Ummm . . . Wow.

Tomorrow's going to be VERY interesting . . .

Release date would be nice. Designer names? Yeah, I'm interested.

But like you, I'm most interested in the OGL-side of things. I've got a couple projects brewing right now, and I'd love to know what I'm going to need to do to bring them in-line with the maybe-new-and-improved OGL . . .

I'm guessing we'll have an announcement tomorrow, but not any sort of actual release until something like D&D Experience.

A lot of the future products, once we start looking into later 2007, are surprisingly generic enough that they may NOT be 3.5. Amazon.com lists things like the upcoming Rules Compendium as a 3.5 accessory, but really, something like this or even Exemplars of Evil wouldn't NEED to be something designed specifically for the current 3.5 ruleset, would it?

I'm focused on the OGL section, too.

Oddly enough, I'm looking at the news of a new edition of D&D totally different than I did for 3e.

When 3e hit, I knew about it months ahead of time, as I was running a playtest group for it, and I was looking at it purely as a gamer (GM and player) and nothing more.

The whole freelancer thing came after it released, when I saw the chance to leverage my playtest experience. Heck, it's how I got an artifact into Relics & Rituals.

But, with 4e, I'm looking at it purely as a freelancer, since I don't know if I'd play it within the first year or two of it's release.

Right now my groups main focus has been Monte Cook's Arcana Evoled/Unearthed with our horizon focus being Ptolus and Iron Heroes.

In fact, I can almost say I've compartmentalized my gaming habits from my freelancing ones, which is probably why I've been slow lately. *chuckles*

Anyhow, I so can't sleep now. :D

I've discussed this at length today on my blog:
Wizards to Announce 4th Edition Tomorrow
4th Edition: Early Indications

I'm really unsure if 4e will be OGL. Earlier indications suggested that no, Wizards would release 4e closed and sell licenses to third parties, which would keep low-quality third party chaff to a minimum and encourage fans to release their home-made material for free while generating much needed revenue. I spotted an "OGL/d20 system" thread on the 4e forum so it's possible that 4e will be released under a version of the Open license; then again, I expect Wizards will ditch the "D20" brand name since it has acquired a bad reputation due to the aforementioned chaff of rubbish third-party products.

Who will design 4e? They're already well underway. Why do you think mearls has been too busy to update his livejournal? ;)

I must admit I am baffled by this coming announcement. There are some 3.5 products in the pipeline.
BUT
Why should anybody buy those, not knowing how adaptable they will be for 4th Edition?
Of course I am worried too, that OGL will be cancelled with 4th.
Of course I am worried, that all my books will not be adaptable to 4th.
But I am also exited what they will do with D&D. And if Mike Mearls is in the design Team it will have some pleasant surprises I guess.

I will buy a product if I like it too, even if it is an old edition or a different RPG altogether.
But the majority of the Gamers will only buy stuff from the current edition.
3.0 Stuff was hard to sell after 3.5 hit the shelves.

http://enworld.org/showthread.php?p=3702765&posted=1#post3702765

Open Gaming Licence

* 4th Edition will fall under the OGL, and there'll be a new SRD.

~~~>I'm really curious about this OGL.

* Wizards wants 3rd party publishers to produce 4e-compatible material.

* 3rd party publishers will be able to get licenses to create 4e material from Wizards.

~~~>Will 3rd party publishers have to buy this? Will it kill independent publishers like Privateer Press, Sword and Sorcery, ect.?

* Fans will be able to publish material on Gleemax under (free) license from Wizards. (This material will be available to Wizards to republish; see discussion on Gleemax TOS).

~~~>You do the work, Wizards gets paid.

* The OGL/SRD/d20 Licenses will still exist - details still to come.

~~~>You do the work, Wizards gets paid?

I'm getting the feeling that WoTC will ensure that no one, except them, will be able to write gaming material and make a living doing so if it has any ties to the D&D name whatsoever.

I'm really hoping I'm wrong. I know this business is about money. Maybe the Internet based interface will be a good thing. But I'm hesitant. I'm hesitant because I know that, in today's world, the dollar sign is incredibly important.

I'll try to not let my cynicism ruin this event for the rest of you.

~Jaye

I've been hearing about 4e for so long that I'm only surprised that the news is actually happening!

As for Open Design, I'd prefer to stick with the 3.x rules, because that's most familiar to me, but, ultimately, the chosen ruleset doesn't matter. From my POV, the rules are just one type of gaming grammar (a Common Tongue, if you will) for the material. The stories told with that grammar are what matter to me.

Everything we were told indicates that 4e will be open to everyone, just like 3e/3.5.

Of course, we were also told it wouldn't release until next August (not May) and that we'd get to see it "soon."

So who knows, right?

I think the next Open Design can be done under 3e for a multitude of reasons.

(1) 4e doesn't release until May 2008. So nine months to do another Open Design under 3e... sounds good.

(2) If the rumblings can be believed, the 3e -> 4e transition is going to be a lot more like the 1e -> 2e transition than the 23 -> 3e transition. In other words, not a wholesale change in the rules but more of a cleanup and streamlining of them.

I would imagine a 3e adventure would be useable under 4e, so having the next Open Design be 3e shouldn't unduly hurt sales.

(3) The population of (people likely to become patrons of Open Design) probably skews towards older, more experience playes -- exactly the kind of people who might be predisposed to continue playing under 3e even after 4e releases. So, selling a 3e Open Desing project to them shouldn't be a huge stretch.

(4) That same population is also more likely to buy a product based on the quality of the writing, story, and "fluff" if you will, and Wolfgang's is top notch. So, again, should be no problem selling them a product made under an "outdated" ruleset.

I disagree. I think the next project should go 4E, as it'll bring in a TON more patrons eager to get a known quantity's adventure for the new rule set. What's more, I think creating something that can be used at low levels (after the Shadowfell introductory module, perhaps) is also a good idea, although if it worked as a mini-setting that could last for a number of levels, even better.

Don't have any 4E information now, but that may change come winter. I'll certainly give the new edition a chance, especially if it is largely compatible with 3.5.

In my opinion, we should wait until we have details about 4E before we decide whether Open Design should switch to 4E ;)

Seriously, the main issue will be compatibility. If 4E and 3.5 convert relatively smoothly back and forth, then it's a minor issue. If not, let the patrons decide.

I was thinking perhaps its actualy comming out at gencon, but that would be a huge "holy crap" type thing and seems like I'd have heard more if that were the case.

Good to see that it's only in the pipeline. When 3.5 came out it was a hurculean effort to get the Netbook updated, and now days its about twice as large. It's going to be quite the battle to turn over to 4.0 but I'm determined to get it done asap once I have all the info I need.

I'm looking forward to it. It's about time for an update both in terms of rules freshnes and for WOTC to sell some books, or so it seems to me. I'm fairly confident that many of 3.5s problems are well understood and thus good changes will be likely.

I think most of the publishers will be ready and rearing to roll out 4e stuff the moment they can.

I'm wondering how much concrete info we'll be able to get prior to it being released. And I wonder how long it will take for it to get an OGC version.

What about the possibility of the next Open Design being dual statted for 3.5E and 4E? There are rumours that publishers will get access to the rules earlier than the public at large so this may be a possibility.

It would be more work for Wolfgang (especially if he was creating new monsters for a new ruleset) but it might be possible. It would certainly mean that new subscribers would still be interested. If it was lower level it would also take a lot of the complexities out of the equation.

Olaf the Stout

From what I've read so far, it sounds like there are going to be some significant changes. I doubt a transition or conversion is going to be easy.

There is a lot of hesitation/trepidation/reluctance floating out there in the ether right now. Perhaps it is something left to a poll? If enough people vote 3.5, then there is still enough desire for one more 3.5 design... I know a lot of people are waiting to see what the 'evolution' looks like before they are willing to give up the 100s of $$$ in material they have now.

I have to admit I'm in that camp. As you mentioned, the heavy hitters for D&D game design have hung up their spurs. We're looking at an iteration that's spent three years in the oven-- is that enough time to design and playtest robustly? Is it going to be rocking, or do we need Sherman to set the Wayback Machine for a little Skills-n-Powers Redux? I'm skeptical and I'm worried that this is more business model driven by Dark Corporate Overlords than a true need to be met.

When you consider the publications WotC has been pursuing over the last few years, it's apparent they could have easily generated two more years of material for 3.5, and aimed for a 2010 release date-- using the interim to increase playtesting, build hype and excerise the infrastructure intended for 4E. I'm afraid I don't agree with the attempts to obfuscate the rules on the preview youtube clips. The lone player who tries to leap into this game alone is pretty rare; this is a social game, and one starts playing it because of the company kept. That circle of friends is going to have an established knowledge base that eases a new player into the ruleset. They can try to FUD it up with some thac0-grapple-impatience direction, but a seasoned player will know they're just blowing smoke.

Which I guess gives you my answer... I vote for at least one more 3.5 project before making the final decision. I say keep the project small and manageable to aim for a publication point that's prior to the 4E launch. It allows people to get a new piece for their games before they consider transitioning-- one last savory bite of 3.5 to chew on as they contemplate stopping their current campaigns and beginning something new.

-Ben.

The whole fourth edition announcement has just made me feel like packing it in. Everything in the announcement seems designed to make me dislike it, from the web integration (I can't read digital Dungeon Magazine in the bathroom)to the guy's stupid accent on the teaser video. I agree that the rules are just a framework for the story, and I've played my same campaign with 1e, 2e, gurps, 3e, and 3.5. but most of my players are younger and will want to play the latest rules.

I had a similar experience when Wizards came out with Magic Online. I had to choose one because I couldn't afford both, so I chose Magic Online so that I could play more often. I played a lot for a while, but it wasn't the same, and I eventually stopped.

I've never wanted to play around in somebody else's world, though I enjoy reading about them. So at this point I feel like just packing up my role-playing and concentrating on my fiction.