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The MONSTER MANUAL, a vital component of any D&D player's inventory.
© Wizards of the Coast

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS RPG 4th Edition Announced

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Thursday, August 16, 2007
Source: Dungeons & Dragons Press Release

The world's oldest and best selling RPG, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, has announced today that a 4th edition is on the way Spring 2008. Here's the details for D&D: Wizards of the Coast series...

Whether you storm a mad wizard’s tower every
week or haven’t delved into a dungeon since you had a mullet and a mean
pair of parachute pants, one thing is certain, millions of D&D® players
worldwide have anticipated the coming of 4th Edition for many years. Today
Wizards of the Coast confirms that the new edition will launch in May 2008
with the release of the D&D Player’s Handbook®. A pop culture icon,
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is the #1 tabletop roleplaying game in the world and is
revered by legions of gamers of all ages.

The 4th Edition DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game includes elements familiar to
current D&D players, including illustrated rulebooks and pre-painted
plastic miniatures. Also releasing next year will be new Web-based tools
and online community forums through the brand new DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
Insider (D&D Insider™) digital offering. D&D Insider lowers the barriers of
entry for new players while simultaneously offering the depth of play that
appeals to veteran players.

The 4th Edition rules emphasize faster game play, offer exciting new
character options, and reduce the amount of “prep time” needed to run the
game. D&D Insider includes a character creator that lets players design and
equip their D&D characters, dungeon- and adventure-building tools for
Dungeon Masters, online magazine content, and a digital game table that
lets you play 24/7 on the Internet — the perfect option for anyone who
can’t find time to get together.

“We’ve been gathering player feedback for eight years,” said Bill
Slavicsek, R&D Director of Roleplaying and Miniatures Games at Wizards of
the Coast. “Fourth Edition streamlines parts of the D&D game that are too
complex while enhancing the overall play experience. At its heart, it’s
still a tabletop game experience. However, D&D Insider makes it easier for
players to create characters, run their games, and interact with the rest
of the D&D community.”

Wizards of the Coast will release two 4th Edition preview books in December

and January—Wizards Presents: Classes and Races™ and Wizards Presents:
Worlds and Monsters™. The first live demos of 4th Edition will happen at
the D&D EXPERIENCE™ gaming convention in Washington D.C. in February 2008.
The full scope of 4th Edition books, miniatures, and adventures will be
available in the spring and summer of 2008.

Since its first release in 1974, the fantasy roleplaying game DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS has taken millions of players on imaginary adventures of epic
scale. Today, D&D is universally regarded as the original game that
created the roleplaying game category, and the inspiration for generations
of game designers. D&D is enjoyed by millions of players worldwide, while
countless more remember it with fond nostalgia.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. (NYSE:HAS), is a
worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game
categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based
entertainment products. Wizards is also a publisher of fantasy series
fiction with numerous New York Times bestsellers.

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Comments/Responses

almostunbiased • Aug 16, 2007, 09:43pm •

Ahh the good old days. Is Gary dead? anyone know?

Fallensbane • Aug 16, 2007, 10:55pm •

He's still around, but I don't touch anything with his name on it anymore. He has released some really horrid products for the 3.0/3.5 Era.

trollman • Aug 16, 2007, 11:08pm •

And so WOTC will die a slow and horrible death as the disenchanted LONG TIME core Customer base, old school players that really have NO INTEREST in the "D&D insider" which they forgot to mention in the press release is a SUBSCRIPTION service. We have such a plethora of the 3.5 edition rules that we don't need the 4th edition. WOTC/Hasbro has done me and my bank a great favor. Since I wount be buying more of their books or subscribing to the 1/2 assed attempt to draw in the cyber cafe crowd, I'll have more money for other things. (me and about a million or their other customers)

almostunbiased • Aug 16, 2007, 11:41pm •

I never play, haven't for wow like 20 years, but I still have all the first edition books. Wonder if they're worth anything. They're in perfect shape. I have Greyhawk also. You never hear about that anymore.

Krasch • Aug 17, 2007, 02:27am •

I've been playing D&D since the beginning, and I admit I'm intruiged to see what changes 4th edition will bring. And yeah I still have a couple of those 1st edition books around.

CapedCrusader • Aug 17, 2007, 02:34am •

I've been playing D&D for 30 years. I also recently picked up the new edition of the Star Wars RPG. If they're planning on doing to D&D what they did to Star Wars, D&D is dead. It'll be a combination of the fact that it's WAY too soon to come out with another edition (This isn't software, fer cryin' out loud!) and the changes they've made have removed a lot of the differences between characters, and basically dumbed the whole system down.

halfuck1 • Aug 17, 2007, 02:42am •

I remember when WotC took over TSR, they had two key development strategies. One, develop solely one game system to then execute through every single RPG system/setting imagineable (hello, D20). Two, do market research up the wazoo to keep developing new products to keep people buying.

They came out with class-specific guide books, race-specific guide books, geography-specific guide books, and then guides for every conceiveable facet of the game. Everything about psionics, dragons, undead, truly evil, truly holy, etc. Then they got Eberron to do the process all over again (yeah, sure, I submitted an initial proposal when they had their campaign contest, but when Eberron actually debuted, it felt kind of like when Forgotten Realms came out after Gygax left with Greyhawk. Yeah, I felt a little dirty inside).

I'm in my low thirties now, and quite simply I don't have the time (or the social network) to RPG other than NWN on the computer.

If I were to invest $100 in brand new source books, it would be for the new edition of Ars Magica, which is quite simply the sweetest RPG I've never played.

[Edited becaue I apparently can't tell the difference between homophones right now. (But yes, I've nevered played Ars Magica)]

stevespikes • Aug 17, 2007, 03:26am •

Well, the best place to answer all of your questions is at GenCon in Indianapolis this weekend. I, too, would like to know if D&D will follow the same path as the STAR WARS: RPG Saga Edition.

CapedCrusader • Aug 17, 2007, 03:33am •

Oh, and another thing...
To go from a standard $30-$50 software package to manage characters to (what I assume) will be a $9.95-$19.95 a month subscription service is a crime. They are out of their damn minds if they think I'll pony up for that. And I'm one of those folks that's always looking for an excuse to buy more game books. This seems way too much like creating a new version purely to sell more books. I respect Bill Slavicsek, but I think this is a horrible idea. Someone from Wizards said to me once "They are in the business to sell books". I disagree. I think they should be in the game business to make good games. And forcing everyone to buy all the books again every 5 years is ridiculous.

lancedenier • Aug 17, 2007, 05:12am •

Almostunbiased,

Actually some of those first edition books are worth a bit of money, not a whole lot. There are some exceptions, I THINK the Fiend Folio is worth the most but I'm really not sure. As far as Greyhawk goes, it is alive and well. There has been an onging program called "Living Greyhawk" which is run by the RPGA network (Owned by the Wizards of the Coast). WotC just released a new hardback adventure called "Expedition to Castle Greyhawk" which revisits the adventure that was released in the early 90's. Paizo has done a great job the last few years giving Greyhawk some love with their adventure paths loosely set in GH and published in the now defunct Dragon and Dungeon magazines (Thanks WotC! Bastards!) Oh and Gygax didn't get to keep Greyhawk, it was taken from him just like the rest of TSR. Not that I'm complaining, he's kind of a crotchety old coot. I was at Gencon today, he was there although I didn't actually see him. I tried to get my friends to go to the official announcement for 4th edition so I could boo but they wanted to get home - five hour drive ya know. I'd say 4th edition may finally be the reason that I quit playing, at least weekly anyway. I'm getting too old for it anyway.

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