Maybe I shouldn't say anything until I've seen the rule books, but I think after following a lot of news releases and reading the preview adventure,
Keep on the Shadowfell, I have a pretty good idea what Wizards of the Coast is up to with this new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. I should preface this with the notice that I'm not an insider at WotC, nor do I know one personally. This article is all speculation.
WotC noticed a long time ago that video games were cutting more and more into the pen-and-paper RPG market because a lot of the people who played RPG's in the first place were really looking for a sophisticated video game all along. Those of us who are into the social and improvisational storytelling aspects of real RPG's are becoming a smaller and smaller niche, one they figure is not going to be enough to feed the D&D brand for much longer. They've been attacking this problem in two ways.
The first thing goes back to the release of 3rd edition - the miniatures angle. I'm not keen on them myself, but miniatures do offer something video games can't - a solid object you can hold in your hand, move around, even paint and display in your game room. I'm sure they don't mind the money they make selling miniatures and map board accessories, either. After all, no fan in the history of miniatures gaming has ever had enough of the wee beasties.
The second thing, the one that I was actually thinking of when I decided to write this, is the new structure of 4E characters. Lots and lots of people have already commented on how similar this is to the popular MMORPG's (and probably the unpopular ones too). Usually this is followed by, "they're trying to win over the online gaming crowd." I don't think that's quite it, though.
Okay, there are a few more background items I need to remind you of before the rest will make sense. Computer games in general have been getting better and better at imitating PnP RPG's. You can create a detailed character, explore a setting, solve a mystery, and even socialize a little with simulated characters or real people. Games like
Baldur's Gate,
Neverwinter Nights, and
Stormreach even include various incarnations of the actual D&D rule set.
Then you've got the utilities that let you draw maps, generate encounters, make a character, and even play regular PnP RPG's over a network. You know, the stuff they're selling you for a monthly fee in D&D Insider. These programs are converging with PnP RPG's and video games as we speak. Look at
Neverwinter Nights, for example, a video game where you can make your own adventures and even take on a dungeon master role. It's a pain, but you can do it. This sort of thing is going to get better and more common.
And that's what WotC is getting ready for with their "powers" and their strictly defined party roles. They're re-building D&D so that, as computer programs get more and more feasible as a vehicle for role-playing, D&D will plug right in. Improvisational role-players may consider "do you have the duck-and-foot-sweep power?" to be a strange question, because we think anyone should be able to try something like that. You just apply some modifiers, roll to hit or have some sort of attribute-based dice contest, and work it out from there. From a computer screen, though, narrow definitions make things a lot easier and allow for cool animation sequences that fit the action perfectly.
So that's my guess, anyway. They're not just adapting to MMORPG's - they're getting ready for another stage in their evolution. It may not foster the kind of role-playing I'm looking for, but it's an interesting move, and I have to admire the way they're setting up their dominoes. And yeah, I'm still gonna buy the new core books when they come out on Friday.
Tags: PerytonGamers D&D 4E Design
