First bits and pieces of a 5e Majestic Wilderlands

Primarily I am doing this for when I run the Majestic Wilderlands using the 5e rules. Since I got this published book with everything nice and summarized. So I figured lets see how it works with 5e. It not like 4e were I have to come up with an equivalent of a Magic the Gathering card set (4e powers) to make a class.

So here is the result

The first class converted was the first class in the book, the Berserker. Wizards had a Berserker sub class for the Barbarian. Much of this duplicates that combination. But I went through and modified things here and there to turn it into a holy warrior from Thor whose orders are to kick some monster ass.

Also I though about the formatting and decided that it would be me more useful if I start at the beginning and list everything in order of level. 

The second is a reskin of the Monk-Way of the Shadow. If you read the account of my last 5e session you know that +Rhandom A's character Squirrel died. When we talked about a new character he was torn between playing a Halfling and a Monk. I said "Why not both." We brainstormed together and the result is the Halfling Shadow. Now there is nothing different mechanically between this and the PHB Monk. But by rewording everything, Josh and I found that was resulted was something altogether different then the Mystical Ninja of the PHB Shadow Monk.

So enjoy and I am interested in feedback especially in the format. Hopefully Wizards has a generous third party license and by this time next year you will all have Majestic Wilderlands for 5e in your hands.

D&D Next, Monte Cook, and all that

I been outed several times by several individuals as being part of the D&D Next Playtest so it is a bit of an open secret. I can't comment about the mechanics of the rules. It is hard to find anything concrete to say because of the NDA. Hence the lack of blog posts.

But now the pot stirred up again with the resignation of Monte Cook and the Mike Mearls announcement that the D&D Next public playtest will commence on May 24th. 

Of the two the latter I think is more important as finally people will be have something concrete to talk about.  While I appreciate the passion that went into the various Wizards columns, they are so vague that people are reading whatever they want to see in them. With the a public playtest the conversations can be based on something concrete.

As for Monte Cook resigning I wish him the best of luck. I don't have any insider information to share.

So while I can't comment about the mechanics, I do have some observations to share about my experience with the playtest.

1) The initial playtest was a complete game. It definitely not the complete D&D Next rules. It covered basically what the older edition basic set covered. 

2) They have elements from nearly edition but D&D Next its own thing.
3) There is one new element that I really like and I think that will be the element that defines D&D Next.
4) The playtesters have only seen the core of the game so far.
5) I had no problem running the D&D Next playtest the same way I run my Swords & Wizardry/ Majestic Wilderlands campaigns.
6) Everybody will find something to complain about in the rules. It won't be what they are complaining about now.


And the most important observation, it was a lot of fun to play!


So hopefully the open playtest will allow us to speak more freely. At which point I should have some things to share.

Unifying the Editions

Monte Cook has a new article are on Unifying the Editions.

Of interest to me is this comment.

That's something that we're working on right now. But some of the answers are obvious. Six ability scores ranging from 3 to 18. Fighters, clerics, wizards, and rogues. (Or, if you prefer, fighting-men, clerics, magic-users, and thieves.) Character levels. Experience points. Rolling a d20 to attack. Magic missiles. Fireballs. Hold person. And so on.

In effect, what you end up with is a fully playable game with its own style. Think of it this way: It would be wrong to say that there is no inherent D&D style that carries across the nearly forty-year lifespan of the game. What you really end up with, in this approach, is a game that ends up looking—not coincidentally—like original D&D. Not entirely, of course, and not precisely, but close. It's a game that captures the feel of OD&D.

  Of course this not exactly new news as the authors of the various retro-clones like OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry, or Labyrinth Lord can tell you. But it heartening to see that the core version of D&D Next may wind up something that looks like one of the OSR retro-clones. That would mean an expanded audience for everybody in the OSR as it would be way easier to leap into playing a older edition from those rules than it would be if all you experienced was D&D 4th edition.

And even if D&D Next didn't wind up looking like a OSR retro clone, the attention to old style D&D gaming will prove beneficial to the OSR in the long run.

I will report any details as soon as it is allowed.

From the Attic: Why D&D is the way it is; The Different Versions

Wizards is getting the word out that a major goal of the new edition is to reunite the D&D fan base. I figure it would be useful to list all the distinct versions of D&D that are out there. This list focuses on those games released by TSR/Wizards.

Chainmail Fantasy Supplement in 1971
Original Dungeons & Dragons published in 1974
Supplement I Greyhawk published in 1975
added rules made Dungeons & Dragon into a form we recognize today.
Basic Dungeons & Dragons by Holmes in 1977
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons in 1977-1979
Basic/Expert Dungeons & Dragons by Moldavy/Cook in 1981
Basic/Expert/Companion/Master/Immortal Dungeons & Dragons by Mentzer in 1983.
Unearthed Arcana for AD&D in 1985, Some say that this made AD&D 1.5
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition in 1989
Rules Cyclopedia for Dungeons & Dragons in 1991,  A one book compilation of Mentzer's BECM D&D, some consider this the definitive version of the original Dungeons & Dragons line.
Skills & Powers for AD&D 2nd edition.  Some say that this made a AD&D 2.5
Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 in 2000
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 in 2003
Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 in 2008
Dungeons & Dragons Essentials in 2010. Some say that this made a D&D 4.5