Tuesday, January 10, 2012

5e D&D: Country and Western?

There seems to be a lot of buzz and optimism in the old-school role-playing community about the newly announced 5th edition of D&D.  Not having played the 3rd or 4th editions, I can't say too much about where this train is heading.  However, I do worry that some people are building up hopes that 5e will be somehow "OSR-friendly."  That's one way to interpret statements like those of Mike Mearls:
...a rule set that enables players of all types and styles to play a D&D game together by taking the best of each edition and getting at the soul of what D&D is.
Yeah, but it all depends on what you think the "best" aspects are, or were.  I have a feeling it will end up like that scene from the Blues Brothers...


Oh, don't worry.  We've got both kinds of music here: Country AND Western.  You can use any kind of battlemat you want: squares OR hexes.  You can advance to godhood via an Epic Destiny OR a series of Adventure Paths.  See, all of your options are covered.

Apologies for the sarcasm and/or being a wet blanket, but I think cynicism (or at least extreme caution) is warranted here.

4 comments:

  1. Kinda the way I fill, I keep trying to be positive but I can't help but roll my eyes over the whole situation.

    ERIC!

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  2. I may not speak the depth or level of nerd-dom which passes for common knowledge around here, but I am a familiar in other ways. Saw you on the A to Z challenge and found the illustration portrait quite lovely. Consider me a new reader... even if it's all Ludi to me.
    WTF is that? Like Ludites? But we are on a computer. Perhaps you ride a horse to the market, instead of a rocketship.. Perchance to speculate?

    See ya,
    Violet @ Revolution ~ Evolution

    P.S. I mean no harm in the usage of nerd or dork. i am proud to be one.

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  3. No problem! One of my most-used subject tags for posts is called "unbridled geekdom!" :-)

    Despite being unbridled, I don't ride horses... though it's an interesting balance to be a fan of the past (fantasy genre) and the future (sci-fi) at the same time. "Servitor Ludi" is Latin for "Servant of the Game," btw, which was an inside joke about Hermann Hesse's novel that's titled "Magister Ludi" (see my About the Blog post, too).

    Welcome!

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