All my co-authors have discussed the various stories that have come out about D&D’s upcoming 4^th edition. I have not chimed in before now as I wanted to not rush to any snap judgments. Of course my first instinct was ‘money making scheme’ but I tried to overcome that prejudice. I finally decided to give in and rant. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a recent podcast from Fist Full of Comics (and Games.) FFoC(aG) is a great podcast where they mostly focus on comics but when they do bring up gaming they tend to know what they are talking about.. Recently they sat down to interview 2 guys from WotC to talk about 4^th edition. FFoC9aG)s staffers JJ (Working Man) and Benton (in his guise as ace reporter for The Tome) interviewed Bill Slavicsek (R&D Director RPGs, Book Publishing, D&D Games) and Scott Rouse (Senior Brand Manager Dungeons & Dragons) about D&D 4^th Edition. It was a great interview but the more answers these guys gave the more I heard “Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching!”  

Hear are some examples:

I am going to be summing up the questions. In an attempt to be precise in their questioning the FFoC guys tended to ramble a bit. I also feel the need to point out that my brain is very cynical and suspicious. I don’t mean any disrespect or insult to the FFoC staff or the WotC folks.

Question: What’s up with the 30 levels?

Answer: “There is nothing like leveling. That’s exciting. We want it to happen a little more often.”

My Brain Says: Do I detect a little MMORPG influence here?

Question: Will the D&D insider programs be downloads or Web based?

Answer: “Mostly it is an experience where you log in and it will be your computer talking with our servers.”

My Brain Says: Hmmm, worried about file sharing?

Question: What will the subscription cost for D&D insider?

Answer: “$8-12 “

My Brain Says: $100+/year! Yikes! I sure hope I can live without it.

Question: Have you looked at the conversion from 3.5 to 4^th edition at this point?

Answer: “We tried conversion with 2^nd to 3^rd and it was a terrible failure. It just didn’t really work. We believe that that will be the same case, even thought it’s still the d20 system. We’re making enough changes and the fact of the matter is we’re not going to be able to put out all the classes that you’re playing right now, in the first month. So conversion is just not really viable. So we’re recommending that people end their 3.5 campaign.”  

My Brain Says: I remember back when 2^nd edition came out, TSR went out of their way to say “Hey this is just a new system. If you are happy playing 1^st edition, go right ahead.” I’ve not heard that once from anyone associated with 4^th edition. They want us all to stop playing the old game, and buy the new game, especially with the monthly cost. Now I remember looking at converting 2^nd edition to 3^rd. Yes it was a total mess. But it wasn’t totally impossible and they are way different than any 2 systems both of which are d20 systems. Speaking of which:

Question about changes in 4^th edition

Answer: “If you know how to play a d20 game you’ll know how to play the new game.  We’ve been watching not only how we play but how the community’s been playing for 8 years now and we learned a lot by watching and interacting with the fan base and we’re doing what everyone has, whether they know it or not, has asked us to do.”

My Brain Says: So the game is similar enough to already know how to play but don’t dare trying to convert it. Also I don’t really like the ‘whether they know it or not’. It smacks of a heavy influence from the ole marketing department.

Question: What about Psionics?

Answer: “If we put psionics in the first book it’ll really be part of the system, but you know that the people who really hate psionics are really gonna complain about that. So we have great plans for psoinics but not in the first player’s handbook.”

My Brain Says: Psionics has always been the black sheep of D&D. I’ve always liked psionics. I think that is just in campaigns where the DM doesn’t know how to run them that have caused all the bad press. I think it is a shame that they admit that they don’t want to legitimatize psionics by putting them in the Player’s Handbook. Oh excuse me, the first Player’s Handbook. So they are already admitting that there will be another Player’s Handbook II eventually. Plus of course the Psionic books they  can sell separately. Ka-ching!

Question: Now what about …folks that are extremely happy with 3.5? … What does 4^th Edition offer for those players?

Answer: “…We love 3^rd edition…but we have learned how to make the game better. D&D has always been a living game that evolves. From the moment we print it and then the fans interact with it, it changes. And that’s always been true, and it’s going to be even more true with the D&D insider connection …. There will not be a 4.5 this. We are not calling this 4.0. We are calling this 4^th edition. Yes it will grow, it will change, we’ll get feedback, and we’ll make improvements, but those improvements will happen thru your ebook connection on D&D insider that you’ve already purchased and will be updated frequently. We won’t sell you another core book We ‘ll  just make that if something has  to get fixed or that something has to be improved or updated which is inevitable, it happens, we’ll do it thru D&D insider and that errata will get put right into your ebook.”

My Brain Says: Ugh! So they are saying that you have to spend $100+ a year instead of re-buying a book in a couple of years. Why is this a good thing. Not to mention that your hardcopy will always be out of date unless you pencil in the changes. Damn shame if it’s one of those fancy leather bound ones. Hey, maybe they can sell us empty binder to hold the printouts of our ebooks!

Question: A question about the online community feedback influencing game development.

Answer: We do want to make sure we just don’t react too quickly. We give all of the pieces time to breathe and grow and develop. And when the time is right we’ll make official errata announcements.

My Brain Says: We also need to manage it so that if subscriptions start to drop off we can release an errata to spike them.

Question: What about d20 Modern?

Answer: “2008 is going to be all about D&D. We’ll catch up with d20 Modern shortly thereafter.” (other guy says) “But we’re talking about ways, what we can do thru D&D insider to provide the d20 Modern fans with content either thru editorial, also looking how the community can be involved…”

My Brain Says: So it sounds like d20 Modern fans will have to wait until it comes out thru D&D insider, and if they aren’t a regular subscriber they’ll have to pay for any back issue type stuff they missed. Nice. (Ka-Ching!)

Question: What about rules changes?

Answer: “3^rd edition was all about the crunch… we don’t want to loose the options or strategy behind that density but we want to bring back … some of the story. Expect a more readable, a more evocative 4^th edition.”

My Brain Says: Now they are trying to be all things to all people. Let the indies handle the story games. D&D never was that good at it. It also sounds like they may just have learned a thing or two from White Wolf in the area of printing rulebooks that are actually readable.

Question: How about Grappling?

Answer: You won’t have to go to the book every time… Even among us game designers …everybody groans and says ‘just swing the sword’. We want to fix that… We want things to all work much simpler. So that if swinging a sword is really easy then so should grapple.

My Brain Says: But I learned the Grapple rules! Damn it what a waste of effort! Crystal Keeps Skills and Actions pdf helped a lot.

Question: A question about the core campaign setting

Answer: We have a really strong foundation that was set with the look and feel of 3^rd edition and we’re largely going forward with that. In terms of campaign settings that we’re going to be supporting we’re starting with the FR Campaign Setting in August 2008 and then we’ll be… visiting other D&D world s throughout the edition. The great thing about D&D insider is that it gives us the opportunity to visit those places without producing necessarily a printed product….

(other guy) “We want to revisit all of those in some manner. We gonna try to treat it like Disney treats it’s vault of entertainment properties and they cycle some in and cycle some out. We’re looking at D&D insider as ways to provide material and gauge interest to see what settings can support a full line or a full book. The other thing I want to make really clear, and we tried to do this with 3^rd edition but it hasn’t stuck yet and we’re gonna try again in 4^th edition. You don’t have to be just a Forgotten realms player. You don’t have to be just a Ebberon player. … We want to get the idea out that it’s all D&D. Mix match, use what you want, be pure, but then add what you like form over here. There’s all kinds of ways to approach D&D, and we want to make sure people understand that.

My Brain Says: They really went out of their way to point out how integral D&D insider will be in the various worlds’ expansions. Gotta push that D&D insider.

Question: What about D&D insider content archive for late subscribers.

Answer: We’re still working thru the logistics of that. At the very least subscribers and non subscribers will be able to purchase, for a nominal fee, those collected issues. But we are not sure yet if we’ll be able to make it accessible all the way back.

My Brain Says: Even if your late to the party, you are still gonna pay and pay.

Question: Any thing you want to tell the fans listening, getting ready for 4^th Edition?

Answer: Keep playing 3^rd edition. It’s a fun game, it’s an exciting game. You still got 9 months. Don’t stop playing D&D just because we announced 4^th edition. DMs, think about how you want to wrap up your campaigns. We’re providing a couple of products that might help…

My Brain Says: Never Stop Selling.

Final Conclusion:

It was a good interview with a lot of info but they constantly seemed to push the D&D Insider thing. Not just as an option but as a necessity. It’s like they ant to have all the fun of a D&D MMORPG (meaning collecting millions every month) with their Pen and Paper game. It’s the WotC influence again. D&D now has an upkeep cost. The guys were very enthusiastic about 4^th edition and I wanted to like what they were saying but I constantly saw how they were trying to force people into paying for D&D insider. I just kept hearing ‘Ka-Ching!’ again and again. Maybe in a few months more will come out and it won’t feel like they are trying to cheat their customers. I suppose that you could argue that the monthly cost would be less than buying bout Dragon and Dungeon and you’re getting all that content, but how many D&D players subscribed to both? In the interview the WotC guys said that you could play the game with just the core books and nothing else, but for the most part they really were pushing the D&D insider.

I encourage you to go listen to the whole interview for yourselves. If can be found at the FFoC(aG) site here.