Dungeons & Dragons: The 4th Edition Interview
Everything you need to know about Wizards of the Coast's plans for 4th Edition D&D

At Gen Con, Wizards of the Coast's cadre of role-playing game designers announced that they would be revamping the king of tabletop role-playing games, and that we'd be playing an all-new version of Dungeons & Dragons by next year. This version would be tied directly to an internet-based initiative named D&D Insider -- a subscription-based service that would offer robust online character management tools, as well as an online gaming table so that players could meet up for an evening of dungeon crawling from the comfort of their homes.

Gamers have been clamoring for information on the forthcoming 4th Edition, and we went straight to the source for the scoop. While it's still too early to get all the details, read on to learn all about the future of Dungeons & Dragons from Christopher Perkins, Wizards of the Coast's Story Manager, D&D RPGs and Miniatures.

Fourth is Coming

GameSpy: Why did you feel that now was the right time to go with a 4th Edition?
Christopher Perkins: Refreshing a living game such as D&D is very important. Our understanding of what works best for today's players is always evolving, and ignoring that would result in a stagnant game that nobody plays. Add to that the opportunities presented by our digital initiative, as encompassed by D&D Insider, and it just made sense to update all of the components of the game and the brand at the same time.
GameSpy: Why not release all three 4th Edition core books, the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual at the same time?
Christopher Perkins: Releasing three core rulebooks in one month is too much of a strain on retailers. They don't have the money to stock up on that much gaming product in one month.

GameSpy: What are the biggest things that will separate 4th Edition from previous versions of the D&D game?
Christopher Perkins: The game is evolving in exciting ways that will improve your play experience, but the core mechanics of the game will be familiar to current players, and the game itself will be easily recognizable as D&D to players from any edition. The revolution comes from the addition of the D&D Insider components, a more robust organized play program, and more enhanced community features.

GameSpy: If I'm the sort of person that tries to minimize the use of miniatures in my game will 4th edition be right for me?

Christopher Perkins: Although 4th Edition assumes that most players are using miniatures to represent their characters and monsters, 4th Edition doesn't require the use of miniatures any more than the previous edition does.

GameSpy: Do you feel you may face backlash from players who enjoy 3.0 and 3.5 and don't want to upgrade their rules or campaigns?

Christopher Perkins: We faced a similar situation with the change from 2nd Edition to 3rd Edition, so we assume that not every 3rd-Edition player will switch over to the new game overnight. All in all, 4th Edition offers a much better gaming experience for players and Dungeon Masters. Even though 3rd Edition is an excellent game, 4th Edition gives players better character options at every level, makes DM-ing less of a chore, and speeds up round-by-round combat. We expect that the improvements in gameplay will convince even reluctant players to switch over to 4th Edition. We also anticipate that the majority of d20 publishers will support 4th Edition going forward.

GameSpy: What settings are slated for 4th Edition support? Specifically, will there be 4th Edition sourcebooks for Eberron, Forgotten Realms? Are you planning on bringing back any older settings such as Planescape or Ravenloft and are there any new settings in the works?

Christopher Perkins: We will continue to support the Forgotten Realms and Eberron campaign settings both in game product and with novel lines. The Forgotten Realms campaign setting will be the first one updated for 4th Edition in print, with a new campaign guide releasing in August 2008. Other classic campaign settings may be revisited in print product as demand warrants, but not as full-blown product lines. Most of the support for these less-popular campaign settings will occur on D&D Insider, in the form of articles, wikipedias, and the like.

GameSpy: What are the first videogames we'll see using the 4.0 mechanics? Do you expect Turbine's Dungeons & Dragons Online and BioWare's Neverwinter Nights toolset to adopt 4th Edition?

Christopher Perkins: No licensing plans have been announced at this time, and nothing is likely to be announced until after the 4th Edition rules are finalized.

GameSpy: Do the rules feel videogame-friendly and ripe for translation to the electronic realm and were they in any way created with that sort of thing in mind?

Christopher Perkins: Fourth Edition was created to be the best tabletop role-playing game on the market. The staff assigned to build the new game aren't professional videogame designers, but it does seem that the rules could be translated to the "electronic realm" with relative ease.