Pramas: D&D his way??

[Wisdom Penalty]

Paizo, going alone, probably can't get there. Paizo inviting 3rd party support might.

I don't know. Paizo is soliciting the support of the largest designing body there is - the players. And they single-handedly (IMO and all that) saved Dungeon and Dragon from obscurity and doom.

While my group is going to give 4E a run for its money, I have little doubt the Paizo-lead effort will produce something genuinely good.

 

[SteveC]

"Wall of compatibility"? That's new.

Here's the thing: 3.0, 3.5, Pathfinder, d20 Modern, Star Wars Saga, are all compatible with each other. You could reasonably stat up, say, a Jedi, put him on a Lamborghini Diablo and have him hunt down undead in Heart of the Nightfang Spire before facing the Red Hand of Doom and then taking down the Runelords.

Sure, some things work differently within each subset, but they're close enough that you can play with books from all games above.

Well two things:
First, the awesomeness of that idea must be recognized. Jedi + fast cars + fighting the undead = teh awesome. I would definitely buy that product. Hmmn, maybe I did buy that product as Feng Shui.

Second, I'd say that most of those games are compatible in large part, probably until you get to Star Wars Saga. At that point we see a real divergence of power levels and play styles that you really don't see in "classic 3X OGL products."

These new "3.75's" are attempting to fix fundamental flaws as perceived by the authors with the classic underlying premise of 3.5, and no one can agree 100% as to what those flaws actually were, so I don't see them as playing very well together. I could be wrong of course, which is what makes things interesting.

--Steve

 

[Treebore]

Compatibility issues? I don't have any compatibility issues. Then again I use the rules set that allows me to "bind them all".

So Chris, do your own thing. I'll check it out, and have no compatibility issues whatsoever if you aim it at being even somewhat usable with other editions of D&D.

Plus I applaud PAthfinder the RPG. Its doing D&D the way I prefer it being done. Take what works with the system and then fix what doesn't. Making a whole different version that is just going to have new "broken" problems is not the way I like doing such things.

Fortunately I don't have to worry about such things anymore.

 

[Klaus]

Well two things:
First, the awesomeness of that idea must be recognized. Jedi + fast cars + fighting the undead = teh awesome. I would definitely buy that product. Hmmn, maybe I did buy that product as Feng Shui.

Second, I'd say that most of those games are compatible in large part, probably until you get to Star Wars Saga. At that point we see a real divergence of power levels and play styles that you really don't see in "classic 3X OGL products."

These new "3.75's" are attempting to fix fundamental flaws as perceived by the authors with the classic underlying premise of 3.5, and no one can agree 100% as to what those flaws actually were, so I don't see them as playing very well together. I could be wrong of course, which is what makes things interesting.

--Steve

So the Saga character will be a bit stronger. So what? Slap a higher CR on him and call it a day.

RIFTS and AD&D are incompatible, because there are no mechanics that match. But you can reasonably put a party of 3.5 characters against a Pathfinder druid and his Rancor animal companion. The dice rolled are pretty much the same.

 

[Jhaelen]

Just wait till you see my version. I'm calling it 3.76E, because it's .01 better than Pathfinder. You'll be amazed.

Pah! I am working on version 4.2 already. It'll change the meaning of life, the universe and everything! (at least fractionally... )

 

[Ranger REG]

Dragon Fist would have been an awesome 3rd edition D&D.

So, what's stopping Chris and GR from releasing it?

 

[Glyfair]

The way he's speaking up there, it's not exactly clear that he's planning a whole line of products based on his own ideas. More just spitballing about how to make a buck off of something he can't stop doing.

Indeed, who said anything about publishing.

But he is a game designer, and he is tinkering, because that is what game designers do.

In the blog entry about the rules that eventually lead to the Book of Experimental Might, Monte Cook states:

As I have mentioned here and elsewhere, my new campaign is going to have some pretty extensive house rules. Not because I think the game is in serious need of them, but because I just feel like experimenting

I think most game designers feel the same way. They like to tinker and see how things work.

 

[Ranger REG]

I think most game designers feel the same way. They like to tinker and see how things work.

Only game designers?

 

[dm4hire]

So, what's stopping Chris and GR from releasing it?

I think it is an art issue, but not sure. Unfortunately fans got a little blood thirsty with each other and GR locked the forum until it releases, whenever that is. I personally hate release date announcements. Everyone should take the Blizzard approach of "We'll release it when we're ready and not before that." Course that might change now that they got bought out. :\

I thought I'd also remind everyone about Paradigm going to turn Arcanis into its own system as well.

 

[Glyfair]

Only game designers?

I think many players like to tinker. I don't think most do (or at least in the compulsive "I have to try a new rule for this campaign" manner).