D&D 4 Official

[Mr. Analog]

After all the FUD from Wizards turns out D&D 4 was very real and very close:

"For the past day, Wizards of the Coast has had a countdown to "4dventure" on their web site. The countdown ran out at 6:30 eastern time today (and the web site promptly crashed), but stories are already appearing on the rest of the web. Wizards also has had their 4th edition forums up for a couple of days."

http://rustmonster.net/2007/08/16/dd-4th-edition-announced-gen-con/

http://forums.gleemax.com/forumdisplay.php?f=686

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/16/2334255

http://wizards.com/dnd/

WIZARDS SITE IS MASSIVELY SLASHDOTTED! (at the moment)

[Thorin]

Yeah, we'll have to see what they do to the rules now.  It also looks like they're trying to take on OpenRPG for the online tabletop gaming market with their Game Table.  Lets hope they at least can get it to work *quickly*, because the demo in the videos was pathetically slow and clunky to use.

They're implying that you don't have to worry about modifiers anymore, that you just make your roll and get on with the game.  I'm willing to bet that after the fourth supplement is published we're once again bogged down in rules.

And here's my biggest gripe: The Player's Handbook is coming out in May 2008.  The Monster Manual is coming out in June.  The Dungeon Master's Guide is coming out in July.  What?  They need to give their head a shake, these three books need to be out at the same time!

For those of us who will be playing D&D 3.5 for a while yet, they do still have their old articles available the archive.

[Thorin]

Wow, D&D is mainstream enough for Maxim Online to show up at Gen Con and report on v4's unveiling!

http://www.maximonline.com/Dungeonsdragonsanddorks/video/4861.aspx

They couldn't help but poke fun at nerds, though

http://www.maximonline.com/Wordassociation/video/4900.aspx
http://www.maximonline.com/Nerdsex/video/4886.aspx

[Mr. Analog]

I think Maxim is the Playboy for nerds actually.

[Thorin]

User Friendly has a couple of comics about D&D 4:

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070824
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20070825

I *especially* like the second one

[Mr. Analog]

Though I usually eschew UF those comics were great.

[Thorin]

And now, a Full Frontal Nerdity on the same subject:

http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/ffn/index.php?date=2007-08-22