Category Archives: talk

How Bad Is the New Wizards D&D 4e Game System License?

Posted on June 25, 2008 | 10 comments

Well, I wrote about its flaws. But don’t take my word for it. Many every respected game designer/indie game companies are looking at this and seeing a barrel of suck pointed right at them.

Sean K. Reynolds is pretty direct about how sad and restrictive it is.

Highmoon Media says it sucks and won’t be using it.

Postmortem Studios sees a lot of problems with it and has a cartoon equating it to … Well, you’re going to have to go see for yourself, but think “anal.”

Paizo Publishing is very happy they decided to jump ship early.

Wolfgang Baur notes that the GSL is “terrible” for Kobold Quarterly

Green Ronin is debating what to do, but is clearly disappointed in the friendliness of the GSL. [Update: They rejected it.]

Kenzer & Co is going to avoid 4e.

Mongoose Publishing plans on some 4e support, but the inability to publish any 4e articles in their Signs & Portents magazine is a wrinkle.

Post more statements from game designers/companies in the Comments section as you run across them!

10 Comments

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , , ,

The Failure of Gleemax

Posted on June 22, 2008 | 6 comments

Over at ENWorld, MerricB talks about Gleemax, the new Wizards of the Coast social software endeavor, and how bad it is, all its promises having become a gaping hole of suck. 

The new “D&D Insider” is clearly heading the same way.  This was supposed to be a lynchpin of D&D 4e, combining character builder, online reference library, online play, Dungeon Magazine, and Dragon Magazine for the not-so-low price of $14.95/month.  I find it entertaining that if you google for D&D Insider you get a link to a page that just throws a 500 error.  Oh, that looks like it’s all of Wizards’ site right now.  Sigh.  Anyway, in short they haven’t delivered on any of it yet, and only those unfamiliar with TSR/Wizards’ history with electronic products for D&D could ever think they would – they’ve screwed up every stab at it, ever.  The previews of online play have been uninspiring, their character builder looks awful, and their licensing etc. schemes are all half-baked and annoying.

6 Comments

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , , , ,

Mongoose Wikiing Up Their OGC

Posted on June 22, 2008 | 3 comments

Via Trollsmyth comes the news that Mongoose Publishing is talking about putting together a wiki where all the OGC from their products can be placed for use by gamers well into the future.  Kudos to them, it’s a great move!  (Now when’s the Traveller SRD going to be online?)

3 Comments

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , ,

Postmortem Studios Discusses What the GSL Means to Them

Posted on June 22, 2008 | Leave a comment

Postmortem Studios, a gaming company, has a couple interesting bits of info on their analysis of Wizards’ new D&D 4e Game System License (GSL) and what it means to a company like theirs.

They have a bunch of different bits, all posted on their blog, including a good summary of the GSL, broken down into “What I must do,” “What I can do,” and “What I can’t do” lists and an entertaining cartoon comparing the OGL, d20 STL, and new GSL in terms we can all understand (NSFW).

It’s an interesting read, because you can see how most of a company’s game lines can run afoul of one clause or another in the new GSL, making it impossible or very undesirable to move them to the new edition.  In Postmortem’s case, many of their products either a) redefine classes/mechanics from 3e, which is forbidden by GSL, b) run afoul of the decency clause, c) have good ongoing OGL sales, or d) are things like settings which once GSL licensed are “poisoned” from ever going OGL.  Good work Wizards, your new license is as harmful as you had hoped. 

Leave a comment

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , ,

The GSL Is Finally Released

Posted on June 18, 2008 | 5 comments

So even though I’m on vacation, I can’t help but post that the new D&D 4e Game System License (the license they’re using instead of the old OGL for 4e) has been released.  Here it is! 

There’s a bunch of downloadable docs; the GSL itself, the new SRD (system reference document), and more.  Here’s the summary of each.

GSL – You have to send in an “acceptance card” to use the license.  No products to be published before October 1.  The license can be changed at will by Wizards.  You have to use their new logo on licensed products.

Licensed products may NOT  be any of the following: web sites, minis, character creators, “interactive products,” reprint any material from the books (so no “power cards”), refer to any imagery or artwork, or be incorporated into anything not fully licensed – so no magazine articles!  That last one is a bit of an unpleasant surprise, I guess it’s a play to make people still use Dragon and Dungeon despite their “high-tech” ghettoization onto Wizards’ site.  Death to fanzines!  And Kobold Quarterly, and…

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , , , ,

Vacation!

Posted on June 18, 2008 | Leave a comment

Sorry things have been quiet here, but I’m on vacation!  I’m taking a well deserved week of relaxation on the beach, and then right after that will be busy at a convention (work, not gaming; the new Velocity Web performance and operations conference, where I’ll be speaking on a panel about Web performance metrics).  I’ll be back with more 4e analysis (DMG’s next), session summaries, and general RPG related info late next week.  In the meantime, good gaming!

Leave a comment

Posted in talk

Is D&D 4e Really Role-playing?

Posted on June 12, 2008 | 87 comments

There’s a lot of discussion about this all over the place. I hesitate to answer, but I would like to shed some light on some of the terminology in use and mention some bits where I think people may be being unclear.

According to the old Threefold Model, which is a seminal attempt at theoretically classifying approaches to roleplaying, there are three (natch): Gamism, Simulationism (or Immersion), and Dramatism (or Narrativism).  Usually people don’t come purely from one approach or the other but some mix of them, although you usually see consistent leanings into one of the three approaches.  Would you like to know more?

“Gamist” usually means a focus on playing the game for the rules, with clear challenges and victory conditions and metagame goals. Often in games this means combat, but skill and interaction events are also gamist if pursued with a “rules first” mentality. Some people like the gamist approach. Gamism is what people are complaining about when they say “D&D 4e plays like Magic/RoboRally/a board game/a tactical minis game/etc.” Gamists like to “do what will win.” People don’t use the old terms “munchkin” or “powergamer” much any more, but they were deprecating ways of referring to gamists, since they worried about their character’s build or loot more than a realistic in-game motivation.

“Simulationist” usually means a focus on “becoming” the character inside a realistic game world. RPGers like to use the big word “versimilitude,” which means “Yes I know magic isn’t ‘realistic,’ but the game world can still behave realistically according to its own rules from its inhabitants’ point of view.” Simulationists like to “do what their character would do.” Metagaming, or making decisions about what the character does using information not obvious to the character, is heavily frowned upon. D&D was extremely simulationist (with a side plate of gamist) up through 3e; a lot of the reaction to 4e is its movement in the other directions.

Continue reading →

87 Comments

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

4e PHB Readthrough – Chapter 10: Rituals

Posted on June 11, 2008 | 5 comments

Finally we reach the last chapter in our Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition Player’s Handbook readthrough with rituals.

Rituals is a new thing for 4e.  Because the old spellcasting system has been retired and what are called “spells” now are really just powers like any other class’ powers, a lot of old effects didn’t really fit in the powers system.  These range from the more-utility-than-utility like Arcane Lock to the old favorite Raise Dead, to magic item crafting.

Rituals are found in books or scrolls, like spells in older editions.  But you don’t have to be a spellcaster per se to use them, you just need the Ritual Caster feat (and that’s only to do them from books; anyone can cast one from a scroll).  In general they take a while to cast and use up some kind of expensive component.  Rituals are lightly skill linked – some use a skill check to gain a better result, but many don’t really use or require the listed skill.  They have a minimum level needed to perform them.

I think rituals are pretty neat; they have the potential to make memorable effects (like Raise Dead) more memorable.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in reviews, talk

Tagged , , , ,

D&D 4e PHB FAQ, Updates, Etc.

Posted on June 11, 2008 | Leave a comment

To help you through the reorganization, here’s the new 4e PHB FAQ, oddly squirreled away in the Help section of the Wizards site, NOT in the main Products… FAQ section, which only has the old 3/3.5 FAQs.  Then, there’s a separate place where they’re posting PDF “Updates” to the books (a more positive way of saying “Errata.”   There’s 3 pages of PHB errata already!

Leave a comment

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , ,

Erick Wujcik Passes Away

Posted on June 10, 2008 | Leave a comment

Sadly, prolific game designer Erick Wujcik (Amber, TMNT, Rifts, etc.) has passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Our sympathies to his family and friends.  Read more.

Leave a comment

Posted in talk

Tagged , , , ,

4e PHB Readthrough – Chapter 9: Combat

Posted on June 9, 2008 | 7 comments

We’re closing in on the end of our chapter by chapter dissection of the Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition Player’s Handbook. This time – combat!

Much of this chapter is familiar to players of any edition of D&D; I’ll stress the differences (being an intro to D&D for noobs is beyond the scope of this readthrough). Most of it is familiar, only different in the fine implementation details. As we get started, everything sounds familiar:

  • Six second rounds.
  • Roll init once per combat. It’s d10 + 1/2 level + Dex mod.
  • Surprise round starts us off, and those surprised grant combat advantage.
  • Use miniatures! Especially D&D Minis!

Much of the meat here is in the definitions. 4e isn’t’ quite as “definition based” as Spycraft 2.0, which went from a good game to an exercise in tedium in one version, but it makes a stab at it – your old Magic: The Gathering playing skills will serve you well in terms of strict interpretation.

Continue reading →

7 Comments

Posted in reviews, talk

Tagged , , , ,

4e PHB Readthrough – Chapter 8: Adventuring

Posted on June 8, 2008 | 1 comment

After the awfulness that was the magic item section, we resume our readthrough of the new Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition Player’s Handbook.

The first section is “Quests.” These are the new way they’re factoring adventures, into multiple “quests,” where a quest has a goal and a reward. It refers to the DMG for more, but I don’t really like the MMORPGey feel – a player can propose a quest for the DM to vet to get a “stake in the campaigns’ unfolding story.” Maybe it’s grumpy grognard-itis, but I don’t recall my characters needing specific rewards offered to “find my mother’s remains in the Fortress of the Iron Ring.” I’ll withhold judgment till DMG readthrough time.

Next, they discuss encounters, artificially separating them into combat and noncombat types. This seems like an odd artificial distinction to me, but is apparently because the DMG has separate rules for “skill challenges”.

Experience points. They cap out at 1 million (30th level). Same deal as in all previous editions otherwise. Except that when you level you go “ding”, glow with yellow light, and immediately go to max hit points. (No, not really.)

Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in reviews, talk

Tagged , , ,