http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=220109
I had the good fortune to have a sit-down chat with Scott Rouse and Andy
Collins today at D&D the Experience. In preparation, I gathered
questions from EN World posters, and asked as many as I could. The
results are below:
Question: What are your favorite aspects of the new edition?
Answer: Scott Rouse says “I feel like I’m roleplaying more. I’ve found
I’ve been able to get into my character more and sort of play the
character instead of managing a lot of the rules interactions.” Rouse
thinks of himself as an “optimizer,” which I take as the polite term for
min/maxer. In his current play-test group, he’s playing a trickster
rogue. He started out as a brawny rogue, but re-wrote his build to
encompass what he wanted to get out of his character. Though many of
Rouse’s re-specs have been as a result of rules changes in the play-test
process, he did insinuate that the edition has some rebuilding options
built in to the system. Scott Rouse also took this opportunity to
explain one of his favorite combat encounters.
He had been stocking a lot of his “per encounter” and “per day”
abilities for a final fight. His party was fighting a band of Goblins.
The party Warlock was down, and the two Dragonborn were keeping the
masses of Goblins at bay. At that point, the Big Bad came out and was 34
feet away from Rouse’s character. On his turn, he took a move action
towards the boss and took an attack of opportunity from a goblin. He
then used his “Phase Step” ability (a move action) to teleport up to 25
feet, which allowed him to flank the big bad. His turn over, Scott used
an action point to give himself an extra standard action. He used a per
day ability (Combat Advantage) and rolled a 19 on the die for his
attack. The combat advantage ability (combined with other details he
couldn’t share) allowed him to deal 3d8 + 6 + 2d6 damage. He rolled well
and dealt 36 damage. Unfortunately for Scott Rouse’s character, the Big
Bad also had a per day special ability. It allowed him to use a minion
as a shield. So Rouse’s 36 points of damage obliterated the minion, but
he was left with the problem of being very close to the big bad. Scott
described the experience as being both glorious and a let down at the
same time.
Both Rouse and Collins insist that 4e allows for more role playing and
less accounting. Even with the release of future supplements, neither
thinks that the system will get too bogged down with mechanics. Their
goal is to keep the system as open as possible. They used the supplement
“Martial Power” as an example, insisting that only people playing
martial characters would have cause to buy the book.
One of the over-arching goals of 4e was to allow players to get their
characters to the “sweet spot” of abilities, and then to keep them there
as long as possible. Instead of getting hoards of new abilities, many
level advances offer improvements to existing abilities. On the GM side
of this, the developers have worked to make high level monsters more
manageable for the GM.
Question: Will Star Wars Saga be revised to make the rules closer to 4E?
Answer: WotC has no plans to update Saga edition to 4e unless there is a
huge demand for it from the player base. I asked them about the
comparisons of Saga edition to 4e, using the release of Alternity before
3e as an example. Apparently, there are many more differences between
Alternity and 3e than there will be between Saga and 4e. Andy Collins
alluded to Saga edition as a “snapshot of a particular spot in the 4e
design process.”
Question: What power sources can we look forward to in PHB2?
Answer: Andy Collins was esitant to promise any because they have just
started designing the book. There is an aggressive plan for how much to
fit in the book and he’s not sure that all of it is feasible. The two
power sources that are highest on the list are Psionic and Primal, but
he doesn’t know if it will all make it in. Apparently, they were not
able to fit all of the Divine and Arcane information into the first PHB,
so the subsequent information will also need space in the second book.
And for those of you worried that there will be a new edition of the PHB
every year, have no fear. WotC has no intention of re-releasing the PHB
during the 4e process. Instead, new information will be presented in a
PHBII format, similar to 3.5’s PHB1 and PHB2.
Question: Will the online tools for DM's in D&D Insider support house
rules? Things like custom classes, new spells, etc?
Answer: To some extent they will. As long as the house rule is possible
within the tool itself, house rules are possible. For example, the game
table mechanic currently does not support a Z axis, so a house rule
giving a character the ability to fly may not be possible within the
system. However, on the character sheet side, you will be able to enter
in your own home-brew feats. You can even incorporate the mechanics of
those classes and feats to auto calculate if they effect ability scores,
amount of weapon damage, etc. If the character sheet senses that a
non-standard mechanic is in place, it will note that the sheet is
house-ruled.
Question: It seems that one of the big barriers to entry for D&D now
(pre-4e) is that amount of effort required to be a DM -- understanding
the rules, preparing encounters, making a campaign world, etc. First, do
you agree with the assertion (that the difficulty of DMing is a barrier
to entry)? Second, will 4e be addressing this issue, and if so, how?
Scott Rouse says “I think the DMG is a start at that effort. Andy didn’t
really touch on it today; because everyone here assumes they’re a good
DM…There are a lot of things in the DMG that will make bad DMs better
and good DMs great. We’re looking at how we can use the internet and D&D
Insider to make everyone a better GM.” One of the items on the docket is
an Encounter Generator, which they hope will make it easier for DMs to
plan encounters and adventures. Another idea being bandied around is a
video series with helpful tips for GMs. Scott Rouse also mentioned the
D&D University program that James Wyatt ran on Barnes & Noble online a
while back. They’re hoping to take that curriculum and develop new tools
to make the GM’s life easier. Rouse made a point that developing new DMs
is a major point of interest for the company because every new DM equals
five new players.
Question: Anecdotally there are a lot of groups where only one person
(usually the DM) buys the books, and shares with everyone else.
Obviously, this doesn't maximize WotC's potential revenue from that
group. Was part of the business case for 4e that some effort needs to be
made to address this? -- i.e. find some way to entice more people in
each group to buy the books, thereby increasing WotC's revenue?
Answer: Rouse answered “I don’t think it’s something we can necessarily
solve. For some reason players have a stigma of sharing their dice, but
not their books. I think book sharing is part of the culture, part of
the game. We would love for everyone to have their own copy, but the
medium allows for sharing.” Rouse followed with the idea that even
people who don’t have their own books can still help others have a
better game experience, and that a good game experience benefits WotC as
well. To encourage more people to buy their own materials, Rouse insists
that Wizards is taking some active steps to make D&D as affordable as
possible. He feels they’ve made some headway with the following products:
- Dungeon Tiles: For the past several years, everyone in the Wizards’
world has been trying to crack the terrain puzzle. They looked at
several options, and finally decided on board-game stock. That way, such
an easily reusable product could be as consumable as possible. (Under $10).
- Mini’s Starter – Taking out the random minis brought the prices down
and made play for new characters easier. Through this, they were also
able to make the packaging more attractive without losing value. (Under $20)
- RPG Starter – Wizard’s decided to remove the minis from the product,
as they were the most expensive part and weren’t necessary. Instead they
changed to flat tokens, made with the same stock as the dungeon tiles.
(Under $20)
- GM Screens & Character Sheets – WotC plans to keep the GM Screens and
character sheets at the same price ($9.95) but up the quality.
As it is, Rouse thinks that D&D has some of the best market value out
there. With only three books, you purchase a potential lifetime of gaming.
Question: How is the D&D MMO doing? Is it meeting / exceeding / failing
to meet expectations? Are there plans to update it to the 4e rules?
According to Scott Rouse, D&D Online is still going strong, but facing
fierce competition from World of Warcraft. Turbine continues to release
new content to the small but solid fan base. WotC is in talks with
Turbine and Atari over the 4th Edition rules, but it’s ultimately up to
Atari as to whether or not the game will update to 4e. It would involve
a substantial code revision, and it might be easier for them to start
from scratch with D&D MMO part 2. Atari is here at D&D Experience to
talk about the translation of 4e to video games. I will try to find out
more on the subject
Question: Will elements of future books, such as the Martial Sourcebook,
Arcane Sourcebook, Tome of Treasures, etc, be added to the GSL?
Answer: There will be elements of future source-books. The GSL will be
updated on a more regular basis. Rouse stated that they would ultimately
rather have folks design new stuff than just rehash what WotC has
published. They also want ppublishers to be able to reference all of the
core classes, all of which will not be available in the initial three books.
Q: Will the GSL (Games System License) prohibit 3rd party publsihers
from creating certain kinds of material, ie: sourcebooks, software, etc?
Answer: Yes. It’s going to be a bit more how like the d20 system
trademark works. For example, companies can still create fantasy based
minis, they just can’t create compatible rules. There can also be no GSL
based computer games. Adventures, campaign settings, sourcebooks, are
still all ok.
Question: What exactly is the holdup with getting third party publishers
the new OGL?
Answer: It’s taking longer than they had hoped. WotC had talked with
several third party publishers in January. A draft of the License is in
review and Scott and Andy both agree that it is a priority in one of the
things they’d really like to get off their chest. “We want folks to have
the license. We want them to contribute and participate. We want to make
sure the license does what we want it to do, and doesn’t do what we
don’t want it to do.” The powers that be also need to make sure that
Wizards isn’t opening themselves to something damaging. Their chief
concern is to protect the game, for personal and professional reasons.
They’ve learned a lot from the OGL, and enhance what worked there.
Question: What sorts of products do you hope that 3rd party publishers
produce?
Answer: Campaign settings, adventures, sourcebooks, etc. “We want them
to do creative stuff; explore as many avenues of design as they can find
in the game. I hope that a lot of them find different places to explore
than what WotC is doing, but know there will be overlap.” Rouse
continued, saying that if 3 companies publish the same monster, the
players will decide which is the best. Wizards is looking for serious
companies to contribute for the long haul.
Question: How does multiclassing work in general?
Answer: Andy Collins remarked that they’ve explored a lot of avenues.
They were very concerned about getting it to work well. He commented
that there were good and bad things about 3e, and that he couldn’t give
any specific details about how that would translate to 4th Edition. He
was more than willing, however, to comment from a philosophical point of
view. “We want multiclassing to allow a character to dabble outside of
their class without losing what makes their class and role in the party
special and unique.” On a fighter multiclassing into rogue, he commented
“We want a fighter/rogue to feel like a fighter with rogue topping.” He
clarified a few points. Characters in 4e are built as to have a specific
niche role in the party. You can’t combine as many classes as you want
into a character because that will result in being under-powered.
Collins recommends trying to stay away from hybriding characters into
meaninglessness.
Question: How do you gain abilities from other classes?
Answer: You can gain abilities from other classes, but they’re not
giving that secret away quite yet. Andy Collins insists that though
you’ll be able to gain some ability, you’ll never be able to do
everything that another class does.
Question: We have seen many examples of low-level play. When can we
expect to see examples of high (upper paragon or epic) level play?
Answer: Probably not before the release. The playtesting phase is done.
WotC is focusing on low-level play because new players learn best at low
levels. Don’t worry though. They did playtest at high levels, both
internally and externally. Andy Collins noted that the game doesn’t have
fundamental changes at high levels. Powers are more potent, monsters are
scarier, but there shouldn’t be fundamental shifts to the kinds of
adventures you go on.
How long does character creation take for, say, a Paragon tier character?
Answer: It depends on if you’re creating a character for the first time
or not. Andy Collins recommends that you don’t build one for your first
character. That said, even that character is just a list of choices from
various menus. There are no skill points to deal with, so comparable to
3e, the process should be much simpler.
Question: I'd be curious as to what they can say about the social
encounter/challenge system, and how unified the mechanics are. Is it
similar to combat, is it related to the skill system, or is it an
entirely different subsystem?
Answer: The DMG has a lengthily description of “non-combat challenges.”
These include social encounters, chase scenes, library research, etc.
They aren’t handled by 1 or 2 dice rolls, but instead involve multiple
checks over some period of time in the game to see an outcome. Andy
Collins says that the closest thing to it is the Complex Skill check
from Alternity. Their goal is to have more people at the table involved
in social situations. Player 1 might make diplomacy check, as Player 2
makes a bluff check to support him, and Player 3 makes an intimidate
check to drive the point home. (If done correctly, these checks should
aid each other, not counter.) An NPC might counter with the support of a
Knowledge roll, and Player 1 counters with other knowledge and a second
diplomacy check. This makes it more of a back and forth between players
and GMs. Collins noted that they don’t want to penalize players who’s
own ability doesn’t match their characters, but they still want to
inject roleplaying into social encounters. The result is a range of
results from a social situation instead of a simple pass/fail.
Question: What can you tell us about D&D Insider?
Answer: The original “.pdf with every book” plan changed. Now, WotC has
the Rules Database, which is incorporated into the D&D insider.
Initially the plan was that D&D insider would know what books you own,
and give you access to the corresponding rules in the database. They
soon determined that that plan was too complicated. In an effort to
really embrace the community, they decided on a much simpler plan. D&D
Insider assumes that a subscriber owns every product that WotC has
published. As long as you subscribe, you’ll have complete access to
everything in the rules database. WotC will still offer .pdf’s of 4e
books for sale.
The D&D Insider E-commerce will have about 14 different payment options.
The price of D&D insider won’t change with the edition. The prices are
currently listed as:
- 1 month = $14.95/mo
- 3 months = $12.95/mo
- 12 months = $9.95/mo
With membership comes unlimited access to rules database, use of the
full suite of character creation tools (with 50 save slots for character
sheets and virtual miniatures). You will also receive all Dragon and
Dungeon magazine content as released, and a compiled monthly .pdf.
Members will also have unlimited access to the D&D virtual game table
and other community features. As a limited time offer at sign up,
members will get complete set of online minis and dungeon tiles. In a
combination of the ‘subscription’ and ‘microtransaction’ models,
individual minis and tiles will be available for separate purchase.
However, you don’t need to purchase D&D minis to play. All members will
have included access to the entire WotC collection of 2d tokens.
Well, that about wraps this article up. Thanks to Scott Rouse and Andy
Collins for taking the time out of their busy schedules to speak with me.
- Xath
--
Jasin
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