D&D 4E 3rd-Party Publishers' Thoughts on 4E

[Warden]

I'm working on an article regarding gossip about 4E, particularly why there is a consistant thread going around talking about it, and I was wondering if any other publishers out there would like to comment on the possibility. Particularly...

1. If 4E were to happen and it included an OGL, would you produce material for it?
2. If the 3.5 SRD remained, would you continue to support it even if 4E was available as well?
3. What aspects of the D&D game should be revised, in your professional opinion?
4. What benefits/consequences do you foresee if 4E was released within the next two years?

Any other comments on the gossip would also be appreciated. I'm not looking to quote anyone unless you're willing to be, but I would like some general thoughts on the rumours.

 

[afstanton]

1. If 4E were to happen and it included an OGL, would you produce material for it?
2. If the 3.5 SRD remained, would you continue to support it even if 4E was available as well?
3. What aspects of the D&D game should be revised, in your professional opinion?
4. What benefits/consequences do you foresee if 4E was released within the next two years?

1. Sure.
2. No.
3. More careful rework of some of the CR's.
4. Too soon if within 1 year, maybe within 2. Likely to have players not willing to buy more books yet again.

I haven't kept up on the rumors. I think it would be stupid for WotC to make 4th Ed not be OGL.

 

[D_Sinclair]

well, my answers to the questions would be meaningless since I don't write, but what I would like is a link to the "consistant thread going around talking about it".

 

[Mouseferatu]

Todd, I'm certainly not going to try to tell you what to write about. But honestly, I feel an article on this topic is a mistake--bordering on, if I may be permitted to use a loaded word, dangerous.

You're right, rumors are flying around. They have been since 3.5. There's no evidence to support any of them, but more and more people seem to be believing them. And the reason is, at least in part, because they're so frequent.

For someone to devote any "real" attention to them--to write an article, to take a poll of publishers--only lends weight to what is otherwise meaningless net-whispering. Doing that is only going to cause even more people to believe there's some truth to these unconfirmed rumors.

Why is that a bad thing? Well, in addition to the fact that the cycle simply perpetuates itself, there are a lot of people who stop buying product for a gameline when they truly believe a new edition is coming. While it's unlikely, it's always possible that these rumors could eventually cause a sufficient drop in sales that they'd help inspire Wizards to move ahead on a new edition.

Extreme? Certainly. I'm not claiming this is a probable scenario. But it is a possible one. I guess I just don't see any need to add fuel to the fire.

But again, I'm only offering one man's take on the matter, not claiming I have the right to hand down dictates from on high.

 

[Warden]

Agreed, but the focus of the magazine is the creation of a new RPG system. I do feel that gaining an understanding of the reason behind such a rumour -- particularly the type of people that are behind it -- is an interesting aspect and something that I would like to explore more. I know that it's actually a small segment of the community that is actually discussing the possibility of 4E, and everyone else is just pitching in their thoughts for fun, but it's curious who is almost demanding a new version of the most popular game. I'm not trying to lend possibility to the gossip, but to understand where it's coming from and understand their thoughts from a design standpoint.

Along the way, having a perspective from publishers is appropriate because of the work that 3E did to boost 3rd-party publishing. What if 4E threatens that? Do these same people want loads of products from other publishers, or just WotC as it was in the past (with TSR, that is). The odds of gaining any actual facts to this "story" are slim, and we're likely looking at a very slim perspective article, but it intrigues me nonetheless.

To be honest, this is almost like the Area 51 of roleplaying. A handful of people belief it's out there, but no one can really prove it, and officials are denying it from the ground up.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'm working on an article regarding gossip about 4E, particularly why there is a consistant thread going around talking about it.

Heh. This is sort of like an interview I saw with the Runaway Bride, where the media asked her, "Why do you think there's been so much attention paid to your story?"

 

[jmucchiello]

Agreed, but the focus of the magazine is the creation of a new RPG system.

Could you expand on this a bit? If you are creating a rival system, it would be in your interest to sew seeds of doubt about your rival. Would it not?

 

[Warden]

Could you expand on this a bit? If you are creating a rival system, it would be in your interest to sew seeds of doubt about your rival. Would it not?

Yeah, sure, this is step one to eliminating d20 from the competition and taking over.

The role of creating a new system through the magazine is a creative exercise more than anything else, similar to the Living Nights campaign setting we are working on at the moment -- it was started as a gathering of thoughts from various random members of the community to generate a new campaign setting, after which a series of authors have taken over to create more detail and unity to these ideas. If anything comes of Genesis, that would be great, but the goal is to test it out and have some fun putting together the pieces while gaining a scope for the unique opinions and thoughts on game design.

My personal curiosity in this article is to see why there are some people specifically asking for a 4E when they could easily pick up any other game system. If it reveals a void in the game, isn't it also the responsibility of publishers to find a way to fill that void?

 

[Mongoose_Matt]

4. What benefits/consequences do you foresee if 4E was released within the next two years?

What do you mean 'if'?

 

[Eternalknight]

What do you mean 'if'?

Teaser

Todd, I actually agree that this is a risky road to go down. Whilst I like the idea of what Emerald Press is trying to accomplish with Genesis, having an article about 4th edition D&D in it not only fuels the fire of the rumours, but could also potentially hurt what you are trying to accomplish.

Another thought: why not go back and examine the rumours that surrounded when 3rd edition was going to be released?