D&D 4E Suppose 4e is released, do you buy it?

[Jhamin]

Whew, thats like comparing apples and oranges. You speak about settings with the same ruleset (2e) and some additions to that ruleset compared to two different ruleset versions (3e vs 4e)...

You misunderstand me. I'm not talking about different D&D settings, I'm talking about different game settings. D20 is widespread becuse D&D 3.x is the closest thing we have to an industry standard.
Back in the 2nd edition days, if you wanted Sci-Fi you played Gurps. If you wanted superheros you played Champions or DC Heroes. If you wanted Horror you played Beyond the Supernatural or Chill. If you wanted goth you played White Wolf.
And there was Torg, and Buck Rogers, and Blue Planet, and Legend of the Five Rings, and Shadowrun, and on and on.

There are still alot of systems on the market today (and it's a good thing), but little "one off" game worlds or supplaments can get sold without convincing someone to jump into a new set of rules. D20 exists as a true "generic" that can often bend to fit whatever supplament someone is trying to sell.
My argument is that if D&D 4 doesn't go this way,we will return to the old way of doing things.

Mutants and Masterminds, The Stargate RPG, everything put out by Fantasy Flight & Green Ronin, in 1991 these would have all been independent games with their own rules sets. They were D20 because of the OGL. If OGL is no longer profitable, they will either use a seperate set of rules, get licenced in another system (M&M's Freedom City started out as a Champions supplament), or not get made at all.

 

[MoogleEmpMog]

I wouldn't buy it sight-unseen.

I'd buy it if, having looked it over, I considered it an improvement on 3.x. Since most what I don't like and everything I actively dislike about 3.x is inextricably bound up in what makes D&D "D&D," I doubt 4e will be a huge leap in the direction I'd like. 3.5 already fixes most of my system-based problems with D&D.

The main thing that would get me onboard would be high-epic rules that played as well as low-mid.

 

[Jupp]

You misunderstand me.

Yup, thanks for putting me into the right place

 

[Mythmere1]

I already switched to Castles & Crusades. 3.5 turned out to be too funky for me.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Ah ah ah... There has been a long time since we had some 4e threads on this board. Now it's time to restart discussions about it!

Yeah. It's been DAYS since I saw a 4E thread and I'm sure there's lots yet to pointlessly speculate and argue about.:\

I would likely buy it whether I'm genuinely intent on using it or not. The choice of whether or not I actually USED it is another matter entirely and there is insufficient data for a meaningful answer. Data like its actual existence as an active project in development.

 

[Sebastian Francis]

Just a piece of advice about polls. I've noticed that a lot of the polls here on enworld have a relatively large number of options given; keep in mind that the more options, the more diluted and unreliable the results. It is best, statistically speaking, for polls to have 3-4 options, when possible (obviously the nature of some polls makes this impossible).

 

[The Human Target]

If I thought it was good, of course.

I play 3.5 House ruled all to hell, and full of variants from things like Unearthed Arcana.

I want 4th edition to be about options. To slay some sacred cows. To remove the gulf between low and high level play.

 

[TheLe]

According to my insider sources, Hasbro/Wotc tried to sell off D&D completely a couple years ago. The leading buyer was actually Games Workshop, but the deal fell through for some reason. Actually, part of it was because the movie rights and a couple others were already licensed off to others, so you would essentially be buying an incomplete product. I believe the price tag was $30 million if memory serves (I will have to check).

On that note, I believe that 4e is on the way in 2006, but no later than 2007. And I also believe that 4e will not be OGL.

The way wotc works (ie the Collectable Card game model), is to release new updates and what not every year or year and a half. And a couple other insiders I talked to also believe that 2006 would be the target date.

What does this mean? It means we will go back to all "Dungeons and Dragons" books being made exclusively by wotc and their close partners, leaving little d20 publishers like me out in the cold. We did our job to help bring D&D to the masses, and now wotc will benefit with the next release.

I hate it, but I can't really blame them. There is a huge market out there that guys like me help create, and if wotc was the sole maker of those supplements, then they are looking at a huge source of income.

But will I buy 4e? Nope. I got the 3.5 SRDs.

~Le, aka The Le Games

 

[Kanegrundar]

I failed my Will save against posting in yet another 4E thread!!!

I will give it a look see and IF it is truly a better overall game, I'll buy it. Not before then. I can't justify buying into another edition of this game when I already have a lifetime's amount of material I've yet to touch.

Kane

 

[Kesh]

I probably would, as long as it's still mostly compatible with my 3.0/3.5 stuff.

Of course, I'm thinking about switching all my d20 stuff over to True20, so that's effectively "D&D 4.0" for me.