| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Diffan |
Posted - 12 Dec 2013 : 14:23:24
From the Site
"As this monumental year comes to a close, we are continuing to refine the D&D Next rules. Your feedback has proven instrumental in shaping the future of Dungeons & Dragons, and for that, we thank you.
We want to let you know that December 15th, 2013 is the last day to access the playtest materials online. After that date, they’ll no longer be available, so we encourage you to download the latest packet if you haven’t done so already.
Until the next edition of the D&D tabletop roleplaying game officially releases, you can continue to play D&D Next adventures at home and at stores participating in D&D Encounters. Ghosts of
Dragonspear Castle is available now for purchase on www.dndclassics.com, and coming early next year are two more D&D Next adventures. These Sundering-themed adventures include the supplementary rules material from the D&D Next Playtest necessary for play.
As always, thank you for your participation in the D&D Next playtest.
Sincerely,
D&D Team"
Those of you who are still considering trying out the new rules, act now while the playtest is still up and free. More content such as Adventures will be available later on next year.
So far from my experience with the system it's pretty decent in it's current form and can probably only get better as the designers get their hands deeper into the inner-workings of the system. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 27 Dec 2013 : 00:19:47
I really don't see a huge demand for a playtest set of rules once the actual rules are published. |
| SirUrza |
Posted - 26 Dec 2013 : 18:38:13
Because WOTC discontinuing PDF support for D&D has ever stopped gamers from getting PDFs. :P |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 23 Dec 2013 : 07:18:11
More important than old playtests being readily available or not. I think the main issue comes down to whether 5E will be OGL or not. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 22 Dec 2013 : 23:46:53
quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On the flip side, restricting access to the rules means the rules won't be available, so people that want them will have to give WotC money when the new rulebooks come out. And that is good business acumen.
I see one problem here: it's contingent on "people that want them" part. Let me elaborate...
Some always will, but after 4e assumption that this is hot stuff cannot really be taken for granted anymore. No matter how many marketing drones will pop on wikia and suchlike and preach that there's only some un-numbered D&D "the One, the All" and we were always at peace with Oceania. Those toe-in-the-mouth inane questionaries on wizards.com didn't help their case either. I didn't see lots of shiny reviews after the playtest was released, either - while "Better than 4e" technically is a compliment, it falls only slightly short of "the second-biggest browser-based social-networking-centered farming game in the WORLD!". 
Speaking for myself - interested enough to sometimes sift through 1km1kt.net or drivethrustuff.com out of curiosity, but didn't see jumping through hoops of free registration to get the playtest from Has Bro as worth the bother.
I signed up. It's well-known that I am not a fan of WotC and I will readily critique them, so long as I think it's deserved -- but I didn't see the sign-up process as "jumping thru hoops". I've done a lot more than that for other free legal content, in the past.
And besides, my point was to comment on the nature of gamers themselves. There is a very large portion of the gaming community who, when told there are new rules available, will rush out to get them. And that was my point: you make those people pay for the new rules, you don't give them a free, legal alternative.
And yes, I know the issue of illegal downloads will come up -- but most people, given a reasonably priced legal alternative, will go for that legal alternative. Especially when the choices are some poorly scanned pdf or a nice, shiny new tome to set on the shelf. |
| TBeholder |
Posted - 22 Dec 2013 : 17:54:47
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On the flip side, restricting access to the rules means the rules won't be available, so people that want them will have to give WotC money when the new rulebooks come out. And that is good business acumen.
I see one problem here: it's contingent on "people that want them" part. Let me elaborate...
Some always will, but after 4e assumption that this is hot stuff cannot really be taken for granted anymore. No matter how many marketing drones will pop on wikia and suchlike and preach that there's only some un-numbered D&D "the One, the All" and we were always at peace with Oceania. Those toe-in-the-mouth inane questionaries on wizards.com didn't help their case either. I didn't see lots of shiny reviews after the playtest was released, either - while "Better than 4e" technically is a compliment, it falls only slightly short of "the second-biggest browser-based social-networking-centered farming game in the WORLD!".
Speaking for myself - interested enough to sometimes sift through 1km1kt.net or drivethrustuff.com out of curiosity, but didn't see jumping through hoops of free registration to get the playtest from Has Bro as worth the bother. |
| Plaguescarred |
Posted - 22 Dec 2013 : 11:14:08
I confirm that Ghost of Dragonspear Castle's D&D Next rules were outdated even before release and dates from a few packets ago. (IIRC playtest packet 060713) |
| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 22 Dec 2013 : 03:42:22
The forum/blog chatter I've read is the rules in Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle are from several playtest cycles ago. Those were the rules being tested well before the book went to printers in time for GenCon release at GenCon. The joke is that the Dragonspear Castle D&D Next draft rules were outdated before the book printed. I know not the veracity of this as I haven't played with the system yet, but the timeline makes sense. |
| Lothlos |
Posted - 22 Dec 2013 : 00:54:06
Well you can still get the D&D Next playtest rules you just have to pay money for them, as they are included in Ghost's of Dragonspear Castle pdf which is available for purchase in the PDF store. If the new Sundering adventures are like the first two they will be able to be run with 3.5e and 4e rules as well as D&D Next. The article quoted above also states that supplementary D&D Next rules will be included in the adventures as well. It seems to me that instead of giving them away they now want you to buy the Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle to get the rules & that they will provide the necessary updates to those rules with the new adventures. This seems reasonable to me. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 18 Dec 2013 : 17:44:45
quote:
Originally posted by idilippy
To flip yet another side, access to the rules (all the rules, not just a few basics) hasn't seemed to stop the money flowing into Paizo, so restricting access to an incomplete and soon to be obsolete beta rule set in the months leading up to the release of the new rules isn't necessarily good business acumen.
I'm not so sure obsolete is the correct word. When I did the Pathfinder BETA, I'd say a good portion of the rules, well over 80%, made the final cut to be in the core rule-book. This is probably the same with D&D:Next. While they'll probably come up with WAY more options at release, I think the play-test rules are a good indication of how the game will be played and the current options will remain mostly intact.
It's why things like their Encounter lineup as well as Adventure sales are still continuing AFTER the play-test is gone. It would be silly for them to produce adventures that aren't compatible with the soon-to-be- released rules for the next edition.
That being said, did anyone download them or try them out? I'm curious to hear people's ideas and thoughts on how they think of them. |
| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 13 Dec 2013 : 12:41:20
In response to idilippy's post, for those not in the know, if you want to play Pathfinder, you can get everything you need here. |
| Diffan |
Posted - 13 Dec 2013 : 02:27:05
quote:
Originally posted by idilippy
To flip yet another side, access to the rules (all the rules, not just a few basics) hasn't seemed to stop the money flowing into Paizo, so restricting access to an incomplete and soon to be obsolete beta rule set in the months leading up to the release of the new rules isn't necessarily good business acumen.
While I have no idea how the new rules will look, I think the playtest material is a good indicator on how the finalized rules will be presented. Looking back at my playtest BETA for Pathfinder, I can only really find a few things that really changed between the two. If that is any indication on how the game might change, then there's a pretty good chance that characters created now will see very little variation come time when the "official" rules are released.
As for it being a good practice or not, I'm not sure. On one hand I could see this being a barrier for those who have not yet got into the playtest and want to run characters at their Encounters sessions. But on the other it's not like the material is protected by any means and so anyone could just give him a small file on a portable drive and *bam* you've got it. Besides I have afeeling that any place that runs Encounters can easily just print off any information they want to distribute so long as it's being used for Encounters.
Personally, I'm pretty happy so far. I think 5E does an OK job of bridging the gap between 3E/4E and pre-3E playstyles. It has a heavy dose of lore and flavor and isn't bogged down in rules jargon yet at the same time provides enougth mechanical crunch for people to feel their actions have real results. |
| idilippy |
Posted - 12 Dec 2013 : 21:41:15
To flip yet another side, access to the rules (all the rules, not just a few basics) hasn't seemed to stop the money flowing into Paizo, so restricting access to an incomplete and soon to be obsolete beta rule set in the months leading up to the release of the new rules isn't necessarily good business acumen. |
| Alruane |
Posted - 12 Dec 2013 : 21:40:47
I'm sticking with Pathfinder. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 12 Dec 2013 : 21:10:47
quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
Soooo... they are going to restrict people from downloading the playtest rules until the new edition comes out (around GenCon [maybe])?
Y'know... I'm just a regular ol' gamer here... But if you really want players to play your game, you don't restrict their access to the game. Leave the playtest rules up until the books are on sale. Now, they are going to sell two more adventures in the coming months. That means that if a person happens to buy them, they'll download the adventure, then find out that the rules to play in it are in a document that is no longer available. THAT is poor business acumen.
On the flip side, restricting access to the rules means the rules won't be available, so people that want them will have to give WotC money when the new rulebooks come out. And that is good business acumen. |
| Ashe Ravenheart |
Posted - 12 Dec 2013 : 19:59:41
Soooo... they are going to restrict people from downloading the playtest rules until the new edition comes out (around GenCon [maybe])?
Y'know... I'm just a regular ol' gamer here... But if you really want players to play your game, you don't restrict their access to the game. Leave the playtest rules up until the books are on sale. Now, they are going to sell two more adventures in the coming months. That means that if a person happens to buy them, they'll download the adventure, then find out that the rules to play in it are in a document that is no longer available. THAT is poor business acumen. |
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