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5th Edition of Dungeons & Dragons Announced

Posted by Soulskill on from the roll-for-fan-support-initiative dept.

New submitter lrsach01 writes "Wizards of the Coast has announced a 'new iteration' of their Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Early information says the game will be more inclusive, with a basic rule set that 'builds out.' This Spring, WotC will be 'conducting ongoing open playtests with the gaming community to gather feedback on the new iteration of the game as we develop it.'"

6 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. exponential version growth by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Informative

    1974 - First edition
    1989 - Second edition
    2000 - Third edition
    2008 - Forth edition
    2012 - Fifth edition

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
    1. Re:exponential version growth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      You forgot edition 3.5, with all new rulebooks in 2003.

    2. Re:exponential version growth by jollyreaper · · Score: 4, Informative

      Ah, that takes me back. I was such a pathetic nerd as a kid that I used to buy all the D&D guides and modules and read them even though I didn't have any friends to actually play it with. If there were any other kids at my school into D&D back in those early days, they certainly would never have publicly admitted it. I remember watching the movie Taps [wikipedia.org], and seeing the scene where the cadets are playing D&D and being so jealous that they had other people to play with.

      Yeah. When other geeks would complain about only having their geek friends at school for company I was always like wow, I'm so jealous of your life. The only place I found fellow geeks was on the local BBS'. Yes, there were a number of us in the same area code but we didn't go to the same schools.

      --
      Kwisatz Haderach
      Sell the spice to CHOAM
      This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
    3. Re:exponential version growth by tilante · · Score: 5, Informative
      Umm, actually...

      1974 - Original D&D
      1977-9 - First Edition AD&D
      1985 - "Unearthed Arcana" - extensive changes and expansions to AD&D - arguably "AD&D 1.5"
      1989 - Second Edition AD&D
      1995-6 - "Skills & Powers", "Combat & Tactics", "Spells & Magic" - arguably "AD&D 2.5"
      2000 - Third Edition AD&D, "A" is dropped for marketing reasons
      2003 - 3.5 Edition AD&D
      2008 - 4th Edition AD&D
      2010-1 - "D&D Essentials" - arguably "AD&D 4.5"

      However, during the 80s and early 90s, TSR also kept developing "D&D" as a separate system, separated for legal reasons. This version is often called "Basic D&D".

      1977 - First Edition BD&D
      1981 - Second Edition BD&D
      1983-5 - Third Edition BD&D
      1991 - Fourth Edition BD&D

      Thus, new D&D rule sets came out the fastest during the late '70s and early '80s, but the average time period between new rule revisions has been 5 years or so. AD&D now moves faster, thanks to the dropping of the "BD&D" line in the '90s. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition AD&D were all announced 2-3 years before they actually came out. I'd expect to see 5th edition actually coming out late in 2013 at earliest.

    4. Re:exponential version growth by Kiffer · · Score: 4, Informative

      I have a copy of (most of) 0th edition at home (the "little brown books" that came out before Basic).

      And if it's made from animal hide, it's vellum, not parchment.

      parchment = skin (of various animals).
      vellum = high quality skin (of various animals).

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parchment
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vellum

  2. Re:Pathfinder driven? by Ian_Bailey · · Score: 3, Informative

    While the PDF is not free, the core content is freely available on the Internet as a "Reference Document" under the terms of the Open Game License. Paizo hosts all of the details from most of their books themselves (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/), but there are many other websites that reproduce and compile details from different sources, including third party content (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ is one).

    Under the terms of the license, all of the core rules can be re-packaged and sold in your own game. Only the proper names unique to the Pathfinder setting (characters, deities, etc) are copyrighted and cannot be used.