D&D 4E What was Paizo thinking? 3.75 the 4E clone?

[Firevalkyrie]

I disagree with the premise that the "bulk" will go 4E. A sizeable percentage has no intention of switching. Perhaps not a majority but a sizeable enough percentage they can carve out a nice share of the market.

I think Hasbro has every confidence that D&D 4E will absorb the bulk of D&D 3E's customers, and I can sum up why in 3 words:

"TRUKK NOT MUNKY." When Beast Wars came out, there were a number of Very Serious Transformers fans on the internet posting long, involved and Very Serious posts about how Beast Wars was going to Ruin Transformers Forever. Not only did it not, it ushered in a new era of popularity and success for Transformers.

In other words, the complaining Internet fans are a tiny minority of a tiny minority.

 

[Ty]

I previewed the Alpha from Paizo. I was impressed with it in many respects and it certainly has provided me a better option than "going 4E" or "not buying any more D&D products." It also renewed my interest in Paizo materials since they lost Dragon/Dungeon.

Now if only they could publish an NPC/Monster generation software program.

 

[Firevalkyrie]

I previewed the Alpha from Paizo. I was impressed with it in many respects and it certainly has provided me a better option than "going 4E" or "not buying any more D&D products." It also renewed my interest in Paizo materials since they lost Dragon/Dungeon.

Now if only they could publish an NPC/Monster generation software program.

Proving opinions are everywhere, I previewed the alpha and it ended up further convincing me what BoXM already convinced me of: Trying to "fix" the problems of 3.5 without going down to the system level and rebuilding is a fool's game.

 

[FourthBear]

The PCs use PF adjustments, nothing else needs to. There's no reason, for example, that you have to go back and convert all the NPC fighters, rogues, wizards, etc. to the PF version.

But assuming the Alpha is representative of the final version, will Pathfinder adventures be playtested and designed to challenge 3.5e PCs or their more powerful Pathfinder counterparts? Will those people wishing to use 3.5e find that Pathfinder adventure paths grow more difficult post-Pathfinder RPG? And, of course, will the new abilities found in Pathfinder RPG have to be continually referenced for the 3.5e audience every time they are invoked?

 

[Charwoman Gene]

"TRUKK NOT MUNKY."

New Sig.

Offtopic: Since you seem to be semi-into TF fandom, do you know a good site for a G1 fan to sort of get reaquainnted with the later stuff?

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

But assuming the Alpha is representative of the final version

You can stop there. I make no such assumption.

EDIT: Just so that doesn't sound as snarky as it does in review:

Your concerns are valid. That's why I don't make the assumption. I assume when Paizo says they want it to be compatible, they mean it; and I know it's possible.

 

[Keoki]

The PCs use PF adjustments, nothing else needs to. There's no reason, for example, that you have to go back and convert all the NPC fighters, rogues, wizards, etc. to the PF version.

Only if you're interested in preserving the intended encounter difficulty. Of course, I always thought that was one of the main reasons for converting.

 

[Ourph]

The PCs use PF adjustments, nothing else needs to. There's no reason, for example, that you have to go back and convert all the NPC fighters, rogues, wizards, etc. to the PF version.

I think people are focusing too much on the issue of converting 3.5 material to Pathfinder. I don't think that's the main problem. I suspect that, come 2010, there will be significantly more people playing the D&D 3.5 RPG than the Pathfinder RPG. D&D 3.5 has a vast amount of source material available for it, a pre-primed audience of people who know the rules and will (most likely) have a huge number of people actively playing it, assuming a portion of the D&D audience won't convert to 4e the moment the books are available. That being the case, I think it's pretty ridiculous to convert the Pathfinder Adventure Paths over to a new system, with a limited audience, when there are likely going to be many, many more potential customers who simply want continued support for the 3.5 RAW.

I'm not suggesting Paizo shouldn't go ahead with the Pathfinder RPG and make it whatever they want. People who want continued support for 3.5 presumably have their own rulebooks at this point, so what happens with the Pathfinder rulebooks doesn't matter. But if the plan is to make the Pathfinder Adventure Paths use the new rules (and the new rules are going to veer away from 3.5 as much as the alpha-preview suggests), it seems to me that Paizo is just shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[amethal]

Proving opinions are everywhere, I previewed the alpha and it ended up further convincing me what BoXM already convinced me of: Trying to "fix" the problems of 3.5 without going down to the system level and rebuilding is a fool's game.

I'm sure they know what they are doing.

Presumably they have fewer or different problems with 3.5 than you do, which they think can be fixed.

 

[Firevalkyrie]

New Sig.

Offtopic: Since you seem to be semi-into TF fandom, do you know a good site for a G1 fan to sort of get reaquainnted with the later stuff?

Thanks!

The Transformers Wiki should handle all of your Transformers needs Also, I don't know if it's exactly your cup of tea, but I'm finding the new Transformers: Animated series to be quite entertaining.