we'll see lots of books replacing the "lost" stuff (Druids, Gnomes, etc).

I do think that race and class books will be done. However I'm unsure as to how many we'll see.

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

It seems to me as though the cycle will begin again. 3e started with a glut of Race and Class books, and 4e will do the same. I expect a few 3rd party Monster books as well.

 

[The Ubbergeek]

It seems to me as though the cycle will begin again. 3e started with a glut of Race and Class books, and 4e will do the same. I expect a few 3rd party Monster books as well.

This is inevitable in time... a part of the industry's trade. few rpg escape it.

 

[Aeric]

I think the Hot New Thing is going to be the game system itself. From everything I've seen so far, this (4th) edition seems like it's going to be the biggest departure from its predecessor in D&D history (although I can't speak for OD&D-to-1st edition AD&D since I've never read the former).

 

[LostSoul]

I think we'll see a lot of what Gundark suggests.

I also think they will be generic adventure locations and dungeons, ready to be dropped in and run in your own setting.

 

[Irda Ranger]

It seems to me as though the cycle will begin again. 3e started with a glut of Race and Class books, and 4e will do the same. I expect a few 3rd party Monster books as well.

This.

In the beginning people will be content with PoL or their homebrew, but they want to make the character concept that's in their head, and the PHB1 doesn't quite get them there. Third-party pubs (and later WotC with PHB2, etc.) will then fill in the holes in the conceptual character space with 4E equivalents of Barbarians, Sword-Sages and Duskblades. Once all the bases are covered though they'll move on to adventures and paths, as happened with 3E. It'll happen more quickly than with 3E though, since the path has already been blazed.

The earliest of these books will focus on new Talents or Feats and Paths/Destinies. Other than earlier-edition recreations I don't expect brand new core classes right of the gate. They'll come later. New Rituals and spells will of course be very popular, but of questionable quality in the first iteration.

In parallel I also expect the first round or two of books to have a lot of "implied setting guides" to stuff left a big vague in the Core Rulebooks, such as a Volo's Guide to the Feywild or, more specifically, Intrigues of the Faerie Court. They'll flesh out the various planes and settings for people who want to focus on one or a few parts of the PoL implied setting. For full campaign settings, only settings that are being "converted" to 4E, such as Kalamar or Midnight, will be released early in the process, and their "fit" with the 4E rules will be questionable. Only several years down the line will people have a firm enough grasp on what's missing from 4E/PoL to release a really good setting/ alt-ruleset such as Midnight or Iron Heroes were for 3E.

The wildcard in this product mix is expansion on the various "mini-games" within D&D. If the social encounter rules provide a good framework, but leave something to be desired, we may see a more Advanced Intrigue & Guile rules from someone. Likewise if the Leader classes present some intriguing mass combat possibilities, we may see some good mass combat (and siege) rules that capitalize on that pretty quickly.

 

[Mercule]

It seems to me as though the cycle will begin again. 3e started with a glut of Race and Class books, and 4e will do the same. I expect a few 3rd party Monster books as well.

Yup.

This time, though, I don't intend to be quite so conspicuous of a consumer. What I learned in 3E (and now see as one of the things that I disliked about 2E) is that a class/level based system is simpler and easier than a point-based system only if you keep the clutter and scope somewhat contained. Past a certain point, the class/level system can become more complex and unmanageable than most point systems. If you manage by exception, minimize the exceptions.