tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post2456644744786826532..comments2023-09-21T10:30:10.699+02:00Comments on Square Fireballs: 5Pericohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12414348870266960204noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-30309231819800615022012-01-19T11:26:23.291+01:002012-01-19T11:26:23.291+01:00anoddexperiment: The modular ruleset looks promisi...anoddexperiment: The modular ruleset looks promising, but also damn hard to get right. Aside from balance concerns, one of my fears is that we might just be replacing one type of bloat (feats, items, powers) or other (modules). The good news is, the "clean-up" module you suggest wouldn't really be needed, since they are presumably working with a brand new game core which should have the right math from the beginning (assuming they have learned from 4e mistakes).<br /><br />mordicai: I agree that 5e (or D&D Next, or however they end up calling it) will likely allow for a lot more variety than previous editions, but one of your examples is a bit odd: You could, indeed, play a low magic (or even no magic) setting in 4e, since all-martial parties were very viable, and rules for replacing magic items existed (and were the default in settings like Dark Sun!). In fact, I'd go as far as saying that 4e is the best edition for playing without magic thanks to the introduction of the warlord class, and healing surges in general...<br /><br />dwarf74: The next edition will need to be a really awesome game just to prevent further fragmentation (from 4e fans), never mind bringing everybody together. It's early to tell if they will actually be able to pull it off, but I wouldn't say it's an impossible task. I'm not really familiar with the pathfinder community, but I doubt most of them are really WoTC haters - if 5e turns out to be a good product that caters to the tastes of 3e fans, a LOT of people will try it out. The trick, of course, is doing so while also making it interesting for current 4e players AND all the old-schoolers out there. And then, even if they do succeed, there is a definite risk of having fragmentation within the 5e community, due to the variety of modules and styles...<br /><br />TMcG: I think I get your meaning. From the interviews I've read, the latest edition changes (to 4e, and now to 5e) have been triggered by sales declines - in the case of 3.x, they had basically released books covering all conceivable topics, and in 4e, though there is untapped design space, the sales at this point must be far from exciting. And there is only so much you can do to turn this around without forcing an edition change - the Essentials line for 4e was one such attempt, and it likely didn't meet its expectations. At that point, the only option other than a new edition is to give up on the game line - which doesn't really make sense, from WoTC's point of view. A different issue is whether a new edition can be released without pissing off your previous customers - in theory, a more conservative edition would be less alienating... but would it sell?<br /><br />Thomas: Current design for solo monsters may be clunky and full of ad-hoc patches... but in my opinion, it works. Ever since Monster Vault was released, I have run more than half a dozen solo encounters where I used a monster straight out of the book, and had no problems at all. By contrast, even modern minions remain a joke in terms of challenge, and I have only been able to make them work through house rules ( http://squarefireballs.blogspot.com/2011/08/my-minion-rules.html ). Also, recent forum discussions about minions ( http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-discussion/316078-minions-dangerous-enough.html ) suggest that this is a common problem: just about everybody has their own minion patch.Pericohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12414348870266960204noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-12562607850141426872012-01-17T02:04:46.862+01:002012-01-17T02:04:46.862+01:00How can you put minion design as one of the main i...How can you put minion design as one of the main issues of 4E, but not solo monster design? Atrocious!Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06501193079029723696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-69180023304701604702012-01-11T17:10:03.945+01:002012-01-11T17:10:03.945+01:00I wonder if Hasbro just doesn't get the gamer ...I wonder if Hasbro just doesn't get the gamer model. A toy company probably has a mindset that it's going to lose a customer when they turn 18 (or so) and new 4 year-olds are going to join they're customer-pool. Therefore coming out with a new product every few years works, because the young kids will pick it up. But with online games and other distractions I don't know if you can alienate your older customers this way. You need to keep them and have them passing on the hobby to a younger generation.<br /><br />Not worded very well, but hopefully you get what I mean.TMcGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02068822750367888405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-39760727619326789182012-01-09T21:18:52.041+01:002012-01-09T21:18:52.041+01:00I am skeptical that this will do anything but furt...I am skeptical that this will do anything but further fragment an already thoroughly-fragmented hobby. WotC's biggest problem right now is WotC, and it has little to do with their rule sets.<br /><br />I will certainly buy, almost certainly appreciate, and probably love 5e. But I don't think any grand reunification of the hobby is in the cards at this point, unless WotC does a 180 on its public relations and somehow makes Paizo their ally instead of their chief rival. I'm skeptical, with the Hasbro overlords, they can make this shift; among the things that are necessary, IMO, is a more-open license than the GSL and the publication of PDFs.<br /><br />I'm a huge 4e fan, and I'll just take my own advice from the 3e-4e switchover. If 5e ends up sucking or even dying on the vine, it's not like my books will spontaneously combust.dwarf74https://www.blogger.com/profile/12736643592510342193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-28752444131938388492012-01-09T20:23:01.351+01:002012-01-09T20:23:01.351+01:00Modular & generic! Scalable! I think there w...Modular & generic! Scalable! I think there were good things in 4e, but there wasn't any ROOM-- you want a low magic setting? Not really room. You want a non-combat focused story? Sorry! Etc.mordicaihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05713766652793265867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3342640173817458901.post-23876292732811770462012-01-09T20:07:36.718+01:002012-01-09T20:07:36.718+01:00Agreed! One small tid-bit I read in the press rel...Agreed! One small tid-bit I read in the press releases that I liked was the idea that they would make their rulesets "modular." This is something you touched on back when you were writing about your magic item redesign, but the general idea I think would be that if you bought a book (aka module), the DM could decide to add that book's ruleset and items to the game. This could potentially fix a lot of issues regarding item and feat bloat, and allow more or less complex rules regarding things like wizard spells. Hopefully, one of those modules will include a clean-up of the things you mentioned above (regarding feat taxes, etc) allowing those of us who like 4e to play 5e with a cleaner, more streamlined rules-set.anoddexperimenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12331933709417157269noreply@blogger.com