More 5th Edition rumblings from Monte.

I know some of this came out on Monday but that is a holiday so I was goofing off. Tuesday I was busy becoming the Genkibowl VII Champion in Saints Row: The Third. Priorities people!


Anyhow at Monte's newest Legends and Lore article he chats up a bit more about where this project is heading and I'll be damned if my one rambling from a week ago isn't the direction. It seems like its going to be a bizzaro rule set that will allow flexablilty between Basic D&D players all the way through current editions. It seems like you'll get to pick and choose how simple or complex you want your game/character/experience to be.


My gut reaction is telling me is to 'kill it with fire', but until I actually sit down and try it out I will reserve judgement (hopefully in the playtest). I'll give them credit this is a bold step on how to present D&D. I will also note that I feel this is the curtain call for the brand if it fails. I don't think Hasbro is going to give them a 6th Edition if this misses the mark. For people that play or have played D&D in the past this next year will be pretty interesting.

So what is Monte saying about his new project at WotC?

He said this last night.

What I found interesting was this quote: "It's meant to be a set of rules that unites all the previous editions, and the players of those editions."

So what does Monte mean by this? Is he trying to create some bizarre hodgepodge rule set using advice from fans to keep everyone happy? Or is he trying to create a unique conversion system that will allow players from all rule sets to keep using what they want, when they want it, with minimal conversion and all new supplements can be adapted to said rules du jour?

The hell if I know. With luck I will get into this play test that they offered. I want to see what is going on and I want to give my feedback. WotC has all but lost my money with a rules set I just don't want in high fantasy and revisions to known worlds that made them feel alien and unwelcoming.* Should I discuss what was done to the Forgotten Realms? Hell there is nothing being done with Greyhawk or a number of other worlds created, while not all were gold, there was some cool stuff there and it sits molding. Instead we got a very well written set of rules (for a board game) with settings and materials devoid of its roots except for its name.

So I'm going to keep an eye on this and if anything pops up I'll make sure to share.


*Except Eberron. It was so new that all they did was add the new stuff but not mess with the setting or topography of the world. If there were changes they seemed so minor compared to the sodomizing of the Realms.

Its Official! D&D 5th Edition has been announced and will hit in 2013!

And the crowd goes....meh.

I started seeing this at Grognardia this morning and went right to Wizards of the Coast for the formal announcement from Mike Mearls. So its happening but its no big surprise with all the Legends and Lore articles that Monte Cook and Mearls have been doing with their polls at the bottom chock full of loaded questions.

Now I don't mind when a company asks for my input on their products when it comes to my expectations but don't just deny ignore the fact you're putting out a new rules set earlier than expected due to poor reception from fans. In fact I think I will sign up to be part of the beta testing so I can see first hand how they will fuck this up yet again try to make players of all the various editions happy.*

Also here is the story ran in the New York Times about this hullabaloo.

By the way did anyone else see Mearls mention on the WotC site about how D&D Experience is moving to GenCon in 2013 as well? Now I can't wait to go to this to watch the insanity of it all.

But what do you, my fellow adventurers, think of this? Leave comments below and lets start discussing!




*Yeah, I'm not a fan of 4th Ed D&D rules. It doesn't work for the D&D setting in my humble opinion. However for a different game all together, Gamma World for example, its beautiful. The rules just have never felt right for me for a high fantasy game setting. Too mechanical and without any organic growth like prior editions allowed.