D&D 4E Will 4E be backwards compatible?

[sfgiants]

A lo of people are looking to how Star Wars saga may affect 4E. If you think about it, it is the other way around. 4e has affected SWSE. They have been working on 4e for years! Now thats scary

 

[Lord Mhoram]

Not to burst your bubble, but that is exactly what people said each edition along the way. .

I'll take a look at 4th, but I'm one of those that sticks with what I like. I played 1st ed D&D until 3rd came along, I didn't care for 2nd (did use some setting material for 2nd - notably Spelljammer). If I don't really care for 4th ed, I'll play 3.x.

 

[Stalker0]

We gamers like to whine with our mouths (and our typing hands but we seem to always cheer new editions with our wallets.

3e was a huge success, and regardless of how much complaining and naysaying went out, so was 3.5. I would wager that most people on these very boards that bought 3e have converted to 3.5.

Personally, I don't care much for books with new feats, new skills, etc all the time. I like books that change the game itself. Once I'm inspired with a new kind of idea, I can work with my dm and tweak it however I like to fit my character.

Ideas like swift/immediate actions, skill tricks, per encounter resource management have all been new ideas that have given a lot of new life to the game. If 4e continues in this direction, providing a whole new way of doing things, I will be a very happy man.

The only thing I will complain about myself is this will mark the end of 3.5 support. We might get a couple more books, but what we got is what we got.

 

[Umbran]

This sort of makes me wonder if the whole thing isn't going to collapse in on itself soon.

Soon? No. Remember, we have basically been in the same situation since 1974 - the market for RPGs has never been large enough that saturation was not an issue. If it has worked for 30 years (and many editions of many games) it is not likely to be a real issue soon.

I get the feeling that at some point there will have been too many editions, and eventually a new edition won't kick-start things again. Then, they'll be stuck trying to promote a new edition that nobody wants to buy while being more or less unable to support the older edition thanks to lack of profitability.

Again - there is not much difference between now and what we've seen in the past decade. When 3e came out, there was 2e, 1e, and several editions of OD&D out there. As time goes on, the older editions will be less and less a concern.

And, also, as we age, we too will be less and less a concern, as we will probably be a smaller and smaller section of the market. So, in general, they only have to worry about the memory of the past couple editions, which seems to work out okay.

I can't say whether 4E is going to be the last one, but I do think that if 4E is significantly similar to 3E, it's a sign that we're reaching some kind of plateau of how far we can improve the general D&D system.

I'd disagree, for two reasons. First of all, 3e was so different from 2e that I don't think it can reasonable be called "an improvement on the general D&D system". Second, lack of evidence is not evidence of lack - just because you don't see innovation does not mean innovation is impossible.

 

[Scribble]

So who's designed it I wonder...

Which influences will we see?

Mearls?

 

[Hjorimir]

So who's designed it I wonder...

Which influences will we see?

Mearls?

That's my guess.

 

[Scribble]

I'm also guessing it can't be TOO much different...

It's different this time aroudn then it was for 2e-3e...

Now they have the whole SRD and Open Game thing to deal with...

If they make it too much different, they run the risk of other companies staying behind with 3.5 products instead of wanting to switch over...

 

[drothgery]

So who's designed it I wonder...

Which influences will we see?

Mearls?

If it's as SWSE-influenced as most of suspect, Rodney Thompson probably shows up in the credits somewhere.

 

[Scribble]

If it's as SWSE-influenced as most of suspect, Rodney Thompson probably shows up in the credits somewhere.

Who are the "big name" designers at Wizards now? (I know it's all freelance, but you know what I mean...) who's been doing the most work lately?

 

[Virel]

Why did it need a new edition? It was fine the way it was!

Any thoughts?

They badly needed a new edition for a lot of reasons. Most of the market, that will play 3/3.5e have the core books. They can sell a lot of stuff with a new edition. WotC makes more money with the new edition.

The current edition is badly flawed in required prep time, load on the DM, excessive rules, the system is unfriendly to new players, and the books are so poorly written and uninteresting to read they can cure insomnia. I view 3e as failed game. It's ok to play but it sucks to DM compared to the early editions. I think they are really, really, really going to try and fix this flaw. My play group has some would be 3e players, they play AD&D with me because no one will step up to DM 3e due to the prep time. I probably would have DM'd some 3e for them if the system wasn't so time intensive because they are my friends despite my personal dislike of the 3e system.

A blessing would be if they threw everything out and start over from the ground up. Clean sheet of paper design. They probably won't do that, because it would be too risky. The magic system will probably get revamped. My guess is Vancian is gone as that is unpopular with many and will be the most fundamental change. If that changes, then almost all of the spells and their power levels have to be addressed in some manner. Epic will be at level 30 instead of 20. Characters will level more often, sort of mini-steps between the current levels. The core d20 concept will remain which is a shame given the chance to redefine the game. It will be possible to convert form 3/3.5 to 4th but it won't be as clean as 1e to 2e, or 3e to 4e, I think it will similar to 2e to 3e due to the magic system changes.

They'll probably try to address the lack of flavor that goes with the 3e product line and at least make the materials interesting to read and inspiring like the older books. They'll probably, go more old school feel and less cyber-punk D&D.

Us older schoolers, will probably like 4e better than 3e, because it would be very hard for us to like less than we like 3e.