D&D 4th Edition in 2008

It's coming. But I don't know if I'll get it.

For the role-playing game, the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook is scheduled for May release, followed by the Monster Manual in June and the Dungeon Master’s Guide in July, with additional volumes to follow. D&D 4th Edition will continue to use the d20 game system — according to Wizards of the Coasts designers, the 4th Edition rules will be an “evolution of the system, not a revolution.” 4th Edition play is designed to be faster and easier for the Dungeon Master to adjudicate. Each character class will have a specific, defined role within an adventuring party, and the designers’ goal was to give each class interesting options for gameplay at every level. Character races have undergone a similar overhaul, with at least two new player races included in the Player's Handbook, and the core rules now go up to level 30 for characters; with the levels divided into three tiers: heroic for levels 1-10, paragon for 11-20, and epic for 21-30. One goal was to avoid having a single “sweet spot” — a specific range in levels where everyone wants to play. In D&D 3.5, this tends to be levels 7-13. For Dungeon Masters, the new edition includes new ways to build encounters by giving every monster in an encounter a role to play, and addresses or removes “game-stopping” rules like grappling in combat.

And a reason for closing down Dragon and Dungeon.

In addition to the physical rulebooks and supplements, a major component of 4th Edition will be digital. Wizards has launched a free beta version of Dungeons & Dragons Insider, the online component for 4th Edition, shortly after the Gen Con announcement. D&D Insider will change over to a subscription model around the time the new Player’s Handbook is released. For $9.95 per month, D&D fans will have access to the online versions of Dragon and Dungeon magazines; online tools for players and DMs, including a character creator and map, encounter, and adventure building tools; D&D Anytime, a round-the-clock virtual game table which will allow gaming groups to get together and play D&D online; and forums and other community features.

The character-generation tool includes a feature that will allow players to create a visual representation of their character which can be printed out or saved and used as a virtual minia-ture on the D&D Insider Game Table. The virtual game table will be available to non-subscribers for a nominal fee, and includes a die-rolling tool, character-sheet displays, and three play surfaces for the DM to choose from: a virtual dry-erase board, a selection of pregenerated maps, and dungeon tiles. The three play surfaces can be combined. Voice chat will be available through the Vivox service, and in addition to virtual miniatures generated through the character builder, DMs will have access to additional virtual miniatures.

This might be useful for those who run distributed games.