No 4th Edition

[Felon]

I was almost ready to give a rumored 4e a chance until i heard the Miniature news, then i was like no....But with all of this miniature crap going around i think im going to stick to only Forgotten Realms products (for 4e), and 3rd party books if they continue to be 3.5 usable.

What "miniatures crap"? Seriously, do you even know what you're talking about?

The current system emphasizes minis plenty. You're supposed to countinches or squares on a map to determine movement or ranged attack modifiers. You're supposed to draw lines to determine flanking. You're supposed to threaten squares and provoke AoO's for moving too casually. But it seems lots of folks do without minis.

We have no details on how 4e will place a great emphasis on minis, but I have to ask, does anyone really have any idea how they could do so? Can you really devise the game so one guy can't run up to another and swing a sword without simulating this event with little bits of plastic?

 

[Felon]

If you don't sell books every year, you die - and all those employees have no more paychecks. So that means either selling completely new books, or new copies of the books you've already produced.

While what you say is true, let's make sure we also note that there's certainly another edge to that sword. Just because a company wants to sell people a new version of something they already have, that hardly guarantees consumers will rush out to buy it.

I reallly can't see gamers as a whole putting thousands of dollars worth of books in a recycle bin just because WotC declares "hey, it's that time again, folks!" Now before anyone tries to say that's exactly what happened when 3e came out, I'll go ahead and point out that it wasn't WotC's insistence that motivated consumers--it was the shortcomings of 2e. 3e works great, so 4e had better be damned good to entice everyone to start buying from square one.

 

[Warbringer]

Simple change to char gen: you don't. That would be upto the nice little card that you get when you buy your random mini.

No, I'm not joking... really

 

[Captain Tagon]

Simple change to char gen: you don't. That would be upto the nice little card that you get when you buy your random mini.

No, I'm not joking... really

Considering this is an extremely unsupported hypothesis whose only basis was a third hand rumour which has been discounted, then yes, you are joking.


EDIT: Fixed typo.

 

[rgard]

Enough to keep the company functioning, pay the staff, etc. and make a reasonable living for the owner. Simple, really.

No. I'm speculating, just like we all are.

Lanefan

Still need to define 'reasonable' living for the owner. We probably won't be able to define that until some government committee determines CEO pay ranges for us.

Yes, 'we' is right on the speculation...I'm part of that group too.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[Razz]

I do not see the need for a 4th edition of the game at this time. Maybe in another 5 or 10 years. If and When it comes outs, i do not plan on picking it up. I Already invested my money in Third Ed, and i dont want to put forth any money into buying another version of the game when the current one is still perfectly playable.
*sigh*
i'm just upset at the possibility of my current game being outmoded.

Slaunt

I totally agree. 3E is where I stop, I will only look into 4E Forgotten Realms products, and it'd have to heavily filled with more lore than crunch for me to actually purchase it. I'm not shelling tons of money for yet ANOTHER edition.

The system works fine as it is. Why? Because, really, the system has barely changed since 3.5E began. The only thing changed was merely more and more sets of options to "install" in your games. You don't want them, don't buy them, you do, then buy it. I recently bought "Tome of Battle" and "Dragons of Faerun" because I find both awesome material to add to my games. It's not making 3.5E any more difficult than with just the 3 core books. Some people just fail to realize that, though.

As my signature says, there is nothing you can do with 4E that 3E cannot already accomplish by using the following:

---House Rules
---Unearthed Arcana
---3rd Party Products

That's pretty much all you need to make 3.5E your very own version of D&D. The need for 4E I don't understand and never will, except for the fact that they want to get more money. It being a corporation

Now if they could license D&D altogether to someone else to take over, someone smaller and someone that loves the game enough to treat it properly for the sake of everyone involved whether veteran, novice, or newb would not be a bad idea.

And I agree, WotC/Hasbro needs to stop it with their high hopes of turning D&D into a super-powered money-making machine. They need to be happy with where it's at now and leave it alone.

Also, if 4E is to 3.5E what 3.5E is to 3.0E, I MIGHT actually switch over. But that is if, and only if, they can provide downloads of updating all the books everyone has most likely purchases into the 4E material.

 

[slaunt]

I agree with Razz, i will stick with Third Ed, if and when Fourth Ed comes out. Its not like my books will disappear when 4e comes out, it will just be what i would prefer to play. I for one will not support 4e. Trust me, i am one of those Die Hard Gamers who buys everything, or did at one point. My current facination is with the Storyteller system wich i like a lot. But DnD will always have a special place in my "Grand Library". But with 4e coming about, i'm done and wont pick up anything unless i feel it might be useful with my current DnD game.

Slaunt

 

[Angel Tarragon]

No. Because people will buy them.

I should know - I'm one of those people.

Ditto here. I absolutely love the Realms. I've fallen a bit behind with the books, but I'll be snapping up all the ones I've missed early next year.

I buy them because my campaign has areas that are much like Realm areas and It is extremely easy to use the book for info, then tweak it to what I know is true about my campaign.

On the otherside of that I have been an avid FR supplement fantatic since 1992-1993 and though most of my second edition material is gone, I find that the newer info reduces the time necessary to prep for FR adventures.

 

[Vigilance]

While what you say is true, let's make sure we also note that there's certainly another edge to that sword. Just because a company wants to sell people a new version of something they already have, that hardly guarantees consumers will rush out to buy it.

Some gamers wont.

However, past experience from other game companies like GURPs (4 editions in 20 years), White Wolf (4 editions in 15 years) and WOTC (a few years between 3.0 and 3.5, a similarly short turnaround between editions of Star Wars) has shown most gamers DO upgrade.

You get a few early adopters, they evangelize the system, convert some more in their local circle and then the social network tugs almost everyone else along.

You will always lose some customers, but the net result tends to be a nice profit surge to the company making the game.

It's no accident that everyone does business this way.

If it didn't work, don't you think people would stop doing it? D&D had traditionally had about a 10 year edition cycle. But with GURPs and White Wolf proving customers were ok (as a whole) with a 4-5 year edition cycle, what are they supposed to do?

Chuck

 

[Sykopup]

If my group decides to switch to the eventual 4E, then they will have to find somewhere else to play. Based on the various rumors (and, I admit that that is exactly what they are for now), I want nothing to do with 4E. I will probably just say screw it and spend even more time letting the television rot away what's left of my creative imagination. Hey, maybe when that happens, I'll be ready for CCGs.