well...it appears to be official... D&D 4.0E

[StarFyre]

--link from forum in Wizards site..some other site put up the announcement early i guess.

\'D&D 4th Edition\' Announced at Gen Con
Online Component Added
August 16, 2007

Wizards of the Coast is announcing at GenCon today that it will release the 4th Edition of its category-leading Dungeons and Dragon roleplaying game in 2008, the first full new edition in eight years. The three core books will be released next summer on a monthly schedule: Player\'s Handbook in May, Monster Manual in June, and Dungeon Master\'s Guide in July. Pricing and page counts of the new products will be consistent with current packaging. Graphics have been updated, art will be used on the covers, and interior design has been opened up to make the books less intimidating to new players.

Lead-in products, Wizards Presents: Classes and Races and Wizards Presents: Worlds and Monsters, will be released in December. An April release, Keep of the Shadowfell, will include a set of quickstart rules for 4E.

While there are changes in play (such as incorporating \"epic-level play,\" with 30 levels instead of 20), they are described as \"evolutionary\" rather than \"revolutionary.\" Other changes include new power sources, changes in resource management, and new encounter design, and more clearly defined monster roles. Changes will speed play, make the game easier to learn, and make DM-ing easier. Concepts for 4th Edition gameplay were tested in the new Star Wars RPG, and the Book of 9 Swords.

What the company does describe as revolutionary is the method of product delivery, which will incorporate online play for the first time. WotC is incorporating online components into the game through a new Website, DnDInsider.com. Each paper product will include codes to unlock digital versions on the site for a \"nominal\" activation fee. Players will also be able to use DnDInsider tools and access regular new content similar to the material that was previously released in Dragon and Dungeon magazines (see \"Interview with Liz Schuh\") for a monthly fee (as yet undetermined) greater than the old subscription price, but less than a MMORPG subscription. Magazine-style content will be added to the site three times a week and compiled into digital \"issues\" monthly.

Gameplay features on the Web will include a digital D&D game table, and voice chat and text messaging, to allow online players to communicate with each other. The online play is designed to \"supplement, not replace\" meatspace play.

The Open Gaming License will continue as it has in the past, allowing the use of the rules in other publishers\' games.

Work on the new edition began in 2005, with the major work all accomplished in the last year.

D&D products released between now and the launch of 4th Edition will fall into three groups. Edition-proof products (which are mostly story) will not include mechanics that are edition-specific. Some products will be \"enhanced\" to 4th Edition mechanics after release through DnDInsider, and a couple of series will end as 3.5 products.

The setting for the core books are campaign neutral. Forgotten Realms will be the first campaign setting to be updated (in August 2008). Other campaign settings will be updated at a rate of one per year.

Marketing support will initially focus on migrating the existing player base, and then move to an acquisition strategy to re-activate lapsed players and acquire new ones. Midnight launch parties will be used to kick off sales of the first new release in May.

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from the notes above, it appears to still be able to convert to 3.5 from the basic, 1e, 2e conversion rules in the 3.0 conversion book...and thus from 3.0/3.5 u can convert to 4.0...as it sounds like it\'s similar and still open source like 3.5....

Sanjay

 

[uberdark]

i miss D&D first edition. now that was fun.

why do you have to mess up a good thing.

its like warhammer 40k 2nd edition and vampire the masquerade 2nd edition.

just keep it the way it is darn it.

 

[squig hunter]

I loved playing a cleric in 3.5 coz our DM (bless his evil little soul) gave me spell sheets from 2 or 3, which has really unbalaced spell in 3.5 power wise

Squig

 

[Swordwind]

I still remember my words spoken to the school warhammer/D&D club \"Wizards can <deleted for the sake of the children> themselves if they think I\'m buying all those books again for a sodding 0.5!\"

Hopefully those \"quick start rules\" will be like the 3rd ed ones, not that feeble effort they had masquerading as a boardgame they used for 3.5 .

 

[Sand Rat]

Isnt this more like 5 or 6?

Chainmail - D&D 1st Ed - 2nd Ed (Basic with the damn dwarf and elf character classes) - 3rd ed (called 2nd) - D20/3.5 - and now 4.0 - looks like 6 to me but I is old.

 

[Evil Dave]

While some may complain about 3.0 and 3.5, I actually thought some of the changes were better.
1.) Getting rid of THAC0, an overly complicated system IMHO.
2.) Feats and skills, skills were basically useless or nonexistent in earlier versions.
3.) The ease of multi-classing, which makes tailoring your character how you want it easier, while reflecting that throughout your adventure\'s life he probably will pick up some skills that aren\'t exactly class specific.

All in all, I thought these changes allowed for more character choice and allowed your character to grow rather than be a cookie cutter fighter or mage.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

What my thread on this wasn\'t good enough, and was in the right place so you had to start a new one?

It really doesn\'t feel like 8 years since 3rd came out.

I\'m very supprised that it\'s still going to be OGL, I thought the whole point of the new edition was to eliminate competitors making more on their name then they are.

I really hope it truely is backward compatable, the Star Wars Saga edition definately was not, there was no rational way to port a character between systems.

The whole online compoenet is a piss off. A total rip off as well. I don\'t see how they can justify charging more then the subscription cost to Dragon for online content that costs them $0 to print and $0 to ship.

EDIT: I am also very amused that their cheezy marketing countown caused their entire site to crash as way too many people clicked on Now! at once.

 

[Gilvan Blight]

Just caught this off the official site between downtime...

\"D&D Insider provides a digital D&D Game Table that turns the Internet into your kitchen table. This amazing application, which we’ll talk more about as the weeks go on, allows you to supplement your face-to-face gaming 24/7, helps you find a group to game with if you don’t happen to have a face-to-face group, or lets you hook up with gaming buddies who long ago scattered to the four winds. Take a look at the prototype movie we showed at Gen Con to get a first taste of the D&D Game Table.
\"

Now that could make the interactive portion worth paying for.

 

[EArkham]

I\'m a huge fan of the old school stuff. The original Fiend Folio, modules like Tomb of Horrors & Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, and especially those classic Citadel ADD series figures.

That said, the change from 2.0 to 3.0/3.5 D&D was probably the best change ever made to the rules. Huge improvement in ease of play and character customization.

I\'m wary of the announcement of 4.0, but as long as it doesn\'t force me to do massive rewrites to my characters to make them work under the new rules, then I\'ll jump in, sure. I\'m also very interested in seeing what they\'ve done with Epic Levels, since that was one of the few things 3.0/3.5 really needed to revamp.

Kep

 

[PegaZus]

Aw... I really like my leather bound monster book. I\'d worry that its useless, but I just bought it for reference painting. I\'ve never actually played, although I\'ve thought about trying. But I guess it means I can save my money and NOT buy the other two leather bound D&D books.

 

[EldinTux]

I\'ve been playing D&D since the late 70\'s and have been dragged kicking screaming through all the editions.

I do get that warm feeling when thinking about 1st edition, the 2nd edition helped round out characters. 3 & 3.5 were very similar but did make the roleplay aspect easier as it took the table look ups out of the equation. My concern with 4th ed is character conversion. My current group has been playing since 1990 using 2nd ed. We spent a lot of time converting character (and me modules). What would stop me buying the new one would be all the time & money we have invested into the system. And the online content should be free!!! IMO

 

[philologus]

I am still a little upset that Dungeon and Dragon magazines will be online. I read that in the last issue I picked up. This online stuff wears me out. I like Paper.

 

[StarFyre]

i hope..

not for backwards compatible (which implies it works as is) but convertible at least. If older stuff can be converted up to the new, i\'m good with that.

Sanjay

 

[MarkusTay]

I\'m sort of an \'intern\' over there right now.

As a (partial) insider, I can tell you it will be based around the Star Wars D20 rules, with skill-trees. This system allows the game to become more like computer-based RPGs. Most of us old-timers don\'t like the way the game is going, but it\'s all about mass-appeal, rather then a niche hobby like it used to be.

And I\'m also going to miss the \'hardcopy\' of Dragon Magazine - it just doesn\'t feel like P&P RPG when you start getting rid of the \'P\'.

I, for one, won\'t be buying any 4.0 books... but then again, I get them all for free these days.

 

[NerdyOgre254]

Having played D&D for the last 7 years (am i THAT old? i only turn 18 soon...) i know how much of a frustration going from one edition to another can be. but this time, i am not going to buy the books. i bought so many of the 3.5 extra sourcebooks that don\'t even get used that much, so i figure that there\'s no point updating.
I used to roleplay like a mad b@st@rd but now it\'s sort of fell off (school, work, girlfriend etc) and i only get to play about once a month if that.
so i won\'t be buying any of the new books.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

It was the biggest \"This Sucks!\" I herd all of Gen Con..most saying they would stay with 3rd ed.