Wizards News

Geek's Dream Girl DNDNext First Glimpse

Chadarius — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:14:00 +0000

Geek's Dream Girl has a "First Glimpse" of the new edition of D&D from DDXP.

Monte wants to distill down what’s best about all the editions of D&D. He also mentioned the importance of the DM/player relationship; it’s a core part of the game that the player and DM should be able to communicate and be creative together. Also, fireballs.

Her DM was none other than Monte Cook!

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed my silence for the next few hours. Here’s why:

Monte Cook. Srsly, do I need more reasons?

I couldn’t publish any crunchy details about the game, including any pics that might show character sheets. (Sorry!)

Our game was pretty freakin’ awesome.

It is a great write up. Go read it now!

Wizards to Reprint AD&D 1st Edition to Support Gygax Memorial

Chadarius — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:27:13 +0000

If you check the WotC product catalog you will see all three books, The Player's Handbook, The Dungeon Master's Guide, and The Monster Manual.

WotC states that proceeds will help support the Gygax Memorial Fund. The books will have all the original artwork, except for the covers which will be new. This is great for all those who want to see what the game used to be like. A nice walk down memory lane should help people appreciate how the game has evolved from its early stages. It would certainly be fun to play a 1E game this Spring.

Mike Mearles - Open Source Impacts His Views on OGL/GSL

Chadarius — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:24:38 +0000

Again from Greg Tito's article:

"We'll have more information on the GSL as it relates to the next edition in the near future. Personally, I have a copy of 'The Cathedral & the Bazaar' on the shelf at work," Mearls said, admitting the landmark essay regarding open source software systems impacts his views on the subject. "From my days as a programmer and as a freelance RPG designer, the bulk of my work involved open platforms which did a lot for a game that relies so much on individual creativity."

5E: Base Set of Rules that Cover Entire Breadth of D&D's History

Chadarius — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:57:55 +0000

Greg Tito has a new article up at The Escapist about 5E. I've been enjoying his coverage of D&D quite a bit lately.

Here is a quote from Mike Mearles

Looking for DNDNext? Here is the community page

Chadarius — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:57:59 +0000

Here is the Wizards Community page for DNDNext.

Here is the official DNDNext team as listed on their community page.

Mike Mearls Team Lead @mikemearls
Greg Bilsland Team Producer @gregbilsland

Monte Cook Design Team Lead @montejcook
Bruce Cordell Designer @brucecordell
Robert J. Schwalb Designer @rjschwalb

Everything Old Is New Again - Wizards Announces 5th Edition - Updated

Chadarius — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:59:07 +0000

Everything old is new again. Here is a Forbes article about Wizards of the Coast and 5th edition D&D. Also a NY Times article as well.

Additionally a vague announcement on the Wizards site itself. If you want a sneak peak go to D&D Experience convention in January.

Update:

It looks like WotC is very interested in player feedback at this point. The Forbes article says that players can go to http://wizards.com/dndnext to sign up to participate in player feedback. However that link does not appear to be active yet. After many of the "throwback" changes to 4E with Essentials, I feel that we can expect 5E to continue in that general trajectory and provide more of a 3.x feel in many ways.

The Escapist Publishes the Past, Present, and Future of D&D

Chadarius — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 23:14:06 +0000

Lots of interesting reading in the following Escapist articles:

The Ghosts of D&D: Past

The State of D&D: Present

The State of D&D: Future

It also generated some really interesting insider perspectives and discussion over at ENWorld.

Here is a column (inspired by the Greg Tito Escapist articles) by Ryan Dancy and another post with even more material.

Shocker! Rich Baker Let Go from Wizards of the Coast

Chadarius — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:42:10 +0000

One of the Tyrian's favorite people, Rich Baker, has been let go from Wizards of the Coast. He has been a pillar of D&D, especially "The Forgotten Realms" for many many years.

Rich posted a blog entry here.

Alas, a change of plans.

Today, Wizards of the Coast eliminated my position. I have unfortunately been let go, after more than 20 years of employment with TSR/WotC.

Sales Stats: Wizards vs Paizo

Chadarius — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:37:05 +0000

I'm not sure how much weight I put into the ICV2 sales numbers but its always an interesting perspective on the sales of RPG games.

Paizo’s Pathfinder, #1 in the roleplaying game category, continued to gain momentum, with sharp differences in the number of releases between It and WotC’s category-defining Dungeons and Dragons. Some retailers told ICv2 of differences between the customers of the two games, with D&D 4.0 appealing to new players and people that don’t want to get super-involved in an RPG, and Pathfinder the choice of players that want to spend more time on playing.

Expectations are high for the holiday season. “We’re ecstatic about how the fourth quarter is looking right now,” a distributor told us.

Wizards of the Coast's D&D line was beat out by Pathfinder. Wizards did put out fewer titles during this time than Paizo, however they have been neck and neck for the last year or so. Overall it is good news for everyone though. It seems like the entire industry was doing better over all.

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-049

Chadarius — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 23:54:18 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

We are a Dungeons and Dragons gaming group that has been meeting twice a month since 2002. We now stream our game nights live on the Internet using uStream. Check out our site at http://lordsoftyr.com for more information.

Lords in attendance: Stephanie, Cheryl, Rob, TJ, Chad

Topic 1: Fortune Cards are not Pokemon Cards

Submitted by Tyrwench

Topic 2: Haven't Played D&D for Years But Want to Get Back "In the Game"? You Can on May 11th!

Submitted by Chadarius

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110528.mp3

Temple of the Weeping Goddess - Chatty DM's Zero Level Adventure in Dungeon #194

Chadarius — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:21:12 +0000

Temple of the Weeping Goddess - A group of untested adventurers must rescue a long-lost aspect of the goddess Avandra before it's too late. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

A Hero's First Steps - To achieve glory and riches, every adventurer must start somewhere. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

This is a a zero level adventure for 4E. It is a cool idea and something that might actually build real ties to a their own and each other's characters. You need to read "A Hero's First Steps" for the zero level character rules before starting the adventure. My favorite part about these new zero level rules is that you can use them to help find your character's role in the party. It is really quite ingenius.

This is a great way to get a group of first time players (young or old) introduced to the game in a much simpler way. It will help them understand the various roles that each character class might play. There are very few character decisions to make at first. Essentially, you can get a start up game going and play a full adventure before you roll up a character. The very act of playing this zero level character will inform your character creation process. Each zero level power has the ability for the character to add an extra Leader, Controller,Striker, or Defender effect by spending an experience token. If you find yourself using your experience tokens on primarily leader attacks that should probably say something loud and clear to you about filling a leader role in the party.

I especially like the "Where are they now?" section of "A Hero's First Steps". I'll be excited to try this out the next time I start a new 4e campaign.

Monte Cook Returns to Wizards of the Coast!

Chadarius — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:56:30 +0000

DM Rules and Exciting News - Here are the traits that I think make the difference between an average DM and a good one. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

From Mike Mearls in the same article...

i've spent the past several months talking about D&D's past and how that relates to its future. It's now time to focus much more on the future of the game. Monte has an unmatched design pedigree in the RPG field, and for that reason we've brought him on board to work with R&D in making D&D the greatest RPG the world has seen. Over the next few weeks, Monte will use this column to share his thoughts about the game. As we look to chart D&D's future course, this column will continue to be a place where we share our ideas and listen to yours, and we hope you'll keep reading, discussing the contents, and sharing your feedback and thoughts with us and the larger D&D community. That's what makes Legends & Lore a conversation that we can all participate in.

Wow! This is big news. Monte brings a lot of credibility with him. I hope his special brand of genius will flourish. His mark on Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition is indelible. I know he was a rules consultant for Paizo's Pathfinder a few years ago (2009?). It is hard to tell how much effect he had there, but Paizo has certainly been exceeding most people's expectations with Pathfinder.

The Lords of Tyr take D&D Pub Trivia!

rook103 — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:16:56 +0000

What happens when 4 members of Lords of Tyr decide to play D&D trivia? Well a nice dinner and Rob whopping some 1st Edition Trivia Ass! That's what!

#suttonsc, #chadarius, #rook103, #rdjazo

We did really well in the Obscure Origins of D&D section of Round 1 and kicked it up a notch in the Nightmare portion! Then we sat back and let Rob take over. Round 2 was all about 1st Edition Monsters. Rob was a machine, only missing 1. But no one did any better then him and way.

Round 3 was all about D&D in Pop Culture....we had a perfect round! We were only beaten in Round 3 by a single Bonus point for knowing Aeorfeld's full name in the PvP Celebrity Game Podcasts!

Our reward:

Thanks #WotC and gang (#Trevor_WotC, #michaelrobles, #gregbilsland) for a fun event!

Lords of Tyr - Lords-of-Tyr-D&D-Podcast-048

Chadarius — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:05:12 +0000

Welcome to the Lords of Tyr D&D Podcast!

Lords in attendance: Stephanie, Cheryl, Rob, TJ, Tony, John

Topic 1: D&D Dads Crazy Fitness Dad Incites RPG Community

Submitted by Tyrwench

Topic 2: Looking at the “Essentials” Warlord

MP3:

http://www.lordsoftyr.com/sites/all/files/podcasts/Lords%20of%20Tyr%20podcast%2020110409.mp3

Class Acting

Chadarius — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:17:32 +0000

Class Acting - If there's anything the last 12 weeks have taught me, it's that I was right—I'm not the person to call in case of emergency. [Wizards of the Coast D&D]

As usual, Shelly hits her article out of the park. Watch out for that jet fuel! It is interesting how so many of us seem to be attracted to specific classes or roles when playing D&D. I've noticed that over time my tastes have changed and widened. In the old days I was ever the heroic and valorus Fighter/Paladin. Then I seemed to have grown into the Ranger or good natured rogue roles. I rarely find myself playing primarily spell casting types, although I am playing one now and enjoying it quite a bit.