“Wars over man. Wormer dropped the big one”……that’s right, Wizards has announced the next iteration of Dungeons and Dragon and their claiming that it will be the edition to end all editions. No more warring or flaming needed. It is said to comprise the best of all editions, with modular madness allowing you to create almost any play style/edition you could dream of, including the elusive snuffleupagus edition, rumoured to be the one “true” D&D but which always seemed too have just finished when you sat down at the table. Talk about shooting for the moon.
I am a little ambivalent about this announcement. On the one hand I want Dungeons and Dragons to be massively successful, so successful that it becomes required curriculum in schools, so successful that is attributed to bringing about world peace. So I hope this next edition of the game is way super awesome. I do worry that when you try and sell it as the answer to all things that you are somewhat inviting disappointment. I am also pretty sure that I will enjoy playing the game just as I have with every other edition of the game with the exception of 2nd edition (these were my Runequest and Champions years).
What sours my excitement about the announcement is that 4 to 5 years for the life of an edition seems somewhat thin to me. Maybe I would feel differently if I started playing when 4th edition first dropped instead of 2 years into the cycle, but now I can better empathize with how some cats felt that were heavily invested in 3.x when they announced 4th edition. As a consumer I just feel fatigued. I look at the metric ton of books I have for this edition (I am still waiting on some items I have ordered) and the thought of starting over next year is a little unsettling. I am going to be smart about it this time and buy less stuff, and only stuff that I think I will use. At least that is the plan but I have talked before about my tendency to impulsively throw money at things, so will see. I also feel that Wizards were just hitting their stride with 4th edition, and were putting out their best books this past year.
What would I like to see in the next iteration of the D&D? Whatever it looks like I hope they keep the ease with which 4th edition made being a Dungeon Master. I also want them to strive for fewer errata, perhaps the big open play test will help with this. One of my biggest disappointments with 4th edition was the required update to monster stats and damage that left me feeling like I couldn’t use a lot of the products I bought without extra work, and you know how I frown on that.
You hit the nail on the head for me as well. I do feel like I’ve hit that moment where I realize just how much crap I’ve bought and then realize that this is a lame duck game. It’s pretty much dead, and that makes me sad.
As for five years, that’s a fair amount of time for any edition, but I will agree it FEELS short. But consider this, If you take 3.5 to be a new full release (And I do) then five years seems to be Wizards new release schedule. 3 – > 4 was five years. And now 4 -> Next? looks to be about five years. You can argue that It should be viewed as 3.0 -> 4e ( eight years ) but that’s for another time to debate.
I’m looking forward to seeing whatever is next, but I might stick with 4e for now. I like how it works, I like what it has to offer, and I enjoy playing it for now. That being said, I can’t wait to see more of how D&D Next works but I’m mildly concerned.
i heard monte cook on a podcast a while back talking edition cycles and how they were more or less set by the business folks at the company and not r&d. i dont begrudge a company for maximizing earning or profits but the cynic in me always looks at it a little bit like it is not necessarily what the game itself needs.
It’s so weird (and please understand, I don’t want to start any arguments). I hear what you say about 4E making DM’ing easier echoed by some of the other folks I know who are still playing but for me, one of my biggest frustrations with 4E was that I’ve never felt like I had to put as much prep time into being a DM as I do with 4E. 4E is the hardest game to prep for I’ve ever run. It drove me crazy as a DM. I could never just relax and actually enjoy myself at the table. So… just weird to me.
no worries. i think what i am referring more to, at least for me, is actually understanding the math behind scaling encounters and threat level in comparison to past editions (although i got pathfinder a lot better) and separating monster mechanics from pc mechanics, as well as reducing and streamlinning the amount of rules/conditions/exceptions i felt i needed to know to run encounters. i can understand where you coming from though as i do feel like I need to have a lot of stuff prepared for a game session all the stat blocks etc.. and then making sure i run the monsters correctly. when i read one of your recent posts about your struggle with feeling like you needed to stat out all your monsters/npcs for your pathfinder game it made me wonder if that was a slight holdover from your days with 4e.
what specifically do you think made it more work for you?
5th edition! Hahaha, 4th edition was only a few years ago (2008). I see that WotC are following their plan of release a new edition every 4 years, destroying the community, making lots of money, and making it the easy choice to find different games to play.
For me, Paizo (Pathfinder) has done everything right and has earned my loyalty. They plan to come out with a new edition every 10 years, in the meantime their option books are top notch, add a lot to the game, and aren’t broken (unlike many 3E splatbooks). They’re doing it right (open gaming license, new editions every 10 years), WotC are doing it wrong.
The only thing I miss are all the iconic D&D monsters.
I’m not sure what they’ll do with 5E, they’re kind of screwed either way. Will it be like 3E, 4E, or something completely different? Whatever happens, they’ll probably end up alienating their 4E fans, and they won’t regain any 3E fans from Pathfinder, so I’m not really sure what they’d doing.
Ah well, different strokes for different folks, it will be interesting to say the least.