Kuunari

The interweb blogity blogosphere won’t shut up about 5e.  Here’s what we’ve found this week.  As always, please feel free to post or send me more links!  Thanks!

Action Point has a nice little wish list.  On his list, keep DM prep short.  I have to agree.

Critical Hits’ Shawn Merwin talks about how the internet has changed the game with D&D.  Choice Quote: ” I would love to see the streamlined balance of 4e, the players’ ability to create a truly unique character of 3e, but the power for the DM to bring about an inspiring and fun story that was enjoyed most in those earliest versions of the game.” Agree.  I’d take it one step further.  I’d like to see the story elements that powers and character advancement offered in the earlier editions.  I want my keep.  🙂

Tavisallison at The Mule Abides  talks about what the 5e announcement means for the OSR and roleplaying as a whole, particularly the media’s reaction to it.  He has a bee in his bonnet for the pictures that were used in the piece in the New York Times as they didn’t actually use a picture of people playing roleplaying games.  While I respect his enthusiasm and have enjoyed much that he has to say, I sometimes wonder if he’s taking gaming a little too seriously.  While a little upset about the picture chosen by the New York Times, ultimately, he feels it’s a win for roleplaying as a whole having D&D in the Times.  Sorry Tavisallison for my mistake!  Thanks for your (much kinder than mine) comment and information about the Mule Abides website.

NewbieDM talks about the need to rerelease the older edition material as a PDF.  Choice quote:

“So for example, if I have a copies of “Expedition to the Barrier Peaks” and the original “Ravenloft” modules that I’d like to run with the new ruleset,  I could go to their online store and say for $1.99 or $2.99 I could purchase a document with the stats for either module updated to the current edition.  I’m not talking about selling me the whole module now, I mean literally a four or five page document with party level information, npc’s, monsters, and traps that I just need to plug into the story and play.

I think it’s fairly easy to do, could possibly make many people open up boxes in their garage to find something to run with their shiny new rules, and could lead the way in opening the door a bit to selling full-fledged pdf’s of the entire almost 40 years history of D&D.”

This is similar to a lot complaints that you see on the internet.  I can imagine it being easy, so it must be easy to do.  Yes, I could quickly convert any old D&D module to my current game of choice with minimal difficulty.  It might take me two hours or so, if I’m in the zone.  But would a major company want to publish my adaption?  Probably not, there would be mistakes, personal edits of the module and so on.  And if they did want to publish my adaption, it would require many more hours to get my “add on” ready for the mass markets.  And then, what is the market for it?  Will they really sell enough to recoup their costs?

Instead, I’d love to see Wizards support a Wiki-like website where people can post their own “add ons” and mods.  Maybe have a player view and a GM view, to help people avoid spoiling a module.  Maybe even hiring or assigning a person to curate the website.  Instant good will with gamers, plus a much lower overhead than having to hire a bunch of people to produce a product of dubious marketability.

Syntax Error has an amazingly detailed and well thought out plan on how to make a modular (with regards to the rules) 5e, specifically with regards to the modules (adventures).  Seriously, WOTC you need to hire/steal from this guy.  Even though in his previous post he wasn’t sure it could be done.

Bartoneus at Critical Hits talks about a number of things with the new system, namely support for 4e and the edition war.  Choice Quote: “I believe the primary issue with the “edition wars” and people arguing about D&D is that sooner or later, one or both sides forget that no edition of the game has ever been perfect.”  I’d copy and paste this into every enworld thread, but I’d be accused of trolling.  But man, there are a lot of people out there who need to remember this.

The Omnipotent Eye doesn’t really care.

Points of Light has a nice list of keepers, wants and do not wants.  My favorite part is the end of the post where he responds to other people’s requests.  Man, unity is going to be tough, no doubt about it.

One thing I’m noticing right now with all these posts is I’m not sure how WOTC is supposed to make everyone happy.  Good Luck WOTC!