Ok I watched Chris Perkins DM DnD next on youtube. Observations:

Ok I watched Chris Perkins DM DnD next on youtube. Observations:

Ok I watched Chris Perkins DM DnD next on youtube. Observations:

-No grid.

-Stat checks done with base base modifiers, not skill modifiers.

-Very narrative driven. In fact drama and awesomeness seemed to trump rules.

Now I havent read the Next rules at all, but it seems DnD is moving back to its roots?

Or am I wrong? I am somewhat stoked to get my hands in it.

9 thoughts on “Ok I watched Chris Perkins DM DnD next on youtube. Observations:”

  2. I’ve played Next for about 7 sessions now. It can support that kind of play, but it doesn’t prompt that kind of play.

    Case in point: Friday night, in our pirate game, we spent 30 minutes of real time rolling Climb checks to just f-ing climb the rigging as part of our daily tasks.  Every one of us, including the monk (the MONK!) fell down from ~25 feet and took damage. Which we then slept off before our boarding action the following day. The consequences? Our cleric was down 1 spell.

    It wasn’t completely the system’s fault, and that kind of thing could have happened in a poorly run game of DW too. But DW’s 7-9 results and GM moves and narrative triggers to the moves would have at least given us the prompts avoid that bullshit.

    D&D Next won’t get in your way very much if you and your group already play the way that Chris Perkins demonstrated. But it won’t get you there the way DW does.

  3. I think dnd next is going to try and straddle different methodologies that appeal to a wider audience. want to handle it more narratively you can do that…want to have a battle grid and use tactics more like a board game you can do that too. how it will be executed…who knows.

    The thing that makes me favor DW over DnD and most other games is the speed in which I can prepare for a game or get new players comfortable with the game. These days my time is limited and I don’t have days and days to craft a adventure out with all the mechanics that some rpg’s require, instead I can focus on the story and the narrative that is presented to the players.. It also has enough “DnD-ness” to it that I can easily relate DW to their past experiences and hit the ground running.

  4. Tim Franzke Nothing. 🙂

    Except that I know some people here are interested in Next and may have an opinion on it. And I value the opinions of the Taverners.

  7. Yeah, it’s kind of underwhelming in my experience. It’s essentially just a slightly lighter 3E. That makes it easier to play narrative/narration heavy games, but it doesn’t really do anything to support or encourage them like Dungeon World. (Or 13th Age, or anything else being released these days)

    Partly it’s just hard to get excited about the fourth iteration of what’s essentially the same ruleset (3.0 –> 3.5 –> Pathfinder –> 5E), but it really just seems like they’re applying effort to the wrong parts of the game to effect meaningful change. And even the parts they are changing they’re limiting to the tiniest of tweaks. In terms of sports aphorisms, they’re really playing to not-lose rather than playing to win, and the result is as expected — timid, flaccid, and disappointing all around.

  8. Since 1996 I played AD&D2, D&D3/3.5 and D&D4E and liked every new edition more than previous one. Not interested in Next ’cause it’s not new, but “going back to roots”. Thanks, but if need to go back to those roots I have tons of books already. Give me something new or don’t waste my time (I say it to WotC not the OP :)).

Comments are closed.