Quote from: JongWKActually, if D&D 4E is going to be a 2009 release, I hope that it is already in the works. Why? Because that means Wizards has two years to design and playtest the game. Not every company enjoys such luxury.

EDIT: ...And the fact that Mike Mearls is working in the mechanics design team nowadays is a BIG hint in my book.

Yup, ok, you might have a point there. But keep in mind 2009 is only the EARLIEST it could come out. I would think that given the scope of what this would really mean, and the fact that there are way more reasons not to come out with 4th ed. then there would be to do so (as of yet, anyways), its possible that what they've got Mearls doing is a kind of "five year planning comittee" thing, with 4e seeing release in 2010/12.

RPGPundit

So they will be releasing setting materiel in the meantime?
Dragonlance, Greyhawk,Dark Sun maybe even Mystara?
There seems to be not much else left, no?

*sigh* Can't we all just get along?

Regardless of when/if D&D 4 comes out (and I did read the initial post as a sort of very hypothetical question, though maybe I was wrong to), it is sort of emblematic of edition changes.

On the one extreme you've got Call of Cthulhu, which has changes between editions so minuscule they barely deserve the name... I think I have actually heard people at yog-sothoth.com suggest they might be better referred to as "printings".

On the other you've got versions so different that they're tagged as a different game even though you could could argue that maybe they aren't (e.g. is the difference between Vampire:the Requiem and Vampire: the Masquerade significantly more than the difference between V:tM 2nd ed and VRev?*)

At what point does it become desirable to change editions? Is there a golden mean for differences between editions of the same game? Will there be a third question now that the Gaunt Stranger has arrived?



*Probably, actually, but that's the best example I can think of right now.

Quote from: jdrakehGranted, I don't know exactly when 4e will be released, but I suspect (based on recent license terminations by WotC) that it's closer than many think. When it finally gets here, will you buy it?

Personally, I just invested some $500 in 3.5 products, so I probably won't -- unless the move from 3.5 to 4.0 is of the innocuous nature that the move from 3.0 to 3.5 was rules-wise.

If we end up looking at another changing of rules on the same level as AD&D2 to 3.0, I'll most assuredly not make the switch (it has taken me seven years to get a decent handle on 3.5 and I don't plan to abandon it just yet).

What about you?

I have the full line of Midnight (FFG), Theves World and Black Company (Green Ronin) but only the PHB.
So I'll give it  chance only if it's completely retro-compatible with setting material, if I can use it without pain in the butt. Money and time are too tigh to allow me to spend it in adapting the setting to the system.
Probably I'll stick with 3.5.

What Jong said is the most convincing thing yet.

Well, if anyone needs to be a playtester, it's me. Mearls? Call me.

I want 4th Edition now. So we can talk about it. That´s our hobby here onSite, no?

I want some more falling skies, too.
So we can talk about it.

Remember the dull weeks of March?
Now, there´s stuff happening again, rejoice!

I am not really interested in 4e. If it will have an SRD, I'll look through that. Otherwise, not likely.

Quote from: Caudex*sigh* Can't we all just get along?

No, but you can ignore people.

Seanchai

Quote from: Abyssal MawWhat Jong said is the most convincing thing yet.

Well, if anyone needs to be a playtester, it's me. Mearls? Call me.

I would be one scary playtester... they could put it in the logo: "Playtested by the Pundit"

RPGPundit

Buy it? Probably not. emule it? You can bet your arse I will. Switch? Who knows. I'll have to read it first, but in any case, it will depend on how good the game is, not on who writes it or how many 3ed book I have (zero, BTW).

And one more thing.
All this old maid bitching about Pundit's rants are getting SO BLOODY OLD. Mate, read Nox's signature lately? Is he banned? Did any post (other than spam and illegal shit) get deleted? Please.

Okay. Practical example:

Pundy, you are an asshole. d20 sucks arse. Long Live the Forge.

Wanna bet on me getting banned for that?
It's not the Pundy who make this kind of threads a circus. Just like it isn't Nox who makes a big deal out of OT. It's the people who give them attention for the wrong reasons.

Quote from: C.W.RichesonWhenever D&D 4 is released, whoever it is released by, I will buy it.  I wont even inquire into the mechanics or production values or anything, I'll just pick it up.

Why?

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaWhy?

!i!

I suspect a sufficiently high level of disposable income...

Nope. I have WFRP2, L5R, Exalted, and I've been playing D6 Star Wars for 20 years and am pretty sure I could kludge a fun fantasy game out of the system. My fantasy roleplaying is well taken care of. If I play D&D4 I'll just borrow someone else's books to make a character with.

Mike

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaWhy?

!i!

Because it's D and fuckin' D.  For good or ill, it's what a hell of a lot of people are going to be playing, and I'd imagine that, especially for someone who does as many reviews as CWR here, it's important to be up to date one what's happening with the biggest game out there.

Quote from: J Arcane...I'd imagine that, especially for someone who does as many reviews as CWR here, it's important to be up to date one what's happening with the biggest game out there.

Which would suggest inquiry into the mechanics and/or the production values.

Buying something because it's "the Thing" without care for its content or quality strikes me as foolish.  I want to know why someone would do such a thing.

!i!