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I agree with the poster who said there’s no going back to 4ed.  DDN may have its flaws, but our encounters group felt like a complete game, rather than a hash and slash.  There’s room for character development, exploration, and adventure.  DDN is also challenging our DM in all the right ways, which will only make him a better DM.

There’s a lot of discussion about how to entice a new players while maintaining strong relationships with core D&D players. When it comes to out of the box RPG’s, Fantasy Flight nailed it with Descent: Journey’s into the Dark, 2nd ed.  Here’s a game that’s out of the box, with well defined dungeon/map tiles, mini’s and cards that work seamlessly to engage and teach new players.  If my Mom’s grasping core rpg concepts (including dice rolls) from Descent, while keeping us long-time gamers challenged and entertained, then the product is quality. 

Wizards needs to study the appeal/playability behind Descent, come up with a ‘branded’ version that’s DDN (like Drizzt).  Allow the game to teach the players, while maintaining DDN ruleset to entertain current players.  A boxed design which can be played as a stand alone or as a good introduction, or conversion, into DDN.  Complete the game with quality tiles, and creatures and adventures (with the ability to create adventures).  Have Hasbro place it on the shelves of every major retailer--Target, K-Mart, etc.  From that, Wizards will have the opportunity to draw new players from the box, on to their website, and into their local game store.

I want to emphasis the word opportunity, because Wizards has one shot to draw in new players while maintaining good standing with D&D’s base players.  The absence of conversion (from old maps, tiles, minis, adventures) will tick off many players.  Keep all edition components somewhat compatible (allow for house rules) and pump out quality products: mini’s, maps, map tiles, adventures, creatures, etc.  

Keep the player’s handbook simple and core to the game, with minimal revisions.  An introduction to D&D, and DDN, should be fun and simple, with majority of the adventure being played out in the imagination. If Wizards can successfully engage a more mainstream base while keeping long-timers content and challenged, then DDN could be Hasbro’s next best thing.  If not, the brand will collapse into the shadow and labled a once great vintage RPG war game.               

Feb 14, 2013 -- 11:50AM, WintersKnight wrote:

I agree with the poster who said there’s no going back to 4ed.  DDN may have its flaws, but our encounters group felt like a complete game, rather than a hash and slash.  There’s room for character development, exploration, and adventure.

Could you say what made 5e a complete game vs 4e hack and slash? And what character development, exploration, and adventure options 5e has over 4e? I'm curious why you think this way.

Feb 16, 2013 -- 6:09PM, elecgraystone wrote:

Feb 14, 2013 -- 11:50AM, WintersKnight wrote:

I agree with the poster who said there’s no going back to 4ed.  DDN may have its flaws, but our encounters group felt like a complete game, rather than a hash and slash.  There’s room for character development, exploration, and adventure.

Could you say what made 5e a complete game vs 4e hack and slash? And what character development, exploration, and adventure options 5e has over 4e? I'm curious why you think this way.

Thanks for calling me out.  There are many things about 4ed I really like.  I really enjoy the map tiles, and the combat could be fun.  WoC delivers quality products, such as Dungeon Command.  My personal experience with 4ed is a little different because I came into D&D a few months ago because my friends wanted to start a campaign (then they backed out).  So, I was left going to my local game store for encounters.  

BTW--Coming into the game was highly frustrating, which is why my friends backed out.  WoC needs to do a better job in retaining new customers.  When I looked at their website, I was told to buy the red box.  In reality, I never used it, so I picked up the players handbook, DM guide and MM, as recommended in past forums.  When I got to the table, I realized everyone was using Essential products, which annoyed me.  It became a complete turn-off when I saw the community transitioning to DDN.  WoC needs to direct new players to the correct products.  (I really like the 1ed modules they're selling as pdf). 

As a whole, I might have more of a problem with the encounters group vs. 4ed.  Being encounters, it was heavily combat focused, with no room for character and story development.  The players never developed their characters and as our xp developed, it was like we were investing in another skill, a maneuver, attack, etc. 

My store switched to DDN a couple weeks back.  We had an awesome turn out.  Making my character in DDN was a lot of fun.  The focus went from investing in skills to investing in character development.  The idea of creating a character that could be generic or developed into a specialized and focused hero, appealed to me.

This season, the encounters group seem much more RP oriented-rather than combat oriented.  So we went from a world that was static and stuck on a grid (4ed.) to something that was more spatial.  Our current encounters feels more home-brew and the players seem more interested in developing their characters rather than slashing and hashing.

I know this is only a play test (an everything will prob. change), but I seem to be connecting to the rules and the game as a whole.  I really can’t pinpoint exactly where, when, or how that shift happened.