D&D 5E Playtest Packet soon to be removed: ooohhhh!

[Plaguescarred]

Not that I have any particular knowledge, but I assume that Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle is intended to fill that role for the near future.

That'd be a poor decision if they intend people buying upcoming ''D&D Next compatible'' adventures (Scourge of the Sword Coast & Dead in Thay) to also have to buy another product so they can have the (outdated) playtest rules to run the adventure.

 

[Echohawk]

From the announcement on the WotC web site which is quoted in the first post in this thread (my emphasis):

"...coming early next year are two more D&D Next adventures. These Sundering-themed adventures include the supplementary rules material from the D&D Next Playtest necessary for play."

 

[Atomo]

When you do, could you mention whether the rules match the current playtest documents? The hard copy's rules are already out of date, but I don't know about the PDF.

Outdated rules from the last but one packet. However, a few more monsters (such as will o' wisps) in the bestiary.

 

[Kinak]

Outdated rules from the last but one packet. However, a few more monsters (such as will o' wisps) in the bestiary.

Thanks!

So Dragonspear probably isn't the best place to get the rules. I hope the futures Encounters documents represent the current (or at least last playtest) rules.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[Cybit]

Based on what I've been told; the newer products will have updated rules from the closed playtest. The closed playtest has some pretty good differences between the public playtest, so I agree with the decision to pull the public rules; there's easily enough differences that it will confuse folks.

Also, there are no plans to solicit feedback on the rules, or update the playtest packet (though I would not be surprised if there is a surprise packet update in March of 2014 or so), so there's no point in leaving the files out there.

Note: The upcoming products are also being used for D&D Encounters, so there are quite a few free copies being sent out to stores that run Encounters as best as I can tell (I have gotten both MiBG and Dragonspear from my LGS for free for running Encounters)

 

[Mercurius]

It's kind of like "cleaning the house" by taking people's dinner plates and silverware while they're still eating.

Not really. The good thing is that if you download the packet you can continue to eat using the same dinnerware until they come out with new and improved dinnerware.

No one is taking anything away from you.

 

[Rydac]

I'm wondering??? I recall hearing there are to be five Sundering adventures. Two are already out and their
recent statement names two more D&D Next adventures. Possibility that the fifth adventure will be out
when the 5e rules are available...at least a basic set of the rules. Does this give a better idea of the release
timeline...hmmm.

 

[Derren]

This seems like a strange decision to me. Unless it's costing them a lot of money to keep the playtest available (and I don't see why that would be the case), I really don't get why they'd want to take it down until 5e is released. Shouldn't they want people to keep playing the playtest, even if just to keep them interested?

Probably because the released 5E will be nothing like the playtest or at least there will be significant differences and WotC doesn't want to get customers get too used with the playtest rules.

 

[Plaguescarred]

From the announcement on the WotC web site which is quoted in the first post in this thread (my emphasis):

"...coming early next year are two more D&D Next adventures. These Sundering-themed adventures include the supplementary rules material from the D&D Next Playtest necessary for play."

I hope this refers to more than just monster stats.

 

[the Jester]

It's kind of like "cleaning the house" by taking people's dinner plates and silverware while they're still eating.

Wait, you mean they're going to come steal your copy of the playtest material from your hard drive or whatever print outs you have?

I think it's more like they said, "Here's some fancy new dinner plates, you can use them for a while without buying them. After that, if you want any more or newer plates, you're going to have to pay."