 As reviewed by Remi Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition All right, lets start at the beginning. I started playing D&D(the big red box) about 18 years ago. I played Ad&D 1st Edition, and Ad&D 2nd edition. And then stopped playing the system about 5-7 years ago. I had gotten sick of it and chose to play a variety of other games including some of my all time favorites: Shadowrun and Champions(not the fusion crap!!!) Last summer my job obligated me to read through the 3rd edition Players Book. It was a brutal form of self-mutilation that I had steeled myself for. Nightmares of THAC0 and trying to figure out which saving throw roll was appropriate haunted me. The book looked slick, but having dealt with Wizards of the Coast in the past I understood that they were capable of all style and no substance. Further that has seemed to be the order of the day in my humble opinion. The Good 1)Price: $31.95 cdn is a bargain in the modern gaming market. Further the inclusion of the character generator demo on cd is a real bonus. All three of the core system books are priced in what I would call a gamer friendly fashion. 2)Ease of Play: This does not mean dumbing down. The game is now friendly to entry level players, while still being a challenge to advanced players. THAC0 is dead, as is powergaming multiclassing. (What I mean by that is that in a party where the average character level is 10, we won't be seeing any twinky level 8 fighter/mages.) 3)Skills: The new skill system is both simple and flexible. Skills help to define the characters and add more variety to them. 4)Feats: Are special powers which character gain as they develop. For example Weapon Specialization is a feat which is restricted to specific classes at certain levels. The feat system helps to add variety to characters as well. 5)Balence: The designers of the new system for D&D actually managed to more or less balance the classes. Classes that have a stupid number of special abilities suffer with fewer feats and less skills. Classes with very few perks tend to bulk up on feats and/or skills. Further the races are likewise balanced. It no longer sucks to play a human. In fact I would argue that the single most powerful starting class/race combination is the human fighter.(3 feats, good starting HP, good attack mods.) 6)Open Liscense: WOTC has opened the rights to manufacture of D&D products. A variety of companies are now producing products for the game system, including White Wolf and my personal favorite, AEG(reviews on there games WILL be coming.) The more minds involved in developing things for the system the better. Aside from having to sift through the crap that some people are publishing to try and jump on the bandwagon. The Bad 1)Price: The price break offered on the core 3 books does not extend beyond them. $40.00 cdn is a steep price for the new hardcovers. Of course we gamers are used to getting raped in terms of the price of our gaming habit. 2)Emphasis: The emphasis of the new releases is on new players and various add-ons to the game.(ie Class books rather than a variety of modules.) A friend of mine pointed out that the only real adventures being published by WOTC are the intro series. To get other adventures one must pick up products published under the open liscense. 3)The Bandwagon: Everyone can see this particular cash-cow. It is the biggest one in the gaming industry. Bar none. D&D as an open system is a great idea but I for one believe that the open system is a powerplay by WOTC. The d20 system could well threaten gaming in general. Already various companies are racing to create d20 versions of existing games. Sorry Gurps fans but I believe that a Generic Universal Role Playing System cannot compare to a specific system built for a particular gaming genre. Simplicity is great for the neophyte gamer, but personally I like a more detailed or specific system. Overall I guess the real telling factor about 3rd edition D&D is the fact that my game group is playing D&D again. The system was good enough to hook a cynical old player such as myself. In addition it has proven to be a great game for play at all levels. Low level parties have the fear of god put into them by formerly wimpy monsters, and high level parties have high level concerns(such as the fact that dragons now KICK ASS!!!). What can I say other than I went into the game with a closed mind, and they managed to open it. Thumbs up. -Remi (a Dragon's Den Employee) |
