*Originally published on 3/1/12
Wizards of the Coast recently announced that they were beginning work on a new edition of the popular tabletop role playing game "Dungeons and Dragons".
They announced that play testing was going to start soon and that they were looking for fans to both partake in said testing, and to put forth ideas of what they would want to see. By getting fan suggestions, they're hoping to make a sort of "ultimate d&d".
While I'm not a hardcore gamer, I thought I would take the liberty of putting out some ideas of my own.
1. Get rid of healing surges
The healing surge system in 4E is weird. You have a limited amount each day, but you can only use one in combat. During combat, you need to have your white mage heal you by using one of their healing surges even though the amount of HP you gain is based on one of your healing surges. Otherwise, you need to take a rest in order to "pop" however many you may feel you need. While healing potions are available, and don't restore nearly as many HP, drinking one still takes a surge.
It doesn't need to be this convoluted. Just say that the only means of healing are spells, potions, and rests. Just say that short rests restore half of your hit points and that extended rests bring you up to full. It's straight forward and to the point.
2. Monster manual omnibus
The previous edition published three monster manuals as well as another one for the Essentials monster vault.
While individual stats may need to be tweaked, WotC should use all of that material to get a head start on content. A huge volume collecting all the monsters from the various releases will give DM's plenty of encounter options, making for a much more enjoyable game.
Information on how to scale monsters up or down should also be featured (for some reason this info was put in the DM guide in 4E).
You could even make it into a box set to feature tokens of all the monsters as well as maps like the Essentials release did.
3. Offer an array of pre-published adventures
One of the cool things about the Essentials box sets is that some of them came with pre-published adventures that DM's could use.
I think that they should take that idea and run with it. You could release tons of self contained adventures that run the scale from level 1 to level 30. Just sell the individual pamphlets for like one or two dollars a pop.
This will give new DM's some place to start and allow them to get a feel for how it works and it will give more experienced DM's some story ideas for their own campaign should they hit a wall at any point.
4. Make leveling up worth something
Reaching a new level in 4E was a mixed bag. Some levels had cool stuff, but other times it didn't seem like you got that much benefit from hitting a new level.
If you want to throw in a new daily or new feat every 2-5 levels, that's fine, but I'd think that, at the very least, a player should be able to increase his amount of available hit points and get a few points to up his stats each time he or she gains enough XP to reach a new level. Otherwise, it just loses its importance and you care less about reaching that goal.
5. Don't get bogged down in mechanics
One of the main complaints about 4E was that it was too heavily based on combat. Sure, a part of that is up to the DM, but while material should feature stat materials for character creation and monsters etc, there should be other stuff too.
Even AD&D had this problem where the mechanics were overly convoluted and really, they don't need to be. When you make a game that becomes more calculating than playing, than it stops being fun.
Given the nature of the game, some focus on it is necessary, but when you just throw mechanics and technical material at a potential new player, he or she's going to lose interest.
Include tips on how to better develop your character and how to get into the spirit of role-playing, talk about the ideas for possible histories regarding the world you'll be working in. Stuff like that is far less imposing to a newbie than a book with nothing but stat blocks and information on game mechanics.
Final thoughts
Some of the more experienced D&D players may have more in depth or complicated lists. As I said, I'm something of a newbie to the game, but these are things that I would like to see incorporated into the new game design.
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