Will there be a conversion to 5e?

[andhaira]

I know there was no conversion to 4e, but that was because of the massive difference between 3e and 4e. 5e is similar, an evolution if you will, of 3e. Do you think there is any chance of the OOTS converting over? Keep in mind the very first strip back in 2003 was about converting to 3.5e, just months after 3.5e was released.

I personally would LOVE a conversion, as 5e looks fantastic. But honestly I think at this point we won't see the mainstream OOTS convert, as most of the campaign is already done. But it would be great if they would, as it would result in a lot of jokes, humor and entertainment.

We could however get a strip like the alternative universe OOTS meeting their 4e counterparts.

Anyhow Rich, I know you are busy but perhaps you could start a new strip soon using 5e. It would be great to see a low level party of adventurers clearing up dungeons like the beginning of OOTS before things went epic. While you can always do it after OOTS is over, as you say you have about 4 years worth of strips left for OOTS, it would be more fun if a new strip was started when the system is new. Ofcourse, priority would be to OOTS, but the new strip could be updated 2wice monthly or something.

Anyway, if you do start a new strip I want a Paladin in the party, as well as a druid. And maybe a warlock... :)

[Murk]

I think between ten kickstarter comics, OoTS, and his wish to focus on plot and not D&D, the Giant is unlikely to write an additional strip with D&D gags.

However, this sounds like a perfectly valid idea for a fancomic, and I see you have enough ideas, so I'd say: go for it! There's never enough OoTS fancomics anyway.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

No, there will not be.


So, Wizards of the Coast announced on Monday that they are working on a new edition of D&D which will almost certainly not be titled "5th Edition," but is functionally 5th Edition. (Actually, I guess it's really like 9th or 10th Edition, if you count the original boxed set and the "basic" line and 3.5 and Essentials and...) And almost immediately, I started getting emails asking me whether I was going to switch the OOTS story to this new edition when it comes out. Just so I can get ahead of this thing and not be dodging this question for a year and a half like I did when 4th Edition was announced: No, I won't.

The reason I can say that with confidence is that my decision has nothing to do with the content of that still-unwritten ruleset. Everything I said about my decision not to make a wholesale switch to 4th Edition still stands: It would be an enormous amount of exposition for very little benefit, and it would likely change some of the characters in ways that would be difficult to reconcile with the story I've been planning. Further, this story is now three and a half years closer to its conclusion than it was when 4E was released, and it will be yet another year and a half before these new rules are widely available. The halfway point of OOTS is in the rearview mirror, and at a certain point, it just becomes an issue of not changing horses midstream (or at the very least, dancing with who brought you).

Plus I barely even reference the 3.5 rules anymore, using them just to determine what sort of spells or class abilities a character might have and then ignoring them the rest of the time. I'm certainly not looking to drive this narrative backwards to a point where I'm more chained to a ruleset over which I have no control. No, as an author, I'm more interested in deciding what happens in my world than I am in ceding that power to others.

[Psyren]

In the main strip, I expect nothing more than the occasional gag/reference for reasons previously quoted/stated.

In the bonus material, who knows. We got a whole strip related to 4e so that may happen again. Or he may decide he already made his point about new editions when he did the 4e crossover and there would be nothing else that needs to be said about 5e since the same arguments would apply.