ErnestTheGrey's page

I'm curious about the pawns too. Anything is better than the tokens that WotC has decided to implement in their game. I hate being mr. skeptical negative pants, but I hope they don't "change" the classes (ala D&D Essentials.)

4e is 9 months away. And no one can stop you from continuing your 3.5 campaign indefinitely. You still own the books right? I know people still playing 1ed AD&D! They never bothered with 2e or 3e. So why should you worry about 4e?

Back in the 80s, yes 80s, when I started playing D&D (with the blue-box, then Red Basic Set) the world of RPGs was fresh. Everyone one was coming out with new and different RPGs. Traveller, Role Master, Palladium, Champions, etc. Their rules were completely different, and no one worried. No one was bothered, we tried every game we could afford on our elementary school or middle school allowances. It was fun testing out and making characters for these new games, and deciding who was going to be "DM". There were no "conversion guides" to take our characters from Basic D&D to AD&D. We just made new ones, or did our best to re-interpret our "Elves" into Elven Fighter-Magic User-Thieves.

The only thing I'm personally upset about is losing Dungeon and Dragon magazines. I still have a bunch of my old issues for the 80s, and all the issues relating to D20 and 3.0 & 3.5. And I prefer professionally printed & bound products vs. laser printed PDFs.

And as I've said somewhere else (Enworld or Wizards), D&D 4e is NOT competing with MMO games. D&D Insider is not turning D&D into a MMORPG! D&D Insider is Subscription Based Supplementary Tools & Materials. There has always been, and will always be Free or low cost 3rd party alternatives to D&D Insider. It has also be said that the FAQ and Errata will be available FOR FREE.

So quit getting your loin cloths into a bunch, and let it unfold. I can guarantee that you will NOT be able to stop WOTC from producing D&D 4e the way they are going to to produce it. And if you don't like 4e, you will go and play something else, such as 3.5e, True20, or CoC, or Exalted, or Role Master, or AD&D 1st.

Paizo will also continue to produce quality products for great games. Whether it's 3.5, 4e, True20, C&C or their own IP. You can count on that.

Game On!

I think Robin Laws hit it on the nose, as he so often does. "Heinsoo, Wyatt, Mearls" really is about the most positive thing anybody can say about 4e at this time, and it's not easy to come out with something more positive than that.

Woah! Robin D. Laws is probably my favorite single writer when it comes to sophisticated RPG gaming. And if he approves of the team leading 4ed, then I know I have nothing to worry about...

Seriously, all the issues and concerns that the 4e team are addressing have been almost the same exact concerns that I have with the current game. I've been subscribed to Dragon & Dungeon since 3.0, and their "digital initiative" is actually sounding 'cheaper' than the subscriptions. That's a good thing for me.

Since on the note of D&D Insider & the "digital initiative", i've always been a digital DM. I've used a laptop since 2e. I prefer making 3e characters with PCGen or that excel sheet thing. I've also dabbled with online table-tops, such as OpenRPG and some other one (with little success). I use random dungeon, character & treasure generators all the time. I keep illegal PDF copies on my keychain (no, i don't ever sell or give them away). The digital step is a smart one. I don't play MMOs, and I doubt I'll ever take my weekly game online. It just doesn't appeal to me. But I am excited about the tools and resources. I download the web-enhancements all the time. My games are coordinated via email, and we keep a running log of games, characters & other things on a WIKI. The digital initiative plans to consolidate these things FOR US. That's a good thing. It is clearly not designed to monopolize it. There will always be "better" 3rd party tools available online. Seriously, I see 4e as a really good thing.

FYI, I've been playing since 1979, with the Blue-ish box, then the red basic set, then AD&D 1e, all the way up to 3.5. I will also move to 4e, as will most of us. Especially those that enjoy organized play, such as RPGA.

I for one am really excited about 4e. Especially if it makes combat quicker, and record keeping and character generating easier.

Seems like as good a place as any to answer these:

...

This is exactly what I suspected. And this is what the WOTC folks have been asking people to do. Wrap up your current campaigns with your current system. One of my 3.0 campaigns ended a few months after 3.5 came out, and the new campaign started up with 3.5. One of my other campaigns DID have to convert, but I allow people to retool, so it was not big deal.

And also, I'm doubting Paizo burnt any bridges with WOTC, so I'm sure Paizo will be one of the very first to get the 4ed drafts and I'm also sure the OGL will be released prior to MAY 08, especially if there is going to be a OGL, and especially if they want there to be some zero-day releases from 3rd parties.

Think they'll bring back Dark Sun?

Considering that Dark Sun is mostly fluff, i don't see how hard it would be to convert on your own... for now.

There was some demand, and so it took a few years for the 3.5 version to appear in Dragon (or was it Dungeon)... so I can imagine if enough people demand it sooner than later, then I bet it would show up sooner than later over at D&D Insider (or whatever)... Someone should email the authors of the 3.5 version (or even the original authors!) and nudge, beg and coerce.