D&D 5E Where is D&D Headed Next (Wired.com)

[Kzach]

The big thing is that we’re ready to take as much time as needed to get this right.

This makes me both hopeful and nervous. Hopeful that they can actually do it, but nervous that Hasbro won't let them.

I think a mistake we made in the past was to try to make these big, grandiose statements, but in doing that we lost track of the core elements of what people enjoy about RPGs. We also ended up touting things that we couldn’t actually execute on, and no one wants that to happen again.

Erm... isn't that kinda what they're doing now, ie. making big, grandiose statements?

 

[Kzach]

So....all previous editions have given the DM inadequate power to create a unique campaign that he or she prefers? I'll just say that doesn't match my experience. (Not that D&D has ever been perfect in this regard...)

I think you're grossly misinterpreting what he's saying.

It's fairly well known, or at least agreed upon, that 3.x took a lot of power out of the DM's hand by codifying the system so well that players would constantly correct or reinterpret DM rulings, citing page numbers and rules updates and Book X which changed the Core Rules for Rule Z, X and Y.x31z.

Fourth edition just made that worse by giving players so many damn options that as a DM you couldn't keep a track of even a quarter of them let alone all of them. As a 4e DM you ended up having the choice of either restricting the game to X, Y, Z publications and the rules therein in order to maintain some semblance of control over your game, or you had to acquiesce to the greater power of the Compendium and Character Builder and Rules Update PDF's.

So what he's trying to say is that he wants players to understand that options, whilst great, also stifle creativity at the table and that allowing a DM more control over what happens at the table, supported by the rules themselves, helps facilitate a more enjoyable experience, as has been the case in less restrictive systems such as AD&D and OD&D.

 

[nnms]

I'm seriously sick of seeing people repeat this mantra over and over and over again without any scrap of evidence to support it. If it's true, all fine and good, but my beef with these claims is that there isn't any proof whatsoever of whether D&D is doing well or doing poorly.

It's driving me insane.

What about:

If you’ve been following role-playing game news, you know that, for whatever the reason, 4E isn't satisfying WotC's need as a product line and its release schedule has been trimmed back while a public play testing of its replacement has been announced.

Is that better?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Is anyone else becoming increasingly annoyed by how poorly this phrase is used these days? I mean really, the first overhaul since the last overhaul? Give me a break.

Yeah that annoys me. It's also always bugged me when people call 4e "Four-point-oh". Obviously a hold over from playing a lot of 3.5, which may have been a fine game, but it had a dumb name. Let's leave the decimal out of it, can't we? This author even calls 5th "five-point-oh". Good god! Let's get past that tendency already!

 

[Jan van Leyden]

In such an interview I would have expected at least one question or statement concerning DDI or computer-based stuff in general.

 

[Kzach]

Is that better?

No.

How about not speculating on a complete unknown and reporting actual facts?

Radical, I know, but it just might catch on.

 

[nnms]

No.

How about not speculating on a complete unknown and reporting actual facts?

Radical, I know, but it just might catch on.

Ah, so you want people to believe D&Dnext is coming because 4E is just so damn successful and selling like hotcakes.

Wired is probably pretty confident in their ability to back up their assertion about D&D being in peril. All they have to do is mention the slashing of 4E releases back to a bare minimum and the announcement of the public playtest of a new edition so early in 4E's life. Or how Paizo is now calling Pathfinder the current best selling RPG.

"The Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is now the world’s best-selling tabletop RPG."
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1675907842/pathfinder-online-technology-demo

When D&D is no longer the top selling RPG, it's probably fair to say it's in peril. It's always been the big thing in RPGs, but now it's fallen to 2nd place. Not a healthy state of affairs.

 

[nerfherder]

In such an interview I would have expected at least one question or statement concerning DDI or computer-based stuff in general.

Yes, I noted its absence, too. I would guess that either they are concentrating on the "core" (that terrifically overloaded term!) of tabletop gaming, or maybe they are concentrating on talking about the core of TTG.

 

[Minigiant]

Seems I am right. Schemes are somewhere between a background and theme.

So there is the

Thief: Sneaky, Trap finding and disarming
Charlatan: Deception, Using magical device


Other possibilities

Acrobat: Jump and tumble, Evasion
Thug: Intimidation, stronger sneak attack
Scout: Nature and Perception, skirmish strikes

 

[Kzach]

Seems I am right. Schemes are somewhere between a background and theme.

So there is the

Thief: Sneaky, Trap finding and disarming
Charlatan: Deception, Using magical device


Other possibilities

Acrobat: Jump and tumble, Evasion
Thug: Intimidation, stronger sneak attack
Scout: Nature and Perception, skirmish strikes

Sounds cool but not sure about having that as a particular mechanic only for rogues. Seems like something I'd like to see for other classes as well. Could call them different things for different classes. Schools for wizards, for instance?