What exactly is the deal with the 4th Edition?

[wolfric]

I saw some videos on youtube on the 4th edition, and I'm a little confused. Is this new edition going to be an online game? Meaning a type of EQ or WoW game where you can play D and D with ppl over the internet? Forgive my Noobery but can someone straighten this out for me.

 

[Bishmon]

It's the same game it always has been, but with the added option of playing it on a virtual tabletop online. You still play it the same way, but now you have the choice of playing it on your dining room table with your local friends, or on a virtual tabletop online with people around the world.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

http://www.enworld.org/index.php?page=4e

It's been so long since I've thought about the D&DI Virtual Tabletop...
It's NOT the centerpiece of the edition.

3/10

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

It's not becoming an MMO. That's the ad-blurbs for a subscription service WoTC is offering beginning with 4e. It bundles the electronic replacements of the old Dungeon and Dragon magazines with an virtual game table so that people who can't meet physically can play the game over a tabletop in the net. It also has a character generator attached.

So far all anyone has seen of the game table are pre-rendered sequences and it's just taking applications for its closed Beta-testing period. The character generator is in a similarly early stage of development. Not that it's new either, there have been virtual game tables for years. This just ties it into a WoTC supported model and a sort of theoretical "home" for D&D groups online at their new site.

 

[wolfric]

It's the same game it always has been, but with the added option of playing it on a virtual tabletop online. You still play it the same way, but now you have the choice of playing it on your dining room table with your local friends, or on a virtual tabletop online with people around the world.

Damn that was fast lol Ok so.....when you say a virtual tabletop online does that mean going out and inviting players (or getting invited by players) to play on line a la XBOX live games like Halo, etc.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Damn that was fast lol Ok so.....when you say a virtual tabletop online does that mean going out and inviting players (or getting invited by players) to play on line a la XBOX live games like Halo, etc.

Maybe. The program hasn't been released yet, and all the features are not set in stone. We just don't know yet.

It could, at the least, be an improvement on play-by-post.

 

[Aeolius]

It's the same game it always has been, but with the added option of playing it on a virtual tabletop online.

Unless you use a Macintosh.

 

[Dave Turner]

The OP looks like trolling to me. Brand new user, asking a question that's been a flashpoint for flame wars in the past? Color me suspicious.

To the OP: ENWorld has a massive 4E information page you can read. There's a link to it at the top of this forum.

 

[Oldtimer]

Damn that was fast lol Ok so.....when you say a virtual tabletop online does that mean going out and inviting players (or getting invited by players) to play on line a la XBOX live games like Halo, etc.

It might be, but the central thing to understand about the virtual tabletop is that is literally just a tabletop - no rules, not a game in itself - just a shared tabletop online.

 

[FourthBear]

Fourth Edition will be a new edition of D&D, in the same fashion as the Third and Second Edition. They will be releasing the core books (the PH, DMG and MM) this June. There will be a number of changes to the rules, classes, races and background in this upcoming edition. Much of the information on the specifics of the upcoming edition remain unrevealed, but you can find much of what is known on the 4th Edition info page on this site.

As others have noted, Wizards of the Coast will be offering a subscription online service that is planned to allow tabletop gaming over the net. From what I've heard, it will likely act similarly to Fantasy Grounds and similar programs. However, it is not planned to somehow replace or eliminate standard face-to-face tabletop gaming.