The Biggest RPG Announcement of the Year
If you’re a hard-core gaming fan with a hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket, today is the Day of Days.
Wizards of the Coast, the RPG community’s Evil Empire, has announced the release of Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition. The link to the big roll out is here.
I’d tell you more about it, but the link is officially dead not even ten minutes after it went active. A harbinger for the game itself? You never know.
Truth be told, I’m not a fan of modern D&D. There’s a lot about it that just isn’t my cup of tea – mostly in the way of a rule set that keeps lunging in front of me when I’m trying to have fun. Add to that a financial model that pumps out a book every couple of months, full of goodies that only a munchkin could love, and today’s D&D is pretty much the exact opposite of a game I’d enjoy playing.
That said, there is hope. The new version was pretty much handed to Monte Cook, who put out an incredibly good variant on the D&D game called “Arcana Unearthed”. It would be a very good thing is Cook incorporated some of the very good things about AU, such as the ability to cast a spell at lesser or greater than it’s “book” description, the Witch character class, and levels based on race instead of class. Those things gave AU a much greater menu from which to create a distinct and enjoyable character that didn’t involve endless lists of feats and ponderous Prestige Classes that only the most ardent number-cruncher could love.
On the other hand, there’s this article, which gives a bit of a taste and it’s not a particularly good taste, either.
In essence, what you’re going to see mechanically is the d20 system evolved: rebuilding the clunky parts, greasing the wheels and polishing the chrome until you can see your character in it. Part of that polishing includes ramping up the coolness factor on some of the less-popular character classes to make sure that every class has a unique and essential role in a well-balanced party; you might see some of the traditional classes fall out of the base book in favor of sexier roles. The same thing will happen to the races covered in the core books, where the half-demon tieflings will claim a place at the expense of an undisclosed race—we’re guessing a half-elf, gnome and halfling were shut up in a dark cave with some paring knives, and no questions were asked of whoever came out…heck, there might even be three new races in the new edition! Not to worry; Slavicsek promises that any beloved races cut from the core books will appear in early Fourth Edition expansions.
In other words, any race or class that isn’t the darlings of the “eking out that last possible +1 by taking a prestige class from a book you’ve never heard of” crowd is right out. If you want the stuff that’s less munchkin and more role-playing, you’re going to have to shell out even more for a splatbook or six. Color me unenthusiastic.
Still, the details aren’t out but when they are, I’ll write more. Stay tuned!
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Category: Role-Playing Geekery
