Anticipating "Next"...?

"Settle down there, Gloryblaze - have a Snickers."

As the seasons change, so too do the editions of these various games we play.  In many cases, we (as fans) can react poorly to these changes, especially with Dungeons & Dragons.  There's just something timeless about D&D, and no one wants to see something they have fond memories of change into something they can't recognize.

Yet when looking back, only one edition of Dungeons & Dragons suffered from this stigma - indeed, 2nd Edition was a very welcome addition to the brand, and 3rd Edition was the grand revision everything needed to bring it in line with a new millennium.  3.5 Edition was not something I cared for, but I simply used all those books I somehow acquired for my 3.0 games.  This was the same thing that 2nd Edition haters did when it rolled around - indeed, 2nd Edition was pretty much designed to work with the 1st Edition material.

Now, recently we've changed our ideas on edition grinds.  For Dungeons & Dragons, we see pretty much every individual edition as standing on it's own merits.  Now, granted I haven't ran a 4th Edition game yet - but I do intend to.  The club is worming it's way through all the ancient material right now in an attempt to play every Dungeons & Dragons game / setting, but we'll get there eventually.

So, what does that mean for us and for 5th Edition, gleefully being called "Next"?

The basic setting of 5th Edition seems to be the Forgotten Realms, and this is what we are looking at this summer:

• Basic Introductory Set (July 15) - 19.95
• Player's Handbook (August 19) - 49.95

So it looks like the hardcovers are going to be as expensive as GW books, and we all know that's a count against them.  $150 US for the three basic manuals.  The difference is that these books will last a lot longer for the club than any publication GW has ever done.  Case in point - we played 1st Edition most recently, and I have the original 1979-81 publications.  We all know it's going to be a while before we crawl though all the games we want to, but without GW stuff on the schedule it's going to go a lot quicker.

Personally, I'll probably pick up 5th Edition when a setting I like is published for it.  I don't really care for the Forgotten Realms post-3rd Edition because of how the setting has changed, but we're going to play through the TSR/WotC material from 1st to 3rd Edition - it's the bomb.  Yet, like we have Dark Sun for 4th Edition, "Next" will probably be a short(ish) stop on our long journey across the planes by focusing on a setting that's different from most of the other realms the 'gate leads to.  We'll see what offerings pour forth in 2015.

So where do you stand on "Next"?  Looking forward to  it?  Will adding it over-saturate our schedule with Dungeons & Dragons games?  Is that a good idea?  Would you like to see more D&D and less GW in RPG, and perhaps battle games as well?

Obviously we have a while to iron out the kinks that have developed since the "embargo".  There are a LOT of holes in the current schedule.  So while we wait, sound off on the comments here, on Facebook or where ever else you may be.  See you on Game Day!