SamTheCleric
2008-03-01, 06:08 PM
http://pc.ign.com/articles/855/855992p1.html
Here's another long review for you of D&D experience.
There's always been a significant relationship between tabletop and desktop roleplaying games. Starting with the explosion of the hobby in the 70s and 80s and continuing through the licensing of pen-and-paper rules and settings, we've always felt that computer RPGs owed a massive debt to the tabletop franchises, and none more so than Dungeons & Dragons. So when Wizards of the Coast recently announced their 4th Edition rules for D&D, we were instantly intrigued, both by the intent of the rules and by its inevitable licensing for computer games.
Wizards of the Coast invited us to attend the 4th Edition event in Washington, DC to find out more about the changes directly from the game's creators and chief evangelists, from designers Rob Heinsoo and Andy Collins, to brand manager Scott Rouse, to online content creators Chris Young and Didier Monin to world builder Ed Greenwood. Each had a piece of the puzzle that helped us see not just what the team is doing to change the rules, but also how they hope to expand the hobby and position it to capture a new audience.
The fundamental change here is that players now have more choices available throughout the game, both in terms of what their characters are doing round to round, as well as how they're advancing and improving at each level. There used to a tremendous gulf in power between different character classes at different levels and the new system is an attempt to make sure that each general archetype feels useful in an exciting way at each and every character level.
The best place to begin discussing the new changes is by taking a close look at the character classes. Wizards of the Coast has decided to divide the classes into four main archetypes that feed off of each other during combat. The Clerics and Warlords are the leaders of the party, designed primarily to increase the effectiveness of other players. But even though they find themselves dealing out bonuses and healing surges to other players, they don't do so at the cost of their own effectiveness in battle. Wizards didn't want to design any class whose primary mission was simply to help other players. They wanted each and every class to have an effective and dramatic mission of their very own.
The fighters and paladins are the group's defenders, who can use a variety of powers and skills to attract the attention of monsters away from other players. In the case of the paladin, he or she can call out enemy monsters for individual duels. The fighter is a bit more of an equal opportunity player, forcing nearby monsters to suffer a disadvantage when attacking other players.
The strikers are represented by the rogues, rangers and warlocks. These characters are designed as pure offensive fighters, striking at targets for maximum damage and avoiding direct combat through a variety of movement powers. They're not as tough as the other classes though, so they'll need to be protected by the defenders and leaders.
Last is the wizard, lone representative of the controlling archetype. This character is designed to deal with groups, either through the use of massive area attacks like fireballs, or interesting crowd spells like sleep, or terrain changing spells that impede movement. One of the cooler concepts behind the wizard (and all the spellcasters and power-users) is that each new level of spells and abilities provides lots of worthwhile options, so players won't find lower level spells crowding out the new ones in terms of effectiveness. In other words, by the time you're five levels past throwing fireballs at people, you'll have loads of compelling new spells to use in combat.
Though we liked the new concept of giving each class a meaningful role in combat, one of our main concerns was whether or not those roles would wind up creating characters that felt too similar to each other. Happily, that situation has already been addressed in the new rules. Fighters, for instance, play very differently depending on their weapon of choice. A fighter armed with a sword and a shield, for instance, might be able to use the shield to help protect an adjacent ally. A fighter armed with a greatsword won't have that ability. Instead, he or she will be able to use the larger weapon to actually batter an opponent around the map, forcing them to back off from more vulnerable members of the party.
In case you think that the new system is all about combat, there are some significant changes to the overall definition of character roles in terms of the social and dungeoneering aspects of the game. To begin with, the designers knew right away that they didn't want to balance character abilities in terms of their effectiveness in different spheres of the game. In other words, the rogue wasn't going to be made to suck at combat simply because he also happened to be good at spotting traps. For the designers that simply meant that you were punishing one class of character during one phase of the game only because you were punishing all the other players in an entirely different phase.
Now the gulf between trained and untrained uses of a skill isn't going to be quite so vast. Instead, trained characters will get a meaningful bonus but untrained characters won't feel totally left out of certain checks. The team has also decided to create single skills that represent common skill groupings. Now instead of having different ranks for Climb or Jump, you'll just have one Atheletics skill that governs it all. It's the same with the Spot, Listen and Search checks, or the Move Silently and Hide skills. Since they all share a similar goal, it makes sense to have them rendered as one single skill.
Though they're trying to create a unified system, Andy was quick to point out that they're not trying to design a character system that works for players and monsters alike. Previous editions required lots of effort on the part of the designers to create monsters that used the same feats and spells that the player had access to. But ultimately that meant that monsters began to feel a bit generic. The new system doesn't try to balance monsters as players, so it's allowed the designers the chance to help differentiate the monsters so that a dragon feels substantially different than, say, an orge.
One of the more encouraging things about 4th Edition is that it doesn't try to be as simulation-heavy as the 3.0 or 3.5 rules. Things like low-light vision and diagonal movement have been greatly simplified to keep the focus on action rather than rules. Naturally, the game supports "house rules" so DMs can maintain whatever level of simulation they want, and the DMG will include all sorts of advice on how to adapt the rules to fit the way you and your players want to play. The DMG will also give players a look at some of the tools that are under the hood, which they can then use to generate their own content on the fly.
We also had the opportunity to talk with Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms, about some of the changes that Wizards is bringing to this popular campaign setting. Though Wizards owns the setting, they realize that no one knows it quite as well as Ed, and that for many players, his involvement brings a real sense of legitimacy to the radical changes they've instituted to the Realms.
And the changes are definitely radical. Taking place roughly a hundred years after the current campaign setting, the new Forgotten Realms is reeling from the effects of a Spell Plague caused when the Goddess of Magic died. Her death meant that magic became much more chaotic and unpredictable. The kingdoms of the Realms fragmented as well, so the world will take on a "points of light" character, where small islands of civilization are separated by a vast, dangerous wilderness. Of course, some of your favorite inhabitants of the Realms will still have a role to play. Elminster will still be a powerful figure, but he's afraid to use his magic now, not only because of the effects of the Spell Plague, but also because he's absorbed the memories of a number of powerful beings who tend to take over his mind when he attempts to use magic.
As with Ed's previous efforts, the idea isn't to tie DMs down to someone else's idea of what the world should be about. Rather, it's to create a meaningful backdrop that comes with a number of adventure seeds and compelling circumstances that individual DMs can use to express their own creativity. The point of these Lore books, according to Ed, is to do the hard and often unglamorous work of setting up trade routes, weather patterns and political systems, and then let DMs run wild with their own imaginative ideas.
Wizards senior brand manager Scott Rouse revealed that 4th Edition will continue the Open Game License approach used by the current edition, but this time around they're changing the name simply to Game System License. One of the key differences that justify this new name is that the license will be much more specifically tied to the D&D experience with stronger community standards. They're currently planning a two-tiered release of the GSL and hope to have it available before the release of the 4th Edition core books later this year. If things go according to plan, that would allow third party users to have content published by the time GenCon rolls around.
Things are a bit less clear when it comes to licensing the game system for PC and console games. Obviously, Turbine is very interested in the ramifications that the new edition may have on D&D Online. Adapting the 4th Edition rules would require a substantial overhaul of the existing MMO rules, so we're not hopeful that Turbine will find a way to incorporate the new powers, healing system, spells and under-the-hood math revamps into D&D Online. We suspect that we're more likely to see a semi-sequel that essentially reboots the system with a potential translation of existing characters to the new format.
We're more intrigued by Atari's possible plans for the new rules for games developed by Obsidian and other studios. Though nothing is absolutely official yet, Atari and some of their developers have had access to the new rule system already, so we can assume that there are titles currently in development that will make use of 4th Edition.
One thing that is clear is that Wizards is taking a more active role in how their brand is managed by licensees. Each project benefits from the attention of Wizards staffers who ensure that the mechanics, content and overall presentation of the game compliments the D&D property. Naturally, Scott and the other brand managers are aware that adhering to each and every element of the tabletop game design might not be suitable for games developed in other formats, but the idea here is to make sure that any D&D experience feels like D&D regardless of the platform its delivered on.
One of the more intriguing avenues of play is the D&D Insider service. This online version of D&D attempts to recreate the tabletop experience with a full set of DM tools and player environments. It's not designed to compete with the visual presentation of the Neverwinter Nights client, but is instead intended to represent a full on tabletop version of the game with voice-over-IP and battlemat play.
The first tool in the Insider suite is the character visualizer, a fully 3D character creator that includes all the math and database support required to create authentic characters. It also includes robust tools for the visual customization of your character, from skin and armor color to weapon choice and pose selection. Once you get a look you're happy with, you can export that as a full 3D miniature that will appear in the Game Table section of the game.
While you're doing that, the DM has their very own Dungeon Mapper tool that they can use to lay down tiles and create a variety of environments. You can use the provided tiles to create your own areas, or even use line drawings and stamps to create custom areas on the fly. Using a simple drag and drop system, you can set light sources and monster placement in this tool, as well as add notes to yourself that you can access during play. Even better, you can modify all this stuff in the live Game Table environment once players are in the world running through your adventure.
We were a little worried that the software contains no actual adjudication tools for the DM or players but there is enough transparency (at least on the DM side) to keep your players honest. The decision to leave things like hit point tracking and trap appearance completely within the DM's control was to give them a chance to balance the game on the fly. While it might be less work if your electrified pools automatically deal ten points of damage to anyone who walks through them, having to do it manually gives DMs a chance to intensify, lessen, or even completely ignore the effect in order to keep the adventure going.
The team isn't sure when the tools are going to be available for subscribers, but they're committed to releasing a final version that's more than just a very smooth beta. Right now they're predicting a 2GHz, 1GB RAM, Shader 1.0 compatible video card spec for the game but that may change a bit depending on how things are optimized.
So there's a lot going on at the event this year and plenty more stuff to explore once the core rules are released this summer. We'll definitely be checking in with Wizards (and Atari) to find out just how this new edition weathers the transition from the tabletop to desktop settings. Based on what we've seen so far, we're in for a real treat.
Here's another long review for you of D&D experience.
There's always been a significant relationship between tabletop and desktop roleplaying games. Starting with the explosion of the hobby in the 70s and 80s and continuing through the licensing of pen-and-paper rules and settings, we've always felt that computer RPGs owed a massive debt to the tabletop franchises, and none more so than Dungeons & Dragons. So when Wizards of the Coast recently announced their 4th Edition rules for D&D, we were instantly intrigued, both by the intent of the rules and by its inevitable licensing for computer games.
Wizards of the Coast invited us to attend the 4th Edition event in Washington, DC to find out more about the changes directly from the game's creators and chief evangelists, from designers Rob Heinsoo and Andy Collins, to brand manager Scott Rouse, to online content creators Chris Young and Didier Monin to world builder Ed Greenwood. Each had a piece of the puzzle that helped us see not just what the team is doing to change the rules, but also how they hope to expand the hobby and position it to capture a new audience.
The fundamental change here is that players now have more choices available throughout the game, both in terms of what their characters are doing round to round, as well as how they're advancing and improving at each level. There used to a tremendous gulf in power between different character classes at different levels and the new system is an attempt to make sure that each general archetype feels useful in an exciting way at each and every character level.
The best place to begin discussing the new changes is by taking a close look at the character classes. Wizards of the Coast has decided to divide the classes into four main archetypes that feed off of each other during combat. The Clerics and Warlords are the leaders of the party, designed primarily to increase the effectiveness of other players. But even though they find themselves dealing out bonuses and healing surges to other players, they don't do so at the cost of their own effectiveness in battle. Wizards didn't want to design any class whose primary mission was simply to help other players. They wanted each and every class to have an effective and dramatic mission of their very own.
The fighters and paladins are the group's defenders, who can use a variety of powers and skills to attract the attention of monsters away from other players. In the case of the paladin, he or she can call out enemy monsters for individual duels. The fighter is a bit more of an equal opportunity player, forcing nearby monsters to suffer a disadvantage when attacking other players.
The strikers are represented by the rogues, rangers and warlocks. These characters are designed as pure offensive fighters, striking at targets for maximum damage and avoiding direct combat through a variety of movement powers. They're not as tough as the other classes though, so they'll need to be protected by the defenders and leaders.
Last is the wizard, lone representative of the controlling archetype. This character is designed to deal with groups, either through the use of massive area attacks like fireballs, or interesting crowd spells like sleep, or terrain changing spells that impede movement. One of the cooler concepts behind the wizard (and all the spellcasters and power-users) is that each new level of spells and abilities provides lots of worthwhile options, so players won't find lower level spells crowding out the new ones in terms of effectiveness. In other words, by the time you're five levels past throwing fireballs at people, you'll have loads of compelling new spells to use in combat.
Though we liked the new concept of giving each class a meaningful role in combat, one of our main concerns was whether or not those roles would wind up creating characters that felt too similar to each other. Happily, that situation has already been addressed in the new rules. Fighters, for instance, play very differently depending on their weapon of choice. A fighter armed with a sword and a shield, for instance, might be able to use the shield to help protect an adjacent ally. A fighter armed with a greatsword won't have that ability. Instead, he or she will be able to use the larger weapon to actually batter an opponent around the map, forcing them to back off from more vulnerable members of the party.
In case you think that the new system is all about combat, there are some significant changes to the overall definition of character roles in terms of the social and dungeoneering aspects of the game. To begin with, the designers knew right away that they didn't want to balance character abilities in terms of their effectiveness in different spheres of the game. In other words, the rogue wasn't going to be made to suck at combat simply because he also happened to be good at spotting traps. For the designers that simply meant that you were punishing one class of character during one phase of the game only because you were punishing all the other players in an entirely different phase.
Now the gulf between trained and untrained uses of a skill isn't going to be quite so vast. Instead, trained characters will get a meaningful bonus but untrained characters won't feel totally left out of certain checks. The team has also decided to create single skills that represent common skill groupings. Now instead of having different ranks for Climb or Jump, you'll just have one Atheletics skill that governs it all. It's the same with the Spot, Listen and Search checks, or the Move Silently and Hide skills. Since they all share a similar goal, it makes sense to have them rendered as one single skill.
Though they're trying to create a unified system, Andy was quick to point out that they're not trying to design a character system that works for players and monsters alike. Previous editions required lots of effort on the part of the designers to create monsters that used the same feats and spells that the player had access to. But ultimately that meant that monsters began to feel a bit generic. The new system doesn't try to balance monsters as players, so it's allowed the designers the chance to help differentiate the monsters so that a dragon feels substantially different than, say, an orge.
One of the more encouraging things about 4th Edition is that it doesn't try to be as simulation-heavy as the 3.0 or 3.5 rules. Things like low-light vision and diagonal movement have been greatly simplified to keep the focus on action rather than rules. Naturally, the game supports "house rules" so DMs can maintain whatever level of simulation they want, and the DMG will include all sorts of advice on how to adapt the rules to fit the way you and your players want to play. The DMG will also give players a look at some of the tools that are under the hood, which they can then use to generate their own content on the fly.
We also had the opportunity to talk with Ed Greenwood, the creator of the Forgotten Realms, about some of the changes that Wizards is bringing to this popular campaign setting. Though Wizards owns the setting, they realize that no one knows it quite as well as Ed, and that for many players, his involvement brings a real sense of legitimacy to the radical changes they've instituted to the Realms.
And the changes are definitely radical. Taking place roughly a hundred years after the current campaign setting, the new Forgotten Realms is reeling from the effects of a Spell Plague caused when the Goddess of Magic died. Her death meant that magic became much more chaotic and unpredictable. The kingdoms of the Realms fragmented as well, so the world will take on a "points of light" character, where small islands of civilization are separated by a vast, dangerous wilderness. Of course, some of your favorite inhabitants of the Realms will still have a role to play. Elminster will still be a powerful figure, but he's afraid to use his magic now, not only because of the effects of the Spell Plague, but also because he's absorbed the memories of a number of powerful beings who tend to take over his mind when he attempts to use magic.
As with Ed's previous efforts, the idea isn't to tie DMs down to someone else's idea of what the world should be about. Rather, it's to create a meaningful backdrop that comes with a number of adventure seeds and compelling circumstances that individual DMs can use to express their own creativity. The point of these Lore books, according to Ed, is to do the hard and often unglamorous work of setting up trade routes, weather patterns and political systems, and then let DMs run wild with their own imaginative ideas.
Wizards senior brand manager Scott Rouse revealed that 4th Edition will continue the Open Game License approach used by the current edition, but this time around they're changing the name simply to Game System License. One of the key differences that justify this new name is that the license will be much more specifically tied to the D&D experience with stronger community standards. They're currently planning a two-tiered release of the GSL and hope to have it available before the release of the 4th Edition core books later this year. If things go according to plan, that would allow third party users to have content published by the time GenCon rolls around.
Things are a bit less clear when it comes to licensing the game system for PC and console games. Obviously, Turbine is very interested in the ramifications that the new edition may have on D&D Online. Adapting the 4th Edition rules would require a substantial overhaul of the existing MMO rules, so we're not hopeful that Turbine will find a way to incorporate the new powers, healing system, spells and under-the-hood math revamps into D&D Online. We suspect that we're more likely to see a semi-sequel that essentially reboots the system with a potential translation of existing characters to the new format.
We're more intrigued by Atari's possible plans for the new rules for games developed by Obsidian and other studios. Though nothing is absolutely official yet, Atari and some of their developers have had access to the new rule system already, so we can assume that there are titles currently in development that will make use of 4th Edition.
One thing that is clear is that Wizards is taking a more active role in how their brand is managed by licensees. Each project benefits from the attention of Wizards staffers who ensure that the mechanics, content and overall presentation of the game compliments the D&D property. Naturally, Scott and the other brand managers are aware that adhering to each and every element of the tabletop game design might not be suitable for games developed in other formats, but the idea here is to make sure that any D&D experience feels like D&D regardless of the platform its delivered on.
One of the more intriguing avenues of play is the D&D Insider service. This online version of D&D attempts to recreate the tabletop experience with a full set of DM tools and player environments. It's not designed to compete with the visual presentation of the Neverwinter Nights client, but is instead intended to represent a full on tabletop version of the game with voice-over-IP and battlemat play.
The first tool in the Insider suite is the character visualizer, a fully 3D character creator that includes all the math and database support required to create authentic characters. It also includes robust tools for the visual customization of your character, from skin and armor color to weapon choice and pose selection. Once you get a look you're happy with, you can export that as a full 3D miniature that will appear in the Game Table section of the game.
While you're doing that, the DM has their very own Dungeon Mapper tool that they can use to lay down tiles and create a variety of environments. You can use the provided tiles to create your own areas, or even use line drawings and stamps to create custom areas on the fly. Using a simple drag and drop system, you can set light sources and monster placement in this tool, as well as add notes to yourself that you can access during play. Even better, you can modify all this stuff in the live Game Table environment once players are in the world running through your adventure.
We were a little worried that the software contains no actual adjudication tools for the DM or players but there is enough transparency (at least on the DM side) to keep your players honest. The decision to leave things like hit point tracking and trap appearance completely within the DM's control was to give them a chance to balance the game on the fly. While it might be less work if your electrified pools automatically deal ten points of damage to anyone who walks through them, having to do it manually gives DMs a chance to intensify, lessen, or even completely ignore the effect in order to keep the adventure going.
The team isn't sure when the tools are going to be available for subscribers, but they're committed to releasing a final version that's more than just a very smooth beta. Right now they're predicting a 2GHz, 1GB RAM, Shader 1.0 compatible video card spec for the game but that may change a bit depending on how things are optimized.
So there's a lot going on at the event this year and plenty more stuff to explore once the core rules are released this summer. We'll definitely be checking in with Wizards (and Atari) to find out just how this new edition weathers the transition from the tabletop to desktop settings. Based on what we've seen so far, we're in for a real treat.