D&D 5E What do you want out of 5E/Next?

[GnomeWorks]

Give me something different, exciting, offensive, satisfying, strange, risky, bold, the advent of the new classics. Give me new sacred cows. Develop new IP. Push design, push expectations, push the old guys out of the way. Actually harness today's technology, and plan for tomorrow's.

Y'know, I started a thread trying to push that line of thinking awhile back. Folk didn't take to it well...

 

[Pour]

Y'know, I started a thread trying to push that line of thinking awhile back. Folk didn't take to it well...

Not so surprising in these aged halls, but it's my desire none the less. I feel your pain, then, hehe.

 

[Badapple]

Hey if I’m gonna dream on some pie in the sky "what do you want out of D&D Next", I might as well dream big and get my post in before the edition bickering starts. Here goes:

I want Hasbro to give up and sell off WotC. I want Disney to buy out WotC AND Paizo and then publish four games over the next three years or so.

One called “Dungeons and Dragons” (essentially BECMI with a little bit of 1e and 3e sprinkled in)

One called “Pathfinder” (3.5 and Pathfinder)

One called “Points of Light” (4e, with some math fixes and combat tweaks)

One called “Star Wars Legacies” (WEG star wars, with some tweaks from d20 saga edition)

I’d like to see each game have a life cycle of about eight years, with one of the four games getting an incremental revision every 2 years. I want the Disney marketing machine to revitalize tabletop rpg gaming and have strong movie and video game tie ins bringing in hordes of new players. I want tons of prepainted plastic minis and campaign settings that can be mixed and matched between any of the games. I want an insider account that allows me to play any of these four games online with strangers from all over the world, with character builder, articles, adventures, and app support galore. I want nerd rage to be fired up to a healthy boil, ie "WTF there are no Banthas in Eberron! This is unnacceptable!" - but at the end of the day there are four unique games to choose from, that contain the uncompromised essence of what is controversially unique to each system hard baked into the rules. I want new product for all four games abundantly available on the shelves and online.

 

[Stormonu]

Badapple, that does bring a tangent thought to mind...

We do need a D&D action figure line/set that you can buy in toy stores. It'd be nice to see the old LJN line, but they could've made one based on the new iconics or even the novels (Heroes of the Lance 3 1/4 figure set? Yes, please).

Why the prepainted plastics weren't just boxed up and sold as toy figure sets ( not as add-ons to heroscape, but right next to G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Transformers, WWF and other superhero toy lines) I'll never understand.

 

[Ace]

I like what I've seen so far. I would like good solid rules for different amounts of magic items so I can run with lots, few, none/minimum at my discretion.

I'd also like nice quick prep.

 

[Sonny]

Badapple, that does bring a tangent thought to mind...

We do need a D&D action figure line/set that you can buy in toy stores. It'd be nice to see the old LJN line, but they could've made one based on the new iconics or even the novels (Heroes of the Lance 3 1/4 figure set? Yes, please).

Why the prepainted plastics weren't just boxed up and sold as toy figure sets ( not as add-ons to heroscape, but right next to G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Transformers, WWF and other superhero toy lines) I'll never understand.

Probably because they can be seen as choking hazards and Wizards would have received a lot of flak from consumer groups.

 

[dd.stevenson]

I would like DDN to be available in Walmart, Target, and ToysRUs. I would like it to look cool enough that my nine-year-old nephew will see it and beg me to buy it for him for Christmas.

And although this could be a clear case of the end justifying the means, I would prefer that all of the above be accomplished without introducing too many grating changes to the game I love.

EDIT: Also, a 3rd party license I can respect.

 

[Pour]

Badapple, that does bring a tangent thought to mind...

We do need a D&D action figure line/set that you can buy in toy stores. It'd be nice to see the old LJN line, but they could've made one based on the new iconics or even the novels (Heroes of the Lance 3 1/4 figure set? Yes, please).

Oh man, I wish. MacFarlane-level detail, series with six or so monsters a g0. Bring on the Series 1: Beholder, Mindflayer, Owlbear, Umber Hulk, Carrion Crawler, and Displacer Beast.

 

[Lanefan]

Do you want a game that lets everyone from different editioms play at the same table?

Ideally, yes.

Are you looking for something that evokes an older system, but has current support?

Absolutely, yes (1e).

Are you wanting something that supports a certain style of play?

Yes, but ideally it'll support all kinds of play styles including that which I want it to.

Are you looking for a modernized, streamlined system?

Whatever that is, probably not.

Are you hoping for more of the "great, same old stuff" you've come to expect from D&D?

The key word being "more" in that question, yes I am; for if I don't adopt 5e wholesale I'd still like it to give me some useful ideas for my current system.

Lanefan

 

[steenan]

This all sounds excellent. But I don't think D&Dnext will provide it, will it? For what you describe wouldn't the game have to go more indie rather than less indie?

You are probably right that Next won't give me all that I want. But the thread is about what we want, not what we expect to get.

That being said, I don't think the items I listed diverge far from the design goals of Next as they were presented. They want the game to be simpler and rules-lighter than 3e or 4e. They want to make running the game easy. They want to allow map-less combat. They want to support "three pillars" of combat, exploration and social interaction. They want to avoid accusations of "disassociated mechanics".

When you put it together, it looks similar to my list.



As for "indieness", it depends on what you mean by "indie".

One "indie" trait I definitely want to see in Next is coherent, focused design. Without that, there is no chance I spend any money on this game. On the other hand, it needs no metagame, story-shaping resources, formalized stakes negotiation, endgame mechanics etc. These things are fine, but not in D&D. In other words, yes for Dungeon World, not for Primetime Adventures or My Life with Master.