Curse You, Slavicek!

Waiting until September is going to suck.

It’s not that there are no good D&D releases between now and then.  PHB2 looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun, and the latest sneak peek at The Warden looks particularly badass, though I’m not sure I’ve really wrapped my head around the feel of it yet.  I’m excited about Arcane Power if only to keep my Wizard players happy. Eberron’s coming, and I admit that grabs me more than the Forgotten Realms.  Plus, there will no doubt be very interesting third party stuff between now and then, and perhaps the long awaited changes to the GSL will emerge in the meantime.

But September is when we can expect the DMG2.

Now, I was already pretty gung ho for this.  I considered the DMG the real surprise gem of the 4e lineup, and the prospect of more of the same, with things like skill challenges fleshed out a little more, is something I really want to see.  In many of the same ways I’m expecting the classes in the PHB2 to have a bit more polish than that core classes, I’m expecting the DMG2 to be the book that really starts realizing the promise of a lot of things that are currently only seeds.  This is kind of a big deal because much of my love of 4e comes of looking at it and seeing the game it could be even more than the game it is. I really hope to see that promise mature, and I have a lot of confidence that it will.

But Bill Slavicsek’s latest Ampersand column delivered the real whammy for me.  The DMG2 is going to have a writeup of Sigil, signature city of the Planescape setting, and a place near and dear to my little fanboy heart.   It got a little coverage in the Manual of the Planes, but the prospect of using it as a showpiece in the DMG2 is exciting as hell to me. But it also makes the wait until September all the more painful.

We’ll see how the timing works out. The Manual of the Planes definitely inspired me to start a Shadowfell campaign, and I’ve been working on the notes and plans for it, and the big question for me is whether the DMG2 is going to come out in time for my players to make it out into the planes at large.  This may end up being the first time I don’t begrudge scheduling delays in a campaign.

1. Linnaeus, January 7, 2009:

   My secret hope is that they do a proper job of trap-building guidelines, not just the bare essentials that were in Dragon magazine.

2. Forrest McDonald, January 7, 2009:

   I’ll admit to having been less than thrilled with the MotP; this news has given me pause and will likely make me take a second look. I’m currently trying to port some of my unexplored ideas from 3.x into 4th Edition, and I have a couple of planes-hopping stories as well.

   Once you get some solid notes on your Shadowfel campaign I’d love to see some bloginess on them!

3. fred, January 7, 2009:

   Personally I think the MOTP is far more satisfying if you don’t bring Planescape baggage to your assessment of it. It’s a must buy for me regardless.

4. rob, January 7, 2009:

   I’m torn on that. I really only think there are two places where the MOTP doesn’t end up synergizing with Planescape experience, and one has some legitimacy.

   The first is the specific conceit of belief dictating geography. MOTP offers venues for the various places and groups of Planescape, but that idea holds no traction. I’m ok with that, but for some people that will be a much more important deal.

   The second is that the MOTP is not set up well for a multi-world game. There’s passing mention of maybe having other worlds, but it has no real support, and I can see that as a real gap. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be looking for more of an “Infinite worlds” kind of experience, even outside of the context of Planescape, and if that’s the expectation, MotP will probably be a bit of a letdown.

   That said, for me MotP was totally worth it for the new cosmology (Feywild & Shadowfell) before even taking the Planescape issue into account.

   -Rob D.

5. justin, January 7, 2009:

   It will come as no surprise that I’m wondering if/what they’ll be doing with poisons, which were woefully undertreated in the first DMG. Of course, the new Codex Venenorum will be out by then, making the chance to compare my work and theirs all that much more fun.

6. Dave Turner, February 6, 2009:

   I’m a bit late to the party with this comment, Rob, but I think that you could pick up the DM’s guide for Iron Heroes (name escapes me right now) and get a *bit* of a preview of the DMG2.