Comments on: Wizards Watch: Contemplating “The Future of D&D”

By: Roger L. Mills

Roger L. Mills — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 17:20:04 +0000

With the announcement this week that the playtest will begin released to the public on May 24th I am guess I am getting what I asked for. I am definitely … curious, excited … probably both.

By: Hunterian7

Hunterian7 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:19:15 +0000

@Alphastream- they only have a tough challenge because it is something they are doing to themselves.

This whole ‘earlier edition’ nostalgic fever Mike Mearls is fixated on needs to Go Away- quickly. The vast majority of D&D players are 3.5 and 4th (Paizo and WotC respectively). Mike Mearls came from 2nd edition and that makes him DANGEROUS to the health of D&D. I was born in 1975- I started with the pink D&D Basic Box in 1980 and I don’t give a damn about the roots of D&D. This is 2012- NOT 1990. I hope WotC fails. D&D Next is coming out too soon. Period.

By: Dave Wainio

Dave Wainio — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:35:08 +0000

That is “range 5 squares OR range 25 feet is the same thing”. didn’t check for typos before posting.

By: Dave Wainio

Dave Wainio — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 00:33:20 +0000

i don’t really understand why people worry about a “grid”. I have played plenty of games over the years where movement and ranges were listed in feet, meters, scale “inches”, etc. We always found that a battlemap with hexes or grids was much easier to deal with then measuring with a tape maeasure.

To me, Range 5 squares of Range 25 feet is the same things. Have people lost their ability to use their imagination so much that measurments in squares or hexes really changes the game experience for them?

The only time it annoyed me was (and is) explosions that come out square or diamond shaped to fit a grid. For over 20 years we had no problems with circles on a grid map. If you were in a box only partially in the radius you got a 50/50 roll to be just outside the explosion. Simple stuff. Not sure why everything became so legislative with exact borders and metarules. (Like the Rule of the Universe that only 1 person fits in a five ny five foot area unless the second is prone. How many people jam in elevators around that size every day across the planet).

By: Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 23:31:29 +0000

@Alphastream – I just look at all the trouble and arguments pre-grid play had, and I’d rather not go back to it. Non-grid play means that every is trying to imagine the same geometry of a combat, and invariably someone will envision something different, leading to confusion and an argument at the table. And frankly, I’d be careful in suggesting that a grid causes a loss of imagination and creativity – in fact, I’ve found that 4E was a DM Renaissance for me, and I’ve been creating and using far more new terrains and hazards in combats, as well as other gimmicks, in place of monsters at times. I’m curious how you run the Ashes of Athas without a grid, but it seems to me that many combat maneuvers and concepts would have trouble being implemented without one. If memory serves, it seems to me that 3rd ed and 4E added a lot more options to the melee characters’ toolbox by including a grid, rather than limiting them to a simple swing or double swing while standing toe-to-toe with a monster, or holding a hallway while the wizard AoE’d in front of them. In fact, I think the only shackles a grid imposed was on wizards, who finally had to accept that their spells couldn’t hit everything they wanted all the time.

By: Alphastream

Alphastream — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:47:34 +0000

They have a really tough challenge. I’m glad to hear so many people finding the DDXP and the PAX seminars useful, and especially hearing so many people say they had a great time and were excited to play more D&D (even with their current edition) as a result.

Neuroglyph, I think the “off the grid” discussion is based on many players feeling that starting with 3E the grid became a mandatory component, to the point of being a shackle. Certain 3E adventures, and most 4E adventures (especially the early ones) are an on-off switch of combat or RP/Skill Challenge, with the heavy default being Combat. Grid combat is awesome, because it is tactical and visual and so on, but it can lose open play, imagination, creativity, and the like. We’ve had really good experiments with grid-less combat in 4E with Ashes of Athas, but it is still a fundamental force for the recent editions.

I like that Next will support either. And I say that while loving 4E’s tactical aspects (especially movement). I suspect that this is an aspect modules can add in. Maybe a module adds forced movement, for example. But I also know that the game is less approachable and also less attractive to many when it is grid-dominant.

By: Dave Wainio

Dave Wainio — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:06:00 +0000

You know, a few months ago I cared about what D&D Next would be like. But as time and speculation drags on I find myself loosing interest. Not because of anything I have read that I liked or disliked, but I guess because I find myself wondering if I personally really need a new flavor of D&D. And the answer seems to be “no, not really”.

By: Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:28:08 +0000

@Roger – I’m not sure I agree – I think we heard quite a few things in that hour we had not heard before – for example, we heard where the team is having sticking points on rules (like a skill system), the concerns Mearls has about this edition, and what a rule “module” is likely to be and how it might fit into the whole. You are right that the Wizards folks are under pressure, but I think it is still far too early for a ruleset to be released to the world. It would be like throwing out a video game in the “alpha” test stage, full of bugs and problems – that would kill off interest from the fans pretty fast. So for now, I think that all we can do is watch for those tidbits to drop, ponder their meaning, and speculate on what Next will be like.

By: Frank Foulis (@DarthJerod)

Frank Foulis (@DarthJerod) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:32:43 +0000

PAX East had a newer build, I would think they will take the feedback they got there and work it in with the internal stuff they are doing and maybe around May we would see something for the open test.

By: Roger L. Mills

Roger L. Mills — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 02:28:49 +0000

While I am glad the Wizards people are talking about what they are doing, they have reached the point where they really aren’t saying anything. Was there really anything in that hour long video that we haven’t heard before? I liked the article and the summation, but you’re straining to try and glean out any tiny tidbit you can from a talk that was 60 minutes long.

I don’t begrudge the Wizards people with what they are trying to do and the pressure they must feel, but it is time for the playtest to be released to the world. No more talk, let’s see where this game is going. In Project Management school we were taught the concept of “Ready, Fire, Aim” because if you wait for it to be perfect, well, it’ll never be perfect.