Can someone link me to the best breakdown of a DDNext/5e? I'm not talking about just a summary, but something that isn't scattered brained about what this next edition is going to be like.
It's essentially an attempt to reunite the fans of 3.5 and 4th edition under the one umbrella, at least that's my understanding. They plan to have different rules to choose from, depending on the flavour of D&D you prefer. It'd honestly be hard to find info about it that isn't scatter-brained, because at the moment D&D Next/5e is in a rather scatter-brained and unwieldy state. In a nutshell, they want it to "feel" like D&D, whatever the hell that means.
I saw part of their Gen Con keynote and it was said by Mike Mearls that it is about 2 years away. A lot can change in that time, especially since they want it to be everything to everybody.
Here's a link to the keynote if you want to watch it.
If you want, you can listen to a podcast Mike Mearls of WotC did with some of the PA/PvP guys, discussing various aspects of the next edition. Here's
Part 1 and
Part 2 that has been released of the 4 part series. I haven't listened to either of them, because I'm not that fussed about it, and by the looks of it in the official photo for the podcast (shown below), neither are they.
I'm leaning towards
13th Age for a modern take on this style of game. It's by the lead designer of D&D 3rd edtion and the lead designer of 4th edition; and reading over the latest revision, they've got the right idea. If you want to have a look at what an update of D&D
should look like, it's this. Seriously.
Dungeon World also seems brilliant, though it's not d20 based, but more story oriented and built using the system from an indie game (
Apocalypse World). I've read some short actual plays of it and to say I was thoroughly impressed would be an understatement. I mentioned earlier in the thread being given a pre-release copy after emailing the designers and asking about it.
Whilst this is not what you asked for, it's a nudge in the right direction, with some personal opinions weaved in there.
On a different topic, I mentioned the
Horror on the Orient Express to a friend of mine today before we sat down to game. I was part way through telling him about it when he just walked off. He headed straight for the PC, found the Kickstarter and pledged at the $90 level. He's the one who already owns the original boxed set for it, but he loves it so much he's bought it a second time. That's rad.