Any interest in Hero Lab + D&D Next?
 

Hello!

Check this:

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/5439/le27.png

It is my current pet project ^^ A Hero Lab version for D&D Next. As you can see in the background, it is basically a modified D&D 4e version which uses the ruleset of D&D Next.

And yeah, the licence situation is a big issue there. But I am doing the work now, and then check if I can actually release it in some way ^^ I like developing.

I will still continue on my D&D 4e bugfixes. Actually my Pen&Paper group is having no plans whatsoever currently to move away from 4e. Still I think it would be nice for many people to have Hero Lab support D&D Next, so I started working on it.

And it is still a lot of work... though a lot is already working, as well ;-)

MagicSN
tirionareonwe AT gmail.com

Best of luck, I and my gaming friends have no desire to play next. We have done open testing and find the game a disappointing system change and not something we will purchase or play EVER!

This will be my first time not buying a D&D system! So 4E will be the last version we play.

That pretty much covers my feelings on the subject. I find next a step backwards.

Though I am trying to pick up Call of Cthulhu... if I get into it... and can find friends to play it with... Shadowrun and CoC will just have to get me by once 4e/LFR is done.

My gaming group shares the same feelings. We started on 4E (after much research into the various options at the time) and really came to like the way things work. We don't hate D&D Next, but after trying it out, it feels like the new version is lacking.

D&D Next is missing a lot of the things we liked about combat encounters. While we like some of the changes, the cons seem to outweigh the pros...and switching would require a large investment in new materials. For us, the pros must outweigh the cons to switch. We'll check back with the game once its final version is released in stores, but for now, we have no interest in Next and plan to stay at 4E. If we switch, it'll more likely be to Pathfinder or another system. We're also not huge fans of WotC in general - how they treat their fanbase, design/support their products, license their property, and appear to aggressively protect that property (to the detriment of the community). So again, the pros must outweigh the cons (and more than just a little) for us to go to Next. =/

Our group Played 4E for about a year or so and tried to give it every chance in the book, we never really liked the feel of it, it just felt to us that we were playing a computer miniature game on paper. Most of the classes seemed to feel the same with the same powers but with different names. We just couldn't get that computer miniature game feel out of it, no matter what we did. Don't get me wrong, to each their own and if people found a way to enjoy it, that's great. I just felt like it wasn't Dungeons and Dragons at all, so we moved to Pathfinder, But like I have always said, it takes all types of people in this hobby to make it what it is. I did believe D&D Next has potential, it's just lacking a lot as of this time. Only time will tell.

lol, it's interesting to hear that. My group had a very similar opinion, but loved 4E for that. My group is all pretty new to tabletop RPGs and loved the idea that they could play something like a computer game, but playing against a person that can react and adapt to what you do rather than a computer only allowing a range of pre-defined options. Everyone, indeed, has their own preferences and ways of playing. :)

LOL all my group are very old timers, I have been playing since I was 12 and I'm 47 now. We have been playing since the Roman empire was around. We like keeping our computer games on the PC and are table top games on the table top - don't get me wrong we use some programs for the game, but we like a more old school take on things. That being said - I feel the whole idea of how 4E was made was to try to bring the computer gamer to the table. Which to say I think it did a great job of that and appealed to that group and brought them into the fold. Which was the point I believe it was striving for. It just wasn't for our group.

Our group is in the midst of a Next/5e campaign, and we are liking some of it. I never bothered with 4e, as it was just something i was not interested in, and played pathfinder instead - but the playtest is a nice change - simplified, that's for sure - a lot less math... While still retaining the feel of a pen and paper, and not trying to be WoW for the tabletop...

Will be interesting to see what 5e looks like come release, as the last playtest version is obviously incomplete.

So, count this as a vote for a D&D Next system for HL.

I think HL needs to support Next - while there is still a lot of negativity surrounding its release, it's not official until summer. That's a lot of time for some things to hopefully change.

For now it's a coin toss for me, I'm just waiting to see what happens before I decide. I have been playing D&D for close to 35 years now, off and on. I'll certainly try Next but I don't like that they're planning so much on selling their work as PDF files online instead of keeping to the system where you can buy them from your game store - supporting them and encouraging them to host games, etc. I'm hoping that's something that will change.

-Drake

My Woes of NEXT
 

I have watched some of the videos on YouTube about showing off the "next System" D&D Next With R&D: The Lich-Queen's Beloved Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjXF01pu97c

Its the R&D team playing the game and it is enough to make sure I do not purchase this game system! All the things that I dislike about previous versions of D&D are laid out in this part 1, rules lawyering, ambiguous combat (locations and movement/actions) poor spell casters searching through the books to figure out what they can do, Players threatening to kill each others characters, and a guy (I know who he is just do not ant to put his name here) who thinks that you have to act like a Jerk to play a Dwarf (MC Mix-a-lot) "in character" {really it only took 10-15 min to make that waste of a character} and this is to attempt to draw me into the game system!

I honestly believe that WOTC/Hasbro has decided to make sure this version flops, and then they will sell of marketing rights for the use of D&D in other settings (Digital media games ect) and then after a few years possible sell the rights to publish D&D to another company. While they cut the RPG staff down to bare bones under the reason the game is not doing well.

All of this makes me a very sad person. I will continue to play 4E (and other RPGs) but have no desire to purchase or play NEXT.

I am not attacking anyone that is looking forward to it and I wish you fun times in your settings, adventures and campaigns. NEXT is not a system for me and unfortunately to WOTC their marketing data is counting on me (I have purchased every version of the game to date usually in multiple copies for over 30 years along with many people with in my game group.) I never jumped over to Pathfinder (since it is based on the 3.5 rules lawyer system) and have not only played but sold people into the game.

I only Wish I could be able to go to Winter fantasy 2014 to be able to play in the end of the LFR 4E setting.

These are my personal thoughts, I mean no harm to others by them.