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Dear members of the Fraternity,
You may have heard it in the Paridon Newsbill: the Wizards of the Coast will be launching a 4th edition of the D&D system during the Spring and Summer of 2008 (core rules). Our spies whisper to us of the many conversations and debates about this news, and some of them report a lot of anxiety over this sudden change. We felt we needed to affirm our light-in-the-darkness position by proposing in which direction we'll be going with this change.
The latest incarnation of the Ravenloft system is currently in the 3.0/3.5 edition. Unless mistaken, and we would be glad if proven wrong on this, if Ravenloft is updated to 4th edition by WotC, it will be more than a few years from now.
So what do we do? Panic? We thought of that but we still have the traitor van Rijn to watch out for, so a run in the dark could quickly become more dangerous than running covered in honey and bells in the Paridon sewers.
Switch to 4th edition as soon as it is out? Nope, since we would cut ourselves off from the great Ravenloft sourcebooks of 3.0/3.5.
Stay bravely in 3.5? Nope also. How can this site attract new players if we remain entrenched in a dead edition?
Do you see where we are going? Good (because we don’t).
Seriously, here’s what we are planning at the FoS for this D&D edition change:
1. When 4th edition arrives, we will release a conversion guide on the major mechanics of the Ravenloft setting (Fear/Horror/Madness saves, and similar things from the Ravenloft Campaign Setting book).
2. Afterward, if there is no announcement of upcoming Ravenloft releases by WotC, we will launch a 4th edition conversion program. (We haven’t really discussed this much ourselves, so don’t ask for details yet.) We are thinking of first converting the stats in the WW and FoS Gazetteer sourcebooks to the 4th edition, while preserving the fluff of those books. This is a huge program, Azalin would say, and we’ll probably need the eyes and pencils of the best 4E-knowledgeable fans around here, if we want it to be completed before 5th edition. We'll work out more details of this plan when 4th edition is out.
3. For future netbooks mainly written by the FoS (ex. the FoS Gaz), we will provide stats in both D&D systems: 3.5 and 4th. Give us some time to absorb 4e, and then we'll start doing both.
4. Last but not least, as you know, the QtR netbooks consist primarily of fan-submitted material. Be assured that we will continue accepting submissions made in any D&D edition (except perhaps the first one made in 1973, please). Writer who provide 4th edition stats in their work (either alone or with stats for an older edition) will be well thought of.
Please react to this announcement,
Joël, for the FoS
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