Atlanta - June 20, 2000

For the benefit of those that could not make the trip to Atlanta or your nearest Demo city, Ive put together this summary of what went on at this WotC-hosted event.

Some 50 to 100 retailers from around the Southeast attended the Atlanta demo, most of them local stores. Sito, Barry, John and I were there representing all 3 Georgia Music warehouses. There were 5 WotC company people there to discuss 3E, ranging from the Southeast Regional rep, to Beth from Direct Sales, to members of the D&D 3rd Edition Design and Brand Management teams.

WotC provided food and drinks, and gave a presentation that included a slideshow featuring some of the amazing artwork that we have to look forward to in the upcoming Players Handbook. Topics covered included an overview of the philosophical approach and stylistic feel they used in creating the new game, plus a deep look into some of the changes from the previous editions. A question & answer session followed, after which we were split into groups of 5 or 6, and were treated to a brief sample game run by RPGA volunteers WotC had brought in for that purpose.

Ive listed some of the gory details below, but first Ill say this - after seeing what Ive seen, I have no doubts this will be a huge hit. We already knew this was going to be the biggest game release of the year, but that may be understating it. This demo has me charged-up to start running a game. Im really excited about this, and you should be, too. Its going to be awesome.

If I had to describe Third Edition in a sentence, Id say that its kind of like some other D&D games youve played in, with extra house rules you may have seen other DMs use to make the system more flexible and give the players more options.

Heres some specifics:

• The game revolves around the 3 traditional core books - the Players Handbook (August), Dungeon Masters Guide (September), and Monster Manual (October). All three books SRP at $19.95 each. These will be the absolute reference for the game. No supplement will refer to any material that is not in one of these 3 books. Additional material may detail information from these books, but ownership of dozens of extra rulebooks will not be mandatory to run the game in its complete form.
  
• The basic ideas behind 3rd Edition are a lifting of restrictions and a general loosening of the rules, combined with an effort to challenge old perceptions, depart from Tolkien-esque archetypes and lose stereotypes associated with various aspects of the game, resulting in both the Player and Dungeon Master having as much freedom to do what they want as possible.
  
• There are 11 character classes. Each has an Iconic character that represents that class in various examples in the rules. We follow the Iconic characters as they progress in level and power, and they provide a standard to which our own characters and campaigns can be compared.
  
• Races will be much more visually distinct from each other, with their attributes exaggerated a little more, but they will have a serious, less joksey look about them. Examples include wiry and agile halflings, and gnomes without huge noses.
  
• The overall look of the races, monsters, and even armor and weapons is more fantastic and otherworldly - another intentional departure from the historic/traditional. The edgy look is distinct, consistent and very cool. The closest Ive seen to this style is from some of the Planescape material, but this is actually its own look, and its very well done.
  
• There are no restrictions regarding alignment and race for PCs, although some regarding class and alignment remain (eg: Lawful Good Paladins, though champions of other Gods can be created, too - see Prestige Classes). A wider range of weapons will be available to the classes as well. It looks like pretty near anyone will be able to use a crossbow, mages and clerics included (and crossbows have been beefed up a bit, too).
  
• A new class, the Sorcerer, debuts in this edition. Sorcerers are mages whose powers come from force of will or innate talent. They can cast their spells on demand, without memorization, but have a shorter list to choose from than their more studious wizardly counterparts.
  
• Charisma will no longer be the throwaway stat it has been. CHA will figure into a number of different important game functions, increasing its value considerably.
  

  Dont be surprised to stumble across a gnoll barbarian, or an orc cleric in your next 3E game, as race-type monsters can now qualify for character classes. In fact, all monsters will have character statistics (STR, INT, WIS, DEX, CON, CHA), so that, if you really want to, and your DM approves, you can play your favorite monster. And there will be many new monsters making their first appearance in this Monster Manual. Some creatures and monsters (other than dragons) will have some ability to advance in power, with stats for age/maturity included in their listing.
  

• Dragons are beefed up yet again, becoming far more than combat death machines. They are, by a huge factor, the toughest monsters going. Supposedly, a party of 19th level characters would have their hands full with an average dragon. And oh yes, demons and devils are back with a vengeance, going by their old names. No tanarri or baatezu here.
  
• Monsters will now have a challenge rating that will give DMs an idea of their overall toughness, representing how each monster matches up against a party of Iconic characters, and help a DM determine which monsters to pit against his players, and in what quantities.
  
• Druids and Rangers get animal companions, which, at low level, can be the best fighters in the group. Im definitely not talking squirrels or sparrows - look for bears, wolves, or tigers to be hanging out with your favorite nature-lovers. As the druid or ranger increases in level, the number of potential animal followers increases. On a similar note, Wizards familiars will get tougher as their master rises in level.
  
• 3rd Editions features templates which can be placed over existing characters to represent a change or mixture. For example, if your 8th Level Monk gets bitten by a vampire, you can place the vampire template over your monk and see how the different powers and abilities combine (before you turn this new beast over to the DM so he can kill the rest of your party with it, that is).
  
• Another addition is the Prestige Class, kind of an advanced character class that characters can qualify for once they accumulate enough feats, or special abilities in their basic character class to do so. Prestige Classes can be created by both Player and DM, as long as the DM approves. Examples include the Assassin, and the Blackguard (a sort of Anti-Paladin). New Prestige Classes will be introduced all the time, in supplements and in Dragon magazine. The Mystic, for example, will appear in Dragon #274. Prestige Classes pretty much leave character class an entirely open issue. You are limited only by your imagination and your DMs discretion.
  
• Greyhawk will be the standard world for 3rd Edition, and the Greyhawk deities will be the standard gods listed in the new DMG, which promises to be far more than a magic item-listing book. The Forgotten Realms will also be supported on a large scale, with many books and supplements planned detailing that world, its many gods and races. Supplements for Dragonlance are also in the works. The world books will expand the detail of the core rules, filling in specifics like different race types (wood, gray, high and wild elves; mountain and hill dwarves, etc&).
  
• As far as the game mechanics go, the system has been reworked so that high dice rolls are always desirable. Good Armor Class now extends into double digits. Skill and Stat checks are done with a roll plus bonus vs. target difficulty number system, and higher initiative rolls go first. The Combat system features the ability to move at any point during the round (up to your maximum distance), though attacks or major actions still take place on the characters initiative. Initiative is rolled once at the beginning of a combat and is in place for the duration of the encounter. No new rolls are made each round, though a character can opt not to attack or perform an action on their initiative in exchange for going first (or last, if they want) in each subsequent round. If multiple characters want to do this, the last character to do so goes first, the next-to-last second, etc&
  
• In all the system is quick and not dissimilar to what D&D-ers are used to.

Upcoming 3E projects include the Master Rules, a CD-ROM that will replace the current Core Rules 2.0 disc, and a book on Psionics, the rules for which were intentionally left out of the new core rulebooks. Expect both these in 2001.

Apparently, there are no current plans for any Ravenloft, Planescape, Birthright, Dark Sun, or Al-Qadim products, but the possibility of there being some material produced for these lines at some point has not been ruled out.

This really is a cant-miss product. A Third Edition Dungeons & Dragons Floor Display for this August. It includes 8 Players Handbooks, 8 Character Records Sheets packs, and 4 D&D Adventure Games (an introductory RPG product). Preorder yours now if you haven’t already!

Brian Dalrymple is the Games and Entertainment Manager for Georgia Music at Fort Lauderdale, FL. He is also a Director At-Large for the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA)