Slashdot broke the news yesterday that Wizards of the Coast is releasing two preview volumes offer explanations of the forthcoming Fourth Edition of Dungeons and Dragons manuals, “Races and Classes” and “Worlds and Monsters”.
It sounds as if the developers are attempting to return to a more fundamental storytelling experience while streamlining its mechanics. In short, they’re attempting to Potter-ify it. Not that you can blame them. If someone released a decent Harry Potter roleplaying game right now, it’s sales would outstrip D&D and Magic: The Gathering in no time.
What bothers me is that I don’t know a single player eager for simplification. Clarification, yes. Simplification, no. Let’s face it, the only way that the average player could be more enthusiastic about this game is if you managed to work some sort of slide ruler into the battle sequences. In an age of computerization, sometimes it just feels nice to play a complex.
It’s a bit disappointing, as I can only image the next edition as a softcore option of the current game. I sincerely hope that I’m wrong, but I see no indications to the contrary.
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http://criticalanklebites.com Graham
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http://www.rexvenom.blogspot.com Rex Venom
