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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Something Was Left Off of the Review Pile List Voting... Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle for D&D Next... I Suspect It's NOT a Loss



As I've said on earlier posts, my review pile is much larger than my free time will ever allow me to dig through it.

That being said, Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle probably should have been included on the list of games to be voted on. That was an oversight, but probably not a loss.

My experience with D&D Next is mixed - it brought the core members of our gaming group together, and then nearly destroyed the same when the first Friends & Family update to the Beta (or at least, the first update AFTER we were accepted) made the game far more "wonky" and less playable then any of us desired to play. Yes, most of us moved on to ACKS, AD&D/OSRIC and now DCC as a group, but the final taste that D&D Next left with us was not a good one.

Now, after pretty much ignoring the Beta updates (both regular and Friends & Family) as my interest was no longer there, I thought the first "print" version of the Beta rules would be a good place to take a new look with fresh eyes.

It appears to me to be some hybrid of AD&D 2e / D&D 3.5 and the kitchen sink thrown into fill in the gaps. Alright, maybe not so bad as to deserve the kitchen sink line, but it doesn't seem to really do anything that hasn't already been done by a previous D&D rules system.

As for Dragonspear Castle the adventure? It's a campaign railroad, but so is every adventure path. It's not poorly written, but doesn't excite me - at least what I've read thus far. Probably won't read further either.

I'm kinda glad I forgot to include it in the voting - I might have actually have had to read this in full ;)

8 comments:

  1. I dont want them to add anything new. Last thing we need is a fifth batch of new D&D. Better to take AD&D and reorganize it, chop out stuff nobody used, and add in the new classes from 3 and 4 so they fit smoothly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Isn't the not adding new stuff and realigning all past versions of D&D so that you can more easily use all new published material and all past published material in a framework of rules that you decide upon sort of the point of D&D 5th?

    This is what everyone bitched about wanting and now ppl bitch about getting it.

    I would tell the fans to fuck off and sell it all to Disney like Lucas did. Then where would you be?

    ReplyDelete
  3. You can homebrew a reorganized AD&D, chopping out the bad stuff, and adding in stuff from 3... and maybe 4, I don't know, I never bothered to look at it.

    The bitching I recall was about the way WOTC was alienating gamers, and about the way everything seemed to be a money grab. The only people I recall wanting a 5E was those who were still fans of WOTC after the exodus, effectively insuring whatever version WOTC wanted. And I thought they gave up on the "one system to rule them all" goal. I don't really care anymore what WOTC does with D&D. It would be great if they admitted defeat and sold the rights to Paizo or someone... but, not likely.

    Hasbro would have a cow...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can't shake the feeling the system as it is now is all about showing how much D&D it is. It is all "look, it's like old school D&D, because it's rules light" and "look, it's like 3E because it has the same skills" and "look, it's like 4E because it has a lot of bad ideas." There's nothing that really gives it an identity of it's own.

    Maybe it's the intention that people playing other editions can easily use 5E adventures and supplements. However, seeing the lack of quality adventures in the past 10 years, I think I won't.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think WotC is in an impossible situation. Every 5 to 10 years they need to print a new edition. That's how RPGs work. A company is in business to make money. Gamers wanted reprints of older rulebooks, so WotC obliges. Gamers wanted pdfs of old books, so WotC obliges. And because they decide to, oh the horror!!!, make some profit off their IP and books, it's a money grab. Please.

    The Pathfinder crowd couldn't care less because they think their system is the shit and love Paizo.

    The OSR likes to play holier than thou and wax romantic about the past, when most of AD&D etc would not exist if past gamers had possessed the same hangups. I'm sure there are plenty of new bits coming, to add to the old bits that everyone said they wanted.

    The system is a pastiche of past editions because that's what people said they wanted. Rules light with modules from other editions. Skills. Classes. Feats. WotC is trying to give customers what they say they want.

    Not to mention both Pathfinder and all the slew of OSR retreading only exist at all because WotC was kind enough to write an OGL without an expiration date.

    And when D&D ceases to be an in print game because people can't make up their minds, when Hasbro shelves the rpg for a decade and just makes video games, when all the reprints and pdfs that people wanted again are gone, then where will the industry be? Probably cloning 4e.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://grognardia.blogspot.de/2010/11/thank-you-ryan-dancey.html

      ;)

      Delete
    2. The leagcy of D&D is not at question.

      The future is.

      Delete
    3. @ Degenerate Elite

      Oh boy, is it ever...

      @rorschachhamster

      Thanks a lot for that link, rorschachhamster. That occupied me for hours doing nothing but reading.. and reading.. and reading. LOL But it's important to remember stuff like that.

      The whole Ryan Dancey/Rick Marshall/Peter Adkison story was a fascinating look into WOTC before it became what it is today. Which I will be nice and not say what that is...

      Delete

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