in case you missed..

Hoard of the Dragon Queen Autographed Edition EXCLUSIVE at the Kobold Store /  Kobold Press

If you've paid attention to the Dungeons & Dragons news over the past couple of weeks, you know that Kobold Press designed two adventures to support the upcoming Tyranny of Dragons storyline—Hoard of the Dragon Queen (out in August) and The Rise of Tiamat (October). These adventures are the first to work with the new D&D rules set.

Now we're happy to announce a special exclusive: You can pre-order Hoard of the Dragon Queen Autographed Edition right here at the Kobold Store! This signed edition comes with a special commemorative patch and is available only via pre-order until August 10. After that, any remaining copies go on sale at the Kobold Press booth 2537 at Gen Con.


Brette:)

The new Basic D&D (core rules) is out as a free pdf, just in time for the holiday weekend:

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx ... basicrules

Wait, you already have them in your hands???  Thought they weren't shipping until next week...  wha?

*** Edited:  Ah, official release date was July 3rd, thought Amazon's ship date was the release date... my mistake. ***

~throwi

throwi wrote in D&D New Release?:Wait, you already have them in your hands???  Thought they weren't shipping until next week...  wha?

*** Edited:  Ah, official release date was July 3rd, thought Amazon's ship date was the release date... my mistake. ***

~throwi

Yeah, there's a comic book shop here that's part of the WoTC network, or whatever they call it.  They had them on the shelves on the 3rd.

I am not sure what WotC is releasing at GC, but I will be there Friday - Sunday. If anyone wants anything, let me know. I am not playing in any events or doing much else other than wandering the dealer hall, hanging in the auction and meeting up with whoever I see.

Invincible Overlord wrote in D&D New Release?:I got to play a slot Friday morning at Gencon to try out 5th Edition, and I have to say that I had fun.

The ruleset plays easily and the DM ran the event smoothly. It helps that there were a few old LC (Living City) players at the table that I remember from 20 years ago.

I'll play it again.

Would it be okay to ask you to share any details about the system that stood out to you?
Any huge changes from AD&D or 3.5 that you really noticed?
What did you like most about it?

I'm very curious to hear more from someone who actually played a session of this.

Agent Cooper wrote in D&D New Release?:Would it be okay to ask you to share any details about the system that stood out to you?
Any huge changes from AD&D or 3.5 that you really noticed?
What did you like most about it?

I'm very curious to hear more from someone who actually played a session of this.

First off the D&D 5e Basic rules are freely available on Wizard's web site. The rules are the full game, just not the full range of options. The Basic rules by itself feel and reads a lot like a OSR retroset particularly like the ones that use newer mechanics but with an older balance. Notably Castles & Crusades and Blood & Treasure are the two most similar to 5e.

D&D 5e has options for customizing characters but it is not as extensive as 3.X. Feats are an option. If you don't use them character get to increase their abilities by two every four levels. If you do using this, they are a collection of specific benefits and don't chain together the way 3.X does.

The Classes are about as complex and detailed as AD&D's most detailed classes like the Druid, Bard, and Monk. The main difference that every class has similar range of option.

However THE thing that 5e does differently is bounded accuracy. This will either make or break the game for a fan of classic edition. Everything else is not drastically different.

What is bounded accuracy? Basically bonuses, and armor class are on a flat scale. If something has a hide as tough as plate then it will get the AC of plate mail. Regardless if it is a orc chieftain or a adult dragon. Bonuses generally top out at +12 from all sources at 20th level.

Higher level characters and monsters are tougher because they do more damage, in more ways, and more quicker than lower level characters/monsters. And higher levels characters/monsters have way more hit points.

A high level party can die from a horde of kobolds through attribution. And the kobold will have more than a 5% chance of scoring hit even on a character with maxed out magic items, spells, and equipment.

This make the power curve of 5e very different than any previous edition except for core book only OD&D.

I have some actual play reports here.

Session 1
Bat in the Attic: A near party kill, a D&D 5e tale.

Session 2
Bat in the Attic: They (only) made it to the Goblin Cave, another D&D 5e tale.

Session 3
Bat in the Attic: The D&D 5e story continues, Conquest of the Goblin Hideout

Session 4
Bat in the Attic: Where is Glasstaff? The 5e adventure continues.

I find it interesting that the mechanic that most people talk about and like (advantage/disadvantage) is a newish concept... so when they say it plays more like 1e than 4e, I'm a bit stumped.  Especially when 1/2lings got this 2 die roll mechanic in 4e.

And last I checked, the higher armor class was harder to hit in 5e.  That doesn't sound like 1e.  

But I'm a fire-starter, I like all the editions to some degree and have favorites for various reasons, and like to start and flame the edition-war arguements.  

Seriously though, not seeing how 5e is closer to 1e than 4e...  Maybe faster play than 4e but nothing that makes me feel like the 1980s again.

~throwi

I played one of the WOTC-sponsored 5e games at Gen Con.  To put it mildly, I'm pretty much only old school.  I never played 2d Edition, much less 3.0, 3.5 or 4e.  Because of that I certainly can't compare 5e to 4e.  But I can compare it to AD&D.

I'll go into a few specific details, but for me, it isn't the mechanic that matters as much as the feel.  5e feels like a role-playing game to me, not miniatures.  You ask the DM, "can I . . ."   For some things, there's a specific class skill; just like 1e.  Otherwise, the DM generally says, roll a d20 and let's see.  In my AD&D games, I've always used house rules for things like that, asking the player to roll against their stat, sometimes with a level bonus.  5e simply makes that part of the rules, and in a pretty natural -- and consistent -- way.  Damage -- both delivered and received -- seemed very similar to 1e.  No massive amounts of damage done by or to the party.  While feats are included as an option, they take up a total of five pages of the whole PH, and can easily be ignored.  

The real difference is that 5e uses a general principle for all actions.  You're always rolling d20, adding and subtracting modifiers, and comparing it to a number you need to get to.  Whether it's jumping a chasm, breaking down a door, picking a lock, or making a saving throw.  AD&D, of course, had unique tables that Gary invented as he went along; so rangers have a fixed percentage chance to track, no matter their level; while thieves have a specific table of percentages to accomplish their actions which do increase by level.  Is that system charming?  For those who grew up on it, sure.  And we all know which page to find each table on in each book.  But I don't think that ad hoc tables are the key to old school role-playing.  If that were the case, then we would all be playing Rolemaster.

Specifics?

Races:  the standard ones are there.  Each one, including, sub-races, has certain bonuses to stats.  That's like 1e.  They do have "dragonborn" and "tieflings," but say they are optional and will only be in certain DM's worlds.  I'm not put off by including them as options, since I can ignore them.

Classes:  the basic 1e classes are there.  Instead of a thief, there's a rogue.  And the magic-user has been divided into three classes, a sorcerer, a warlock and a wizard.  But otherwise, it's all familiar.

There are certain benefits that accrue to each class as higher levels are achieved.  That's straight 1e, except that it's done more or less the same way for each class, rather than the ad hoc way 1e works.

AC is ascending, not descending.  But that's never been a big deal for me.  Combat felt very 1e.  You roll initiative.  You move up to your movement rate.  You attack, and then you are attacked.  On to the next round.  No crazyquilt of skills and superpowers.  5e does include the ability to regain hits through short or long rests, which results in substantially faster restoration of hits than 1e.  But I'm not so sure that the real old school pattern -- enter dungeon; fight one monster; take scads of damage; flee dungeon one hour after entering; go to town and heal for a week; re-enter dungeon and repeat -- was all that much of a great thing.

Combat was pretty much as fast and simple as 1e.  There was room for improvisation, without a rule for each action you might want to attempt.  You want to try something?  Ask the DM, and make a roll.

5e uses a modified Vancian system.  You have a fixed number of spell slots per day, but you can use any combination of the spells you know, up to those slots.  In my most recent campaign, that's exactly the system we introduced, rather than standard 1e.  So I'm obviously fine with that.

Needless to say, 5e is not AD&D reorganized.  But it is a clean, pretty simple system, which uses the same principle for most actions, and isn't bound by rules for everything.  In the game I played, it served its purpose:  it provided a system for a group of players to role-play an adventure; and the adventure was the focus, not the rules system.