Plaag wrote:It will be backward compatible with the 3.5 rules..so anything they write regarding Pathfinder RPG can still be played using the WotC 3.x rules.  Also they are keeping everything 3.5 till August 2009 when they do intend to fully jump into their rule set (Pathfinder #25 iirc).  For now it is just Alpha and then Beta testing projects.  Nothing in print, some scenarios for the Society - (play testing section/group) will be PDF.

ShaneG.

A small correction and germane to my point, their GOAL is to keep it backward compatible with 3.5. That doesn't mean it necessarily will be. The alpha rules already have some concerning things that might have one question if they can maintain that goal.

It is not a forgone conclusion by any means. They still have over a year before final release, and the internets haven't begun to war over things, we are still in the honeymoon phase of this announcement.

This is going to be a very difficult endeavor, I'm glad I'm not principally in charge of delivering on it.

Another what-if future product they'll never actually make: The D&D 2009 Jade Anniversary Boxed Set. Seriously, 35th anniversaries are supposed to be jade, I looked it up on Wikipedia. Or coral.

The Silver Anniversary box gave us facsimile modules & the '77 blue book, plus a history of TSR. Nowadays an update would obviously have to be named D&D as TSR is no more.

Silver was mostly 1st ed. AD&D, this one should be more Basic/OD&D-centric. Eric Holmes' blue book is in my view the all-time definitive version of the game, & for the Silver designers apparently it was as well.

So it should be again, except this time instead of exact facsimiles, the books should mix it up a little. Give the rulebook cover the color painting which originally appeared on the box. Add bits & pieces from OD&D & even Chainmail.

Recent D&D basic boxes have been about the size & shape of Mattel's '81 D&D Computer Labyrinth Game. The Jade Anniversary Box should be an updated pastiche of it. Sucky game, great dragon on the box illustration.

The dice should include no 10-sider or D20, just a 20-sider labeled 1-10 twice. Sure it would be a little confusing to the consumer, but like Silver, playability is less important than the weird old stuff.

The minis should be in the modern D&D mini format, with designs drawn from the old logos & woodgrain cover: multiple Swiss-halberd-bearing lizardmen, a wizard with upturned wand & pointy hat, & the horseman they stole from Dr. Strange. Hopefully the Beautiful Witch & Amazon too.

The module- orange B3, what else? The classic editions had B1, B2, now it's it's time for the world to see the 'questionable artwork.' Perhaps such a thing would draw in curiosity-seekers to buy the set. As with the rulebook, it shouldn't be an exact copy of the original, but should have parts added from similar classics, such as a couple of Monster/Treasure lists & Geomorphs.

bbarsh wrote:However, the d20 is labeled 0-9 --     I still enjoy watching people's reaction when I roll 1-20 using a d20 (numbered 0-9) and a d6. They either think you are cheating somehow, or you are from Mars..

Yeah that's right, they're hard to keep straight. Even in the modern era there is confusion over that- if you accidently pick up the ones'-place percentile die instead of the true D10 & roll zero, does that mean your 2-handed sword just did 0 damage instead of 10?

Once in a I game was using a D20 to roll 1-10. Pretty simple concept it would seem, but another player thought I was using it as 1-2 = 1, 3-4 = 2, etc. The DM had to stop the game for a minute to explain dice history.

Then there were the dice labeled 0-9, plus +0-+9. I assume +4 meant 14, but after all these years I'm still just guessing.

next post

sleepyCO wrote:

I THOUGHT there were d20's with "0"-"9"  and "+0"-"+9" on them--someone said on another thread that those didn't exist when I mentioned I remember seeing them in our games, back at the end of the 1970's!

There are also one's just labeled 0-9 twice as well.

I think I still have gobs of each buried somewhere in a box in my garage. =)

Busman wrote:
There are also one's just labeled 0-9 twice as well.

I think I still have gobs of each buried somewhere in a box in my garage. =)

Those are the only d20s in my mind. Low impact - who cares. So what if it rolls for two days before stopping...

Anyway, those are dice we are talking about. The read d20!

sauromatian wrote:

Dude, keep quiet! Those are the dice whose existence we gamers conceal from the outside world, as they are used in genuine Satanic practices to bring us great power.

(groan!)  I thought we had left THAT mess behind in the 1980's!

sauromatian wrote:A few posts back on this thread, I wrote about a nostalgia-themed set I'd like to see WotC make, similar to the Silver Anniversary Set & the recent hardback giftbook. Here are a few additions to those ideas, with reasons why the publishers might actually want to do it.

Firstly, to capitalize on their nearly four decades of back product. RPG collectors aren't a huge part of the market, but big enough for a boxed set or two. We're the dudes who obsess over auctions & used-book store crawls, but there's got to be many times our number with enough casual interest to buy a new product available anywhere.

Secondly, there's the market of gamers who may be expected to ignore the forthcoming fourth edition. As evinced by most of this thread, they play some other edition & have no plans to adopt the new.

The core volume for this nostaglia set should be the 1977 blue book updated to reflect 4e rules, retaining Holmes' text otherwise. The miniatures should be based on classic illustrations, but should include current D&D minis cards. Those who either play or collect the old stuff, or just dimly remember it, would be drawn in to the publisher's modern products.

The map should be based on the old Greyhawk poster. Major sites from the classic modules are marked. The world reflects the nebulous pre-Mystara times when basic D&D modules were given Greyhawk locations, so the temple of the Frog & the keep on the Borderlands are there too. Streetmaps of Blackmoor village & Greyhawk city are on the map's reverse side.

The rule book includes a slightly revised reproduction of the Outdoor Survival part of OD&D, plus very abbreviated rules for OS itself. The Greyhawk map is marked with the necessary icons for Lord's castles, Cleric's, etc, & the artwork is adjusted to accommodate the game. As per OD&D, the jousting rules from Chainmail are also included with the OS section.

Honestly, it sounds like something no one would want. Old timers don't want new rules, new timers don't want old art and certainly don't want Outdoor Survival or Chainmail jousting. It seems like a Frankenstein's monster of stuff (all of the bad parts from todays rules combines with all of the bad art of yesterday's games and spiced in with some of the worst rules of the past as well). Plus, they already did Holmes in the 25th box.

Look at the 25th Anni. for something that works well. A good solid reprint of stuff from the past. Let those who didn't see the past get a chance to see it in new form. Let those who have the nostalgia relive it. Through in a nice solid remembrance of EGG and I think you have a winner.

jasonw1239 wrote:
Chick Publications is still promoting the "satanic" view of Dungeons & Dragons on their web site.

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp

I would love to get a copy of that tract.  Unfortunately it's out of print and so they seem to only be available by special order and sure don't need 10,000 of them.