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>Character customization is very very low. You basically get a feat at 4rth level and the option to multi-class and that is it, otherwise pretty much every character is a cookie cutter of every other one, leading to lousy re-playability.

Know how I know you haven't read the PHB? Each race has two subraces. Each class has between 2 and 5 different 'kits' or archetypes. There are only like 10 feats (for now) but you have to give up your +2 (or 2x +1s) at various levels to get them. Multiclassing doesn't give you all the abilities of both classes. So a Fighter into Wizard has different abilities than a wizard into fighter. Backgrounds provided 2 skill (or tool) proficiencies and explicitly encourage the creation of new ones.

In short, if you end up playing the same wizard every game, that's your own stupid, uncreative, boring ass-fault.

> it is easily the least balanced edition.
Know how I know you never played 3.X?

Yeah. Casters still are gods (at high level). But they are smaller gods. Their spells scale like psionics (must used a higher level slot to get those /level effects). They get far fewer spells per day, topping out at 1 8th and 9th. The max 20 for stats means none of this casting stat of 40 bullshit. In short: casting is still quadratic, but the coefficient is much lower than in 3.x. So are wizard HP.

>And you need to buy a dead tree. Despite people wanting to throw money at WotC for a PDF, they won't release one. I guess they haven't heard of tablets yet.
Yeah. I'm totally sure they aren't trying to slow the pirates down but not packaging their new, highly in-demand product that their parent company is watching closely to see if they should just kill the brand off, up neat and nice for easy torrenting. At least scanning and OCRing in everything will take time.

I mean, it's not like they ever have put their books up as ebooks before. They certainly won't do it now.

5e is 2e flavor with 3.X math and E6 power levels. if you liked 3.X but hated that there were so many traps, this might be the edition for you. If you liked 4e, then no, you won't like 5e. Of course, you won't like anything that actually feels/plays like D&D either and should go back to playing WoW.

>> He's actively looking for games to publish.

I'd start by looking through http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/ - looks like there's plenty of off-brands that could use a push from a dedicated publisher.

>> Arrakeen Tactical

Always a good way to launch a for-profit brand: rip off a major desert+space+melee-combat science fiction franchise. Hope you cleared that with your attorney first...

Duh.. the crash of 2029 hasn't happened yet. That and a nasty patch of BlackIce fried my cyberdeck when I was doing a run against the Lone Star Security Services to free this rigger I need for another run.

Chummer.

Source book

Sheer stupidity.

You know TSR's old Planescape books? I bought about a half-dozen of them at $5 a pop. By removing the ability to get legal PDFs, they're pretty much removing any legal way to get access to these books at all. Many of them are so far out of print and in demand that they go for at least $80 on eBay.

Many people agree that this is just a first step before WotC opens up their own PDF store, using "piracy" as a good catchall excuse.

What's the response been with other companies?

Steve Jackson says: "BTW, to prevent people from sharing their books, SJG will no longer print books. All rules will be whispered to authorized customers."

White Wolf says: Get rid of PDFs? "'Quite the opposite,' says Eddy Webb, the Alternative Publishing Developer for White Wolf. 'I believe this is a growing market with potential we haven't yet had a chance to fully explore, both as publishers and as fans of role-playing games.' Eddy remarked that he has dozens of upcoming PDF-exclusive products on his schedule in addition to continuing to provide PDF versions of upcoming products, and that White Wolf is still actively looking into returning to the print-on-demand arena.

"To celebrate White Wolfâ(TM)s continuing devotion to PDF products and reward their growing, loyal fan base, the company is offering a free download of the Exalted Second Edition rulebook as well as a one-time 10% discount on the purchase of any White Wolf PDF titles through DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow.com from 1 Am Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Simply enter the coupon code 'wwlovesyou' to receive the discount."

See? That's a smart way to do business.

Fuck Wizards. Tons of companies are capitalizing on this bonehead move by offering discounts.

Hell, White Wolf is offering the Exalted core book for free until Saturday.

They are actually adapting.

Just yesterday I read an announcement about a new service called Drive Thru Comics. Like the interview, they're describing it in terms of iTMS.

Not surprisingly, it's mostly small-press, but there are at least some names I recognize.

I enjoyed the Lone Wolf books also. The world was really nice, and the powers were interesting. If you're still interested in Lone Wolf, an RPG has been published that uses the world and lore of Magnamund. You can purchase it here: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpg/series.php?q sSeries=24. Or it might be available in pdf from Drive Thru RPG.