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Commission by

This was Shanairra, the high elf mage.

(What follows is of likely little interest to those beyond my gaming group, but serves as something of an explanation, and a rant

I've also been ill since my birthday, feeling very down, and not in the mood to chat

This project felt kinda doomed from the start. About this time last year, I wrote some gushy articles about how I loved the new version of D&D and how I had my mojo back. All of that is true, and I still think it's the best version of the venerable game.

However, WotC have made the decision not to support the tabletop version. Long story short, they see it as a 'brand' which they will push as a minis game and computer games (all of which look horrible). The original idea was to release adventures along with player books with new rules, classes, races, etc. This seemed a good idea as they have 35+ years of legacy content and the design of 5th edition is deliberately modular.

Problem is, the player's books have been shelved before they even started. WotC have made layoffs of most of the tabletop staff, which is down to the bare-bones now.  In the year since the rules came out, there have been no products beyond fripperies like spell cards, sub-standard adventures made by third parties, and the (poorly-made) Kinder Surprise minis and a couple of bad computer games. A year in and there's no books, no sign of any to come, and no online character generator, which in 2015 is straight-up unforgivable. There are a couple of 'free pdfs' which aren't worth the paper they're not printed on - no new classes or any desire to make any.

To all intents and purposes, the new game - which I still think is terrific - is stillborn, and was made so deliberately, just as Essentials (which was a good system) was intended to mothball 4E.

So we had a bit of a meltdown in the gaming group. Few of them wished to play a game that would not be supported. So beyond a few sessions of creating characters, this project never got off the ground. Some of the ideas are presented here, just as eye-candy really, a hint of what might have been. If nothing else, Amberly really is a great artist.

So while the sci-fi games are going well, the Fantasy is on indefinite hold. My gaming group feels like some 70's super-group, torn asunder by egos and relationship pressures. A player I've known for 12 years has gone and won't return. Friendships have become strained. I don't think 5E's collapse caused this, but it didn't help, and the failure of a project like this takes its toll on everyone's commitment.

So we are at a bit of an impasse, with no real end in sight. D&D seems done, until WotC sell it to someone who cares. About half the players want to do Pathfinder, the other half don't. I myself strongly dislike 3.5, and while PF cleaned up some of that, it remains a clunky and unwieldy game with horrific system bloat and rules that are a total turn-off for me. The world in which it is set doesn't excite me, and if I was to GM it, I'd have to strip the entire system down and rebuild it from the ground up - and right now, I'm too tired, too sick and disillusioned to do that. Maybe if I'm feeling better AND have everyone on board.

Several of my players have bad experiences with Paizo. Their Forums seem to be unhelpful, filled with '4Evengers' who shout down critique and ultra-protective of their little fiefdom. While I've never spoken to him, James Jacobs who writes the game, seems to be a colossal tool. Does that matter? Gary Gygax was a colossal tool, and I played the hell out of AD&D anyway. Seriously, if a guy as opinionated as EGG had modern access to Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr, he'd have been absolutely insufferable. Didn't much matter - he made the game, and we played it, not him.

Add to that the sheer volume of product glut, the awkward, arcane rules and horribly backward games design for things like magic items, and the prospect of me GMing Pathfinder is... daunting, to say the least. I've always wanted to actually rewrite 3rd edition from the basic chassis, but that was when I felt stronger and more committed.

So, we shall see.

For now, at least we have eye-candy, and the thought of what may have been.

Description
Commission by

This was Shanairra, the high elf mage.

(What follows is of likely little interest to those beyond my gaming group, but serves as something of an explanation, and a rant

I've also been ill since my birthday, feeling very down, and not in the mood to chat

This project felt kinda doomed from the start. About this time last year, I wrote some gushy articles about how I loved the new version of D&D and how I had my mojo back. All of that is true, and I still think it's the best version of the venerable game.

However, WotC have made the decision not to support the tabletop version. Long story short, they see it as a 'brand' which they will push as a minis game and computer games (all of which look horrible). The original idea was to release adventures along with player books with new rules, classes, races, etc. This seemed a good idea as they have 35+ years of legacy content and the design of 5th edition is deliberately modular.

Problem is, the player's books have been shelved before they even started. WotC have made layoffs of most of the tabletop staff, which is down to the bare-bones now.  In the year since the rules came out, there have been no products beyond fripperies like spell cards, sub-standard adventures made by third parties, and the (poorly-made) Kinder Surprise minis and a couple of bad computer games. A year in and there's no books, no sign of any to come, and no online character generator, which in 2015 is straight-up unforgivable. There are a couple of 'free pdfs' which aren't worth the paper they're not printed on - no new classes or any desire to make any.

To all intents and purposes, the new game - which I still think is terrific - is stillborn, and was made so deliberately, just as Essentials (which was a good system) was intended to mothball 4E.

So we had a bit of a meltdown in the gaming group. Few of them wished to play a game that would not be supported. So beyond a few sessions of creating characters, this project never got off the ground. Some of the ideas are presented here, just as eye-candy really, a hint of what might have been. If nothing else, Amberly really is a great artist.

So while the sci-fi games are going well, the Fantasy is on indefinite hold. My gaming group feels like some 70's super-group, torn asunder by egos and relationship pressures. A player I've known for 12 years has gone and won't return. Friendships have become strained. I don't think 5E's collapse caused this, but it didn't help, and the failure of a project like this takes its toll on everyone's commitment.

So we are at a bit of an impasse, with no real end in sight. D&D seems done, until WotC sell it to someone who cares. About half the players want to do Pathfinder, the other half don't. I myself strongly dislike 3.5, and while PF cleaned up some of that, it remains a clunky and unwieldy game with horrific system bloat and rules that are a total turn-off for me. The world in which it is set doesn't excite me, and if I was to GM it, I'd have to strip the entire system down and rebuild it from the ground up - and right now, I'm too tired, too sick and disillusioned to do that. Maybe if I'm feeling better AND have everyone on board.

Several of my players have bad experiences with Paizo. Their Forums seem to be unhelpful, filled with '4Evengers' who shout down critique and ultra-protective of their little fiefdom. While I've never spoken to him, James Jacobs who writes the game, seems to be a colossal tool. Does that matter? Gary Gygax was a colossal tool, and I played the hell out of AD&D anyway. Seriously, if a guy as opinionated as EGG had modern access to Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr, he'd have been absolutely insufferable. Didn't much matter - he made the game, and we played it, not him.

Add to that the sheer volume of product glut, the awkward, arcane rules and horribly backward games design for things like magic items, and the prospect of me GMing Pathfinder is... daunting, to say the least. I've always wanted to actually rewrite 3rd edition from the basic chassis, but that was when I felt stronger and more committed.

So, we shall see.

For now, at least we have eye-candy, and the thought of what may have been.